On Thu, 21 Nov 2024 09:54:10 +0100, D wrote:

> So my earlier joke was not a joke. I twas the truth! In vim, just type
> 1024@a and be done with it (assuming macro is in a).

I always try a couple of single invocations before committing to running
the macro on the whole document, not that I've ever screwed up.

On Thu, 21 Nov 2024, rbowman wrote:

> On Thu, 21 Nov 2024 09:54:10 +0100, D wrote:
>
>> So my earlier joke was not a joke. I twas the truth! In vim, just type
>> 1024@a and be done with it (assuming macro is in a).
>
> I always try a couple of single invocations before committing to running
> the macro on the whole document, not that I've ever screwed up.
>

This is very wise!

On 2024-11-21, rbowman <bowman@montana.com> wrote:
> On 21 Nov 2024 04:31:13 GMT, Robert Riches wrote:
>
>> Regarding moving around requiring n+1 keystrokes, GNU Emacs lets you
>> experience the power of Control-U. It is a prefix argument that
>> (oversimplification follows, but ...) multiplies the effect of the next
>> action by 4.
>
> I hope it has a similar prefix to undo all the stuff I just destroyed with
> Ctrl-U.

In Emacs, 'undo' is Meta-U. The Ctrl-U prefix doesn't seem to
work with that. So, for anything that's going to change the
document, it's advisable to just _be_ _careful_. For example,
when executing a keyboard macro (to transpose columns in a table,
for example), execute it once then again, then 4 at a time for a
bit, then 16 at a time; then if that all looks safe do a whole
bunch.

For an additional measure of safety, there are numbered backup
versions. After a few sessions editing a small file named "z", I
have this:

hostname:~/scratch% ls -alt
total 28
drwxr-xr-x 2 me users 4096 Nov 21 19:50 .
-rw-r--r-- 1 me users 19 Nov 21 19:50 z
-rw-r--r-- 1 me users 14 Nov 21 19:50 z.~4~
-rw-r--r-- 1 me users 12 Nov 21 19:50 z.~3~
-rw-r--r-- 1 me users 9 Nov 21 19:50 z.~2~
-rw-r--r-- 1 me users 3 Nov 21 19:50 z.~1~
drwxr-xr-x 51 me users 4096 Nov 21 19:46 ..
hostname:~/scratch%

If I mess up a macro, I just go back to the previous edition.

--
Robert Riches
spamtrap42@jacob21819.net
(Yes, that is one of my email addresses.)

D <nospam@example.net> wrote at 08:49 this Thursday (GMT):
>
>
> On Thu, 20 Nov 2024, rbowman wrote:
>
>> On Wed, 20 Nov 2024 22:11:42 +0100, Carlos E.R. wrote:
>>
>>> Both vi and emacs live in a different planet than I do.
>>
>> vi definitely lives someplace else in the solar system than vim or gVim.
>>
>> The choice was easy back when disk space was at a premium. iirc, gVim took
>> around 2 MB, and emacs took over 20 MB. Of course gVim didn't tell your
>> fortune, play go, or require keyboard maneuvers equivalent to playing B7
>> on a guitar.
>>
>
> This old classic comes to mind:
>
> Regexing with several editors:
>
> acme:
>>Oh, | want to execute a regular expression on my text here.
>>Here | go.
>>| take my mouse hand off my keys.
>>| move my mouse hand to my mouse
>>I grip the mouse with my mouse hand
>>| move the mouse to the tag strip on top of the editing buffer
>>I click the tag strip
>>| release the mouse
>>| move my mouse hand to the keys
>>| write the regex
>>| take my mouse hand off the keys
>>| move my mouse hand to my mouse
>>I grip the mouse and press da butans
>>| drag the mouse over the regex to highlight it
>>| release da butans
>>| watch as my regex hopefully does what it needs to do on the first try.
>>I move the mouse to the editing buffer to continue inputting text
>>| release the mouse
>>| move my mouse hand to the keys
>>| FINALLY start typing again.
>
> Emacs:
>>press both foot pedals
>>press meta shift control sysrq
>>play the moonlight sonata on the two extra leopards while requesting
> Regex-Mode with the headstick.
>>hit the electric cymbals strapped under my arm and while putting the
> shift-stick | have gripped tightly with my sphincter into turbo mode.
>>signal my two assistants to turn their keys in unison, NOW!
>>input the regex
>>release all keys and watch as emacs gracefully rearranges the text
>
> vim:
>>escape or equivalent
>>: %s/foo/bar/g
>>enter
>>continue editing

You can also use /gi to make it confirm for each substitution. Pretty
useful sometimes.
--
user <candycane> is generated from /dev/urandom

On Fri, 22 Nov 2024 20:30:03 -0000 (UTC), candycanearter07 wrote:

> You can also use /gi to make it confirm for each substitution. Pretty
> useful sometimes.

Emacs ctrl-alt-% already does that: type “y” or “n” to substitute or skip,
“q” to stop, “!” to go ahead and do all the rest without confirmation.
There are even options for undoing the last replacement/all replacements.

And then there’s “recursive editing” ...

On 11/21/24 8:45 AM, The Natural Philosopher wrote:
> On 20/11/2024 19:18, rbowman wrote:
>> On Wed, 20 Nov 2024 10:23:18 +0000, The Natural Philosopher wrote:
>>
>>> On the other hand, CAD is impossible without one...
>>
>> CAD has a different meaning in my world.
>>
>> https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Computer-aided_dispatch
>>
>> That lead to some awkward moments when interviewing candidates who hadn't
>> done any research into what they were applying for.
> In the world of semi-professional fab, its Cardboard Aided Design where
> you cut bits of cardboard to the shapes you want and measure or scan
> them BEFORE invoking the software, or you trace them direct onto metal
> and nark the outline for manual cutting,,,

Neolithic tech CAN be the best :-)

On 27/11/2024 06:24, 186282@ud0s4.net wrote:
> On 11/21/24 8:45 AM, The Natural Philosopher wrote:
>> On 20/11/2024 19:18, rbowman wrote:
>>> On Wed, 20 Nov 2024 10:23:18 +0000, The Natural Philosopher wrote:
>>>
>>>> On the other hand, CAD is impossible without one...
>>>
>>> CAD has a different meaning in my world.
>>>
>>> https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Computer-aided_dispatch
>>>
>>> That lead to some awkward moments when interviewing candidates who
>>> hadn't
>>> done any research into what they were applying for.
>> In the world of semi-professional fab, its Cardboard Aided Design
>> where you cut bits of cardboard to the shapes you want and measure or
>> scan them BEFORE invoking the software, or you trace them direct onto
>> metal and nark the outline for manual cutting,,,
>
>
>   Neolithic tech CAN be the best  :-)

It is remarkably difficult in the CAD I use to develop a flat surface
from a curved one, especially if the curvature is complex and involves
stretching.

As you get with metal that is 'Mullered' into the shape required.

--
For in reason, all government without the consent of the governed is the
very definition of slavery.

Jonathan Swift

Lawrence D'Oliveiro <ldo@nz.invalid> writes:

> On Fri, 22 Nov 2024 20:30:03 -0000 (UTC), candycanearter07 wrote:
>
>> You can also use /gi to make it confirm for each substitution. Pretty
>> useful sometimes.
>
> Emacs ctrl-alt-% already does that: type “y” or “n” to substitute or skip,
> “q” to stop, “!” to go ahead and do all the rest without confirmation.
> There are even options for undoing the last replacement/all replacements.
>
> And then there’s “recursive editing” ...

Off the top of my head.

emacs, lynx, links2, syncterm, mplayer, fbi/fbgs, sc, keepass, brave.

There's more but this is core. All the others get installed as needed,
then forgotten about until needed again.

Ar an seachtú lá déag de mí na Nollaig, scríobh Daniel:

> Lawrence D'Oliveiro <ldo@nz.invalid> writes:
>
> > [...] Emacs ctrl-alt-% already does that: type “y” or “n” to substitute or
> > skip, “q” to stop, “!” to go ahead and do all the rest without
> > confirmation. There are even options for undoing the last replacement/all
> > replacements.
> >
> > And then there’s “recursive editing” ...
>
> Off the top of my head.
>
> emacs, lynx, links2, syncterm, mplayer, fbi/fbgs, sc, keepass, brave.
>
> There's more but this is core. All the others get installed as needed,
> then forgotten about until needed again.

I’m a big fan of Inkscape, mainly for editing PDFs. If you like and use TeX
that gets installed early.

--
‘As I sat looking up at the Guinness ad, I could never figure out /
How your man stayed up on the surfboard after fourteen pints of stout’
(C. Moore)

While i don't have any hard rules, i usually end up installing lynx, an
emacs, groff, plan9port and fbpdf over the course of a week. On laptops
i only ever prepare dwm as a desktop, because what else can you use
without a proper mouse? After recently getting into s6, i also installed
execline everywhere and ported some of my program launch scripts to it.

Aidan Kehoe <kehoea@parhasard.net> writes:

> I’m a big fan of Inkscape, mainly for editing PDFs. If you like and use TeX
> that gets installed early.

Some people like to rag on ImageMagick for being unintuitive and
sometimes butchering the quality of PDFs (like this doesn't happen in
GIMP as well). Nothing can beat the simplicity of it though, if you've
memorized which flags you need.

These days i mainly use it to append pictures. Recently someone send me
a document as a photo with horribly uneven lighting, so i passed it some
brightness and contrast parameters to get sharp text on a white,
washed-out background.