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I'm trying to write an elisp program that will insert a section header and footer as a comment. For example, if I need a section called "intro" for my LaTeX document, the following would be inserted:

%----------BEGIN INTRO----------%



%-----------END INTRO-----------%

Similarly, if I need a section called "functions" in my C++ file, the following would be inserted:

//----------BEGIN FUNCTIONS----------//



//----------END FUNCTIONS-----------//

My trouble is finding a way to identify the comment pattern of the current major mode so that it can be included in the inserted string. Any insight would be appreciated.

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    What have you done to try and find an answer before posting this question? – Stefan Jan 15 '18 at 1:11
  • My research took me to syntax tables and the comment-dwim command. My plan was to try to figure out how comment-dwim knew what the comment character was in order to make its comment, but that didn't work out. Additionally, I couldn't find anything helpful via the syntax table route. I saw a bunch of stuff for making a syntax table, but nothing on how to extract the comment sequence from it. – Voytella Jan 16 '18 at 14:46
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I'd suggest the variables comment-start and comment-end as well as the function comment-region.

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  • Thank you, Stefan! I just used comment-start at the beginning of my line, and comment-end at the end. While the visual formatting isn't exactly what I had in mind, that can't really be helped, since not all languages have regional comments (LaTeX only has % while C has /* and */. Nevertheless, it's functionally perfect! Thanks for showing me these helpful variables! – Voytella Jan 16 '18 at 14:46

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