1

Project:

(1) Push every new this-command onto a list containing any previously pushed this-command.

(2) Limit the list to a variable length (e.g., 3 or 5), and chop off the oldest.

(3) Compare whether all elements of the list are eq.

(defvar this-command-list nil)

(defvar maximum-elements 3)

(defun pre-command-hook-fn ()
  (push this-command this-command-list)
  (if (> (length this-command-list) maximum-elements)
    (setq this-command-list (delq (last this-command-list) this-command-list)))
  (TEST IF ALL ELEMENTS of `this-command-list' ARE THE SAME))

(add-hook 'pre-command-hook 'pre-command-hook-fn)

Background (aka why): I am instituting a concept similar to the deplacement-command list used by flyspell -- i.e., if this-command is the same as last-command and it is also a memq of a list of certain deplacement commands, then don't do a costly function. The difference here is that I want to compare a variable number of previous commands with the current command -- e.g., if I move the cursor (consecutively) 3 or 5 times to the left, then skip the costly function that would ordinarily run every command loop.

EDIT:  The following is a working solution based on the answer by @phils below. I thought it important to correct the mistake above which used delq instead of nbutlast.

(require 'cl)

(defvar this-command-list nil)

(defvar maximum-elements 3)

(defun pre-command-hook-fn ()
  (push this-command this-command-list)
  (when (> (length this-command-list) maximum-elements)
    (setq this-command-list (nbutlast this-command-list)))
  (message "test:  %s" (eq (length (cl-remove-duplicates this-command-list)) 1)))

(add-hook 'pre-command-hook 'pre-command-hook-fn)
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2
  • Are you sure you want to check if all elements of a list are the same? That would mean that your condition is only true if a function repeats itself five times in a row. Or did you want the condition to be true if this-function was one of the last five functions called?
    – zck
    Sep 2, 2016 at 5:29
  • @zck -- yes, please, I would like to test whether all elements are eq -- e.g., '(left-char left-char left-char left-char left-char) -- if they are all the same, then throw a t. Essentially, I don't mind if my costly function runs a couple of times consecutively, but if I'm just repeating the same thing again and again like holding down the arrow key, then I'd like to skip the costly function -- e.g., if its 3 or 5 times in a row, then start skipping the costly function (whatever that may be).
    – lawlist
    Sep 2, 2016 at 5:34

2 Answers 2

Reset to default
3

How about:

(eq (length (cl-remove-duplicates SEQ)) 1)
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1
  • Yes, that works and it's non-destructive -- perfect!
    – lawlist
    Sep 2, 2016 at 6:01
4

We don't actually need to keep track of the last N commands, just the last command, and how many times it's repeated. This code will send a message when a command is called too many consecutive times.

(defvar my-last-fn-repeat-count 0
  "How many consecutive times the last function has been called.")

(defvar repeat-limit 5
  "When a command has repeated this many times, consider that too much.")

(defun pre-command-hook-fn ()
  "Warn when we're repeating too much."
  (if (eq this-command last-command)
      (incf my-last-fn-repeat-count)
    (setq my-last-fn-repeat-count 0))

  (when (>= my-last-fn-repeat-count repeat-limit)
    (message "You've repeated too much.")))

(add-hook 'pre-command-hook 'pre-command-hook-fn)

This has the benefit of not needing to do any list creation or searching, so it's a bit simpler. It should be faster, but I can't imagine working with a five-element list to ever be slow, so speed isn't a real-life benefit.

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6
  • Oh, dear, now we have two great answers and I already gave credit to phils . . . :) I gave you a +1, but don't generally take a way a check-mark once given . . . . Thank you very much -- greatly appreciated! phils answered the call of the question, but your solution to the problem posed in the question is indeed a good one.
    – lawlist
    Sep 2, 2016 at 6:17
  • No worries! Glad to help out.
    – zck
    Sep 2, 2016 at 12:15
  • Consider using put, one less variable to worry about.
    – politza
    Sep 2, 2016 at 13:23
  • @politza To use one variable for both of my-last-fn-repeat-count and repeat-limit? I'd rather be more explicit about the meaning and have two.
    – zck
    Sep 2, 2016 at 14:17
  • No, something like (put this-command ...).
    – politza
    Sep 2, 2016 at 17:22

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