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I currently have a function like so in my .emacs file:

(defun insert-todo () (interactive) (insert "// TODO(map) : ") )

It is bound to my key combination of "C-t". This will work for me if I'm doing Java or JavaScript code as the // is the start of a comment for that particular language. However, I want to dynamically insert the appropriate comment character based on the major mode I'm in.

For example:

Java Mode -> // Python mode -> # Lisp mode -> ;; etc...

So how do I, in my .emacs config file, get the current major mode so I can insert the appropriate comment characters before adding my TODO string?

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  • You're reinventing newcomment.el which provides functionality for language-agnostic commentary.
    – wasamasa
    Jun 1, 2018 at 18:42
  • Does that package allow for extending the functionality to include extra information in the comment? So not just deciding on which type of characters are used for commenting?
    – Michael
    Jun 1, 2018 at 18:55
  • It gives you all the comment-related commands, including one to comment out a region. So, insert text, comment out the region and you're done.
    – wasamasa
    Jun 3, 2018 at 14:29
  • So that's not exactly what I want. It's great that I can type text and then comment it out, but the goal is basically to bind a key that auto inserts my TODO(map) as that is what I do searches on in my code before commits.
    – Michael
    Jun 4, 2018 at 16:33
  • Yes, this is done programmatically. It's extremely common to change the location of point, insert text into a buffer and call other functions manipulating buffer text. Rejecting an approach on this basis would mean rejecting lots of packages.
    – wasamasa
    Jun 4, 2018 at 17:02

1 Answer 1

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Commonly major-modes are setting comment-start and comment-end. Below an example how to access these values:

(defun give-me-comment-starters-ender-for-a-mode (mode)
  "Returns a cons containing comment-start comment-end of arg MODE"
  (with-temp-buffer
    (funcall mode)
    (cons comment-start comment-end)))

(defun comment-starter-ender-return-test (&optional arg)
  (interactive)
  (let ((erg (give-me-comment-starters-ender-for-a-mode (or arg 'emacs-lisp-mode))))
    (message "%s" erg)))
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