Indenting within block comments in C-mode Emacs

Question

After writing functions in C/C++, I like to format my block comments that explain a function's purpose, parameters, use, and so on.

(See example below)

However, to indent my comments in emacs, I need to do C-q TAB, which is a bit of an awkward set of keystrokes (not to mention having to press three keys as opposed to one).

My question is: what would the Elisp code be for:

1. See whether or not what I'm typing is in a comment block (I'm thinking it has to do with font-lock-comment-face but I'm not sure
2. If the text is inside a block comment, have TAB perform the same functionality as the aforementioned C-q TAB

For more information, some of the shortcuts given in the Emacs guide, such as M-j are helpful, but I still need to C-q TAB to initially indent a region within the comment.

Answer 1

The usual way to check if you are in a comment is to use syntax-ppss.

A simple way to do what you want would be something like:

(defun my/c-indent-or-tab-in-comment ()
  (interactive)
  (if (nth 4 (syntax-ppss))
      (insert "\t")
    (call-interactively 'indent-for-tab-command)))

(define-key c-mode-map (kbd "TAB") #'my/c-indent-or-tab-in-comment)

Some other possible approaches: modify the indent-line-function variable to point to a function that does what you want, or define advice on indent-for-tab-command.