How to get contents of current line?

Question

I want to get contents of the current line(the line with cursor) for my function. What command allows me to achieve this?

"the line with the cursor" depends on the selected window, since different windows can have different values for point. (It should never be a problem, but who knows...) — YoungFrog, Aug 28, 2015 at 15:48

Community · Accepted Answer · 2017-04-13 12:52:45Z

17

Use buffer-substring:

(buffer-substring (line-beginning-position) (line-end-position))

As Tobias noted, this also copies properties of text. If you want to avoid that, you might want to go with buffer-substring-no-properties instead:

(buffer-substring-no-properties (line-beginning-position) (line-end-position))

CommunityBot

1

answered Aug 28, 2015 at 10:33

MatthewRock

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4

Often it is better to use buffer-substring-no-properties.
– Tobias
Aug 28, 2015 at 14:05
1

@Tobias Included your insight in answer.
– MatthewRock
Aug 28, 2015 at 14:32

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Dan · Accepted Answer · 2015-08-28 10:42:07Z

14

Alternative to buffer-substring:

(thing-at-point 'line)

answered Aug 28, 2015 at 10:42

Dan♦

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3

Be aware that this includes the final newline character if there is one (i.e. always, except maybe for the last line of the buffer) as well as the text properties.
– YoungFrog
Aug 28, 2015 at 15:45

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2 Answers 2