Input-methods in the insert eval expressions

Question

I can activate the input method french-azerty by M-x set-input-method RET french-azerty. Then by a qwerty keyboard I can type like an azerty one. Thus typying q in the buffer gives a. But when I do M-: (insert "q") it gives q instead of a. Is there a way that the evaluations takes into account the chosen input-method? i.e. M-: (insert "qwerty") gives azerty?

Answer 1

When you evaluate (insert "qwerty") the lisp reader creates a string object with the literal value "qwerty". No input method functionality is able to intervene there.

The input method has already done its work by the time a character is inserted into a buffer, such that (using your example) typing q would result in (insert "a"), not (insert "q").

insert itself is a very low-level function. The only manipulation that happens to its argument is to ensure that unibyte data is not inserted into a multibyte buffer, or vice versa.

However, if you're talking about writing a function to insert text into a buffer, there's absolutely no reason why you would need that sort of magic, because you'll be in a position to process the text however you wish before calling insert.