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I know I can use *bold*, /italic/, _underline_, =verbatim=, ~code~, and +strike-through+ to apply markup to text in org-mode. But how do I create key bindings for applying these changes to a region of text? For example, if I want to make some text bold, is there an easier way than

  1. navigating to the front of the text
  2. prefixing it with a *
  3. navigating to the end of the text
  4. appending a *?

I can't seem to find any command that "bolds" a stretch of text, such as org-make-region-bold. Is there such a command?

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11
  1. Mark you region
  2. Click C-c C-x C-f * for bold, C-c C-x C-f / for italic etc.

org-emphasize is an interactive compiled Lisp function in `org.el'.

(org-emphasize &optional CHAR)

Insert or change an emphasis, i.e. a font like bold or italic. If there is an active region, change that region to a new emphasis. If there is no region, just insert the marker characters and position the cursor between them. CHAR should be the marker character. If it is a space, it means to remove the emphasis of the selected region. If CHAR is not given (for example in an interactive call) it will be prompted for.

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6

You can make use of electric-pair-mode1 to facilitate insertion of mark-up characters in org-mode. Add the following code to your init-file:

(electric-pair-mode 1)

(defvar org-electric-pairs '((?\* . ?\*) (?/ . ?/) (?= . ?=)
                             (?\_ . ?\_) (?~ . ?~) (?+ . ?+)) "Electric pairs for org-mode.")

(defun org-add-electric-pairs ()
  (setq-local electric-pair-pairs (append electric-pair-pairs org-electric-pairs))
  (setq-local electric-pair-text-pairs electric-pair-pairs))

(add-hook 'org-mode-hook 'org-add-electric-pairs)

With this in place, all you need to do to wrap a region with mark-up characters is press the corresponding character (*, /, =, _, ~, or +) once.

As an additional benefit, Emacs will automatically insert matching pairs of mark-up characters at point if there is no region. For example, pressing * will insert ** and leave point between the two chars so you can continue typing without having to move point.

1 This mode is built-in; there's no need to install any third-party packages to use it.

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  • 1
    Thank you! Honestly, this is the cleanest and most straightforward answer. The sweet surprise is that electric-pair-mode also applies the pair to a selected region. I always though that electric pairs were for inserting pairs-only. – ephsmith May 21 '18 at 0:42
  • 1
    The problem with this approach is that * and / are commonly used in typical Org mode documents e.g. * begins a header. Similarly if you're typing a slash in longform text e.g. there is an extra slash you need to delete every time. – PlagueHammer Sep 7 '18 at 22:18
3

You can use the wrap-region package (also available on Melpa) to wrap a region with any character of your choice. This of course can be configured per major mode. 

(require 'wrap-region)

(add-hook 'org-mode-hook #'wrap-region-mode)

(wrap-region-add-wrapper "=" "=" nil 'org-mode) ; select region, hit = then region -> =region= in org-mode
(wrap-region-add-wrapper "*" "*" nil 'org-mode) ; select region, hit * then region -> *region* in org-mode
(wrap-region-add-wrapper "/" "/" nil 'org-mode) ; select region, hit / then region -> /region/ in org-mode
(wrap-region-add-wrapper "_" "_" nil 'org-mode) ; select region, hit _ then region -> _region_ in org-mode
(wrap-region-add-wrapper "+" "+" nil 'org-mode) ; select region, hit + then region -> +region+ in org-mode

The expand-region package complements this package very well (also available in Melpa).

Usage

  • You select the word or phrase using the key binding you chose for er/expand-region.
  • Hit * to emphasize that region as bold (in org-mode).
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