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A defined abbrev is a word which expands, if you insert it, into some different text. Abbrevs are defined by the user to expand in specific ways. For example, you might define `foo' as an abbrev expanding to `find outer otter'. Then you could insert `find outer otter ' into the buffer by typing f o o SPC.
A second kind of abbreviation facility is called dynamic abbrev expansion. You use dynamic abbrev expansion with an explicit command to expand the letters in the buffer before point by looking for other words in the buffer that start with those letters. See section Dynamic Abbrev Expansion.
"Hippie" expansion generalizes abbreviation expansion. See (autotype)Hippie Expand section `Hippie Expansion' in Features for Automatic Typing.
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An abbrev is a word which has been defined to expand into a specified expansion. When you insert a word-separator character following the abbrev, that expands the abbrev--replacing the abbrev with its expansion. For example, if `foo' is defined as an abbrev expanding to `find outer otter', then you can insert `find outer otter.' into the buffer by typing f o o ..
Abbrevs expand only when Abbrev mode (a minor mode) is enabled.
Disabling Abbrev mode does not cause abbrev definitions to be forgotten,
but they do not expand until Abbrev mode is enabled again. The command
M-x abbrev-mode toggles Abbrev mode; with a numeric argument, it
turns Abbrev mode on if the argument is positive, off otherwise.
See section Minor Modes. abbrev-mode is also a variable; Abbrev mode is
on when the variable is non-nil. The variable abbrev-mode
automatically becomes local to the current buffer when it is set.
Abbrevs can have mode-specific definitions, active only in one major mode. Abbrevs can also have global definitions that are active in all major modes. The same abbrev can have a global definition and various mode-specific definitions for different major modes. A mode-specific definition for the current major mode overrides a global definition.
You can define abbrevs interactively during the editing session. You can also save lists of abbrev definitions in files for use in later sessions. Some users keep extensive lists of abbrevs that they load in every session.
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Define an abbrev, using one or more words before point as its expansion
(add-global-abbrev).
Similar, but define an abbrev specific to the current major mode
(add-mode-abbrev).
Define a word in the buffer as an abbrev (inverse-add-global-abbrev).
Define a word in the buffer as a mode-specific abbrev
(inverse-add-mode-abbrev).
Define abbrev as an abbrev expanding into exp.
Define abbrev as a mode-specific abbrev expanding into exp.
Discard all abbrev definitions, leaving a blank slate.
The usual way to define an abbrev is to enter the text you want the
abbrev to expand to, position point after it, and type C-x a g
(add-global-abbrev). This reads the abbrev itself using the
minibuffer, and then defines it as an abbrev for one or more words before
point. Use a numeric argument to say how many words before point should be
taken as the expansion. For example, to define the abbrev `foo' as
mentioned above, insert the text `find outer otter' and then type
C-u 3 C-x a g f o o RET.
An argument of zero to C-x a g means to use the contents of the region as the expansion of the abbrev being defined.
The command C-x a l (add-mode-abbrev) is similar, but
defines a mode-specific abbrev. Mode-specific abbrevs are active only in a
particular major mode. C-x a l defines an abbrev for the major mode
in effect at the time C-x a l is typed. The arguments work the same
as for C-x a g.
If the abbrev text itself is already in the buffer, you can use the
commands C-x a i g (inverse-add-global-abbrev) and
C-x a i l (inverse-add-mode-abbrev) to define it as an
abbrev by specify the expansion in the minibuffer. These commands are
called "inverse" because they invert the meaning of the two text
strings they use (one from the buffer and one read with the
minibuffer).
You can define an abbrev without inserting either the abbrev or its
expansion in the buffer using the command define-global-abbrev.
It reads two arguments--the abbrev, and its expansion. The command
define-mode-abbrev does likewise for a mode-specific abbrev.
To change the definition of an abbrev, just define a new definition. When the abbrev has a prior definition, the abbrev definition commands ask for confirmation before replacing it.
To remove an abbrev definition, give a negative argument to the abbrev definition command: C-u - C-x a g or C-u - C-x a l. The former removes a global definition, while the latter removes a mode-specific definition. M-x kill-all-abbrevs removes all abbrev definitions, both global and local.
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When Abbrev mode is enabled, an abbrev expands whenever it is present in the buffer just before point and you type a self-inserting whitespace or punctuation character (SPC, comma, etc.). More precisely, any character that is not a word constituent expands an abbrev, and any word-constituent character can be part of an abbrev. The most common way to use an abbrev is to insert it and then insert a punctuation or whitespace character to expand it.
Abbrev expansion preserves case; thus, `foo' expands into `find
outer otter'; `Foo' into `Find outer otter', and `FOO' into
`FIND OUTER OTTER' or `Find Outer Otter' according to the
variable abbrev-all-caps (setting it non-nil specifies
`FIND OUTER OTTER').
These commands are used to control abbrev expansion:
Separate a prefix from a following abbrev to be expanded
(abbrev-prefix-mark).
Expand the abbrev before point (expand-abbrev).
This is effective even when Abbrev mode is not enabled.
Expand some or all abbrevs found in the region.
You may wish to expand an abbrev and attach a prefix to the expansion;
for example, if `cnst' expands into `construction', you might want
to use it to enter `reconstruction'. It does not work to type
recnst, because that is not necessarily a defined abbrev. What
you can do is use the command M-' (abbrev-prefix-mark) in
between the prefix `re' and the abbrev `cnst'. First, insert
`re'. Then type M-'; this inserts a hyphen in the buffer to
indicate that it has done its work. Then insert the abbrev `cnst';
the buffer now contains `re-cnst'. Now insert a non-word character
to expand the abbrev `cnst' into `construction'. This
expansion step also deletes the hyphen that indicated M-' had been
used. The result is the desired `reconstruction'.
If you actually want the text of the abbrev in the buffer, rather than its expansion, you can accomplish this by inserting the following punctuation with C-q. Thus, foo C-q , leaves `foo,' in the buffer, not expanding it.
If you expand an abbrev by mistake, you can undo the expansion and bring back the abbrev itself by typing C-_ to undo (see section Undo). This also undoes the insertion of the non-word character that expanded the abbrev. If the result you want is the terminating non-word character plus the unexpanded abbrev, you must reinsert the terminating character, quoting it with C-q. You can also use the command M-x unexpand-abbrev to cancel the last expansion without deleting the terminating character.
M-x expand-region-abbrevs searches through the region for defined abbrevs, and for each one found offers to replace it with its expansion. This command is useful if you have typed in text using abbrevs but forgot to turn on Abbrev mode first. It may also be useful together with a special set of abbrev definitions for making several global replacements at once. This command is effective even if Abbrev mode is not enabled.
Expanding any abbrev first runs the hook pre-abbrev-expand-hook
(see section Hooks).
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Display a list of all abbrev definitions. With a numeric argument, list only local abbrevs.
Edit a list of abbrevs; you can add, alter or remove definitions.
The output from M-x list-abbrevs looks like this:
various other tables… (lisp-mode-abbrev-table) "dk" 0 "define-key" (global-abbrev-table) "dfn" 0 "definition" |
(Some blank lines of no semantic significance, and some other abbrev tables, have been omitted.)
A line containing a name in parentheses is the header for abbrevs in a
particular abbrev table; global-abbrev-table contains all the global
abbrevs, and the other abbrev tables that are named after major modes
contain the mode-specific abbrevs.
Within each abbrev table, each nonblank line defines one abbrev. The word at the beginning of the line is the abbrev. The number that follows is the number of times the abbrev has been expanded. Emacs keeps track of this to help you see which abbrevs you actually use, so that you can eliminate those that you don't use often. The string at the end of the line is the expansion.
Some abbrevs are marked with `(sys)'. These "system" abbrevs (see (elisp)Abbrevs section `Abbrevs' in The Emacs Lisp Reference Manual) are pre-defined by various modes, and are not saved to your abbrev file. To disable a "system" abbrev, define an abbrev of the same name that expands to itself, and save it to your abbrev file.
M-x edit-abbrevs allows you to add, change or kill abbrev definitions by editing a list of them in an Emacs buffer. The list has the same format described above. The buffer of abbrevs is called `*Abbrevs*', and is in Edit-Abbrevs mode. Type C-c C-c in this buffer to install the abbrev definitions as specified in the buffer--and delete any abbrev definitions not listed.
The command edit-abbrevs is actually the same as
list-abbrevs except that it selects the buffer `*Abbrevs*'
whereas list-abbrevs merely displays it in another window.
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These commands allow you to keep abbrev definitions between editing sessions.
Write a file file describing all defined abbrevs.
Read the file file and define abbrevs as specified therein.
Similar but do not display a message about what is going on.
Define abbrevs from definitions in current buffer.
Insert all abbrevs and their expansions into current buffer.
M-x write-abbrev-file reads a file name using the minibuffer and then writes a description of all current abbrev definitions into that file. This is used to save abbrev definitions for use in a later session. The text stored in the file is a series of Lisp expressions that, when executed, define the same abbrevs that you currently have.
M-x read-abbrev-file reads a file name using the minibuffer
and then reads the file, defining abbrevs according to the contents of
the file. The function quietly-read-abbrev-file is similar
except that it does not display a message in the echo area; you cannot
invoke it interactively, and it is used primarily in the `.emacs'
file. If either of these functions is called with nil as the
argument, it uses the file name specified in the variable
abbrev-file-name, which is by default "~/.abbrev_defs".
That file is your standard abbrev definition file, and Emacs loads
abbrevs from it automatically when it starts up.
Emacs will offer to save abbrevs automatically if you have changed
any of them, whenever it offers to save all files (for C-x s or
C-x C-c). It saves them in the file specified by
abbrev-file-name. This feature can be inhibited by setting the
variable save-abbrevs to nil.
The commands M-x insert-abbrevs and M-x define-abbrevs are similar to the previous commands but work on text in an Emacs buffer. M-x insert-abbrevs inserts text into the current buffer after point, describing all current abbrev definitions; M-x define-abbrevs parses the entire current buffer and defines abbrevs accordingly.
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The abbrev facility described above operates automatically as you insert text, but all abbrevs must be defined explicitly. By contrast, dynamic abbrevs allow the meanings of abbreviations to be determined automatically from the contents of the buffer, but dynamic abbrev expansion happens only when you request it explicitly.
Expand the word in the buffer before point as a dynamic abbrev,
by searching in the buffer for words starting with that abbreviation
(dabbrev-expand).
Complete the word before point as a dynamic abbrev
(dabbrev-completion).
For example, if the buffer contains `does this follow ' and you
type f o M-/, the effect is to insert `follow' because that
is the last word in the buffer that starts with `fo'. A numeric
argument to M-/ says to take the second, third, etc. distinct
expansion found looking backward from point. Repeating M-/
searches for an alternative expansion by looking farther back. After
scanning all the text before point, it searches the text after point.
The variable dabbrev-limit, if non-nil, specifies how far
away in the buffer to search for an expansion.
After scanning the current buffer, M-/ normally searches other
buffers, unless you have set dabbrev-check-all-buffers to
nil.
For finer control over which buffers to scan, customize the variable
dabbrev-ignored-buffer-regexps. Its value is a list of regular
expressions. If a buffer's name matches any of these regular
expressions, dynamic abbrev expansion skips that buffer.
A negative argument to M-/, as in C-u - M-/, says to search first for expansions after point, then other buffers, and consider expansions before point only as a last resort. If you repeat the M-/ to look for another expansion, do not specify an argument. Repeating M-/ cycles through all the expansions after point and then the expansions before point.
After you have expanded a dynamic abbrev, you can copy additional words that follow the expansion in its original context. Simply type SPC M-/ for each additional word you want to copy. The spacing and punctuation between words is copied along with the words.
The command C-M-/ (dabbrev-completion) performs
completion of a dynamic abbrev. Instead of trying the possible
expansions one by one, it finds all of them, then inserts the text
that they have in common. If they have nothing in common, C-M-/
displays a list of completions, from which you can select a choice in
the usual manner. See section Completion.
Dynamic abbrev expansion is completely independent of Abbrev mode; the expansion of a word with M-/ is completely independent of whether it has a definition as an ordinary abbrev.
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Normally, dynamic abbrev expansion ignores case when searching for expansions. That is, the expansion need not agree in case with the word you are expanding.
This feature is controlled by the variable
dabbrev-case-fold-search. If it is t, case is ignored in
this search; if it is nil, the word and the expansion must match
in case. If the value of dabbrev-case-fold-search is
case-fold-search, which is true by default, then the variable
case-fold-search controls whether to ignore case while searching
for expansions.
Normally, dynamic abbrev expansion preserves the case pattern of the dynamic abbrev you are expanding, by converting the expansion to that case pattern.
The variable dabbrev-case-replace controls whether to
preserve the case pattern of the dynamic abbrev. If it is t,
the dynamic abbrev's case pattern is preserved in most cases; if it is
nil, the expansion is always copied verbatim. If the value of
dabbrev-case-replace is case-replace, which is true by
default, then the variable case-replace controls whether to
copy the expansion verbatim.
However, if the expansion contains a complex mixed case pattern, and
the dynamic abbrev matches this pattern as far as it goes, then the
expansion is always copied verbatim, regardless of those variables.
Thus, for example, if the buffer contains
variableWithSillyCasePattern, and you type v a M-/, it
copies the expansion verbatim including its case pattern.
The variable dabbrev-abbrev-char-regexp, if non-nil,
controls which characters are considered part of a word, for dynamic expansion
purposes. The regular expression must match just one character, never
two or more. The same regular expression also determines which
characters are part of an expansion. The value nil has a special
meaning: dynamic abbrevs are made of word characters, but expansions are
made of word and symbol characters.
In shell scripts and makefiles, a variable name is sometimes prefixed
with `$' and sometimes not. Major modes for this kind of text can
customize dynamic abbrev expansion to handle optional prefixes by setting
the variable dabbrev-abbrev-skip-leading-regexp. Its value
should be a regular expression that matches the optional prefix that
dynamic abbrev expression should ignore.
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