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I want to have w/ expand to with globally.

Defining the abbrev in the usual way works (e.g. typingwith C-x ag w/), and the entry in the abbrev_defs file looks fine - output of M-x list-abbrevs under (global-abbrev-table):

"with"         0    "w/"

However, typing "w/" in abbrev-mode or even manually trying to expand this using C-x ' does not work. Why is that and how can I change it?

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  • Sorry, abbrev only allow sequence of English letters to be used as input. / can expand a abbrev like , or space...
    – djangoliv
    Commented Oct 20, 2015 at 13:23
  • @djangoliv Although "sequences of english letters" (word syntax in emacs terminology) behaviour is default, it can be customized. See my own answer.
    – Christian Herenz
    Commented Oct 20, 2015 at 22:04

2 Answers 2

Reset to default
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I think I found a solution without modification of the syntax-table.

From the GNU Emacs Manual - Sect. 35.7 Abbrev Table Properties:

:regexp

[...]

If this property is nil, the default is to use backward-word and forward-word to find the name. This property allows the use of abbrevs whose name contains characters of non-word syntax.

I.e. it is only the default behaviour that non-word syntax is used to define the abbrev "boundaries", but this can be configured.

And indeed:

(abbrev-table-put org-mode-abbrev-table :regexp "\\(\\\\[a-z0-9@]+\\)")

lets me insert abbrevs with leading and trailing slashes in org-mode. (For other modes, or globally org-mode-abbrev-table needs to be replaced accordingly)

(With help from reddit: https://www.reddit.com/r/emacs/comments/3pi8wx/abbrevmode_expansion_with_trailing_does_not_work/ )

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1

Expanding on djangoliv's comment, "you cant'': abbrev's expands the last word and the "/" is not considered a word character.

Try this. Put this in a buffer: 

abc/ def/ghi

and then move by word (Meta-F and Meta-B). You'll see that "abc" "def" and "ghi" is moved over, but we stop at the slash.

You can however modify what emacs-considers a word character via M-x modify-syntax-entry / w. Then when you move word you'll see that / is included in the word.

See http://emacswiki.org/emacs/EmacsSyntaxTable for more information on syntax tables.

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  • That appears like a very radiacal approach to me. I would prefer a solution that woult not alter the behaviour which you demonstrate - i.e. forward-word and backward-word work as "shipped" by emacs.
    – Christian Herenz
    Commented Oct 20, 2015 at 15:40
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    @ChristianHerenz I was merely explaining the behavior and showing you how you could determine what is considered a word. I was not necessarily suggesting you edit the syntax table. I should note that various modes that emacs uses do in fact alter syntax tables. If you feel that altering a global or local syntax table is radical, then djangoiv's comment holds: short of other equally radical approaches, you can't do this. Alter your abbrev.
    – rocky
    Commented Oct 20, 2015 at 15:44
  • To explain, why I dislike changing the syntax table in this way - then forward-word / backward-word messes up in path-names and URLs. The w/ "mnemonic" I use since a long time in my note-taking - and I recently discovered abbrev mode - so I thought I could add a little bit of magic to my daily life by expanding this using abbrevs.... I'm sad to hear that it appears to be next to impossible.
    – Christian Herenz
    Commented Oct 20, 2015 at 19:30

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