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I use describe-function command with SPC h f to get help on emacs functions. But I want to get documentation on Doom's own functions such as map!. describe-function doesn't list this function. How can I get documentation on this and other custom functions?

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    That's a macro, but you should be able to get help on macros with describe-function github.com/hlissner/doom-emacs/blob/… Maybe the macro isn't loaded? Not very familiar with loading, and not at all with doom, but I think often interactive functions and macros are autoloaded and that this one isn't, maybe because it's not interactive? Surprises me if it's not loaded though, given the filename
    – Croad Langshan
    Feb 26, 2021 at 19:33
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    If you evaluate this lisp in *scratch*, what does it say? (fboundp 'map!)
    – Croad Langshan
    Feb 26, 2021 at 19:38
  • @CroadLangshan It returns t
    – Mert Nuhoglu
    Feb 26, 2021 at 20:00
  • Odd. In spacemacs, if I copy-paste that macro and evaluate it I can run describe-function on it and it shows up in the list (I think I'm actually getting counsel-describe-function that way, though -- maybe plain describe-function doesn't show macro help?? seems unlikely)
    – Croad Langshan
    Feb 26, 2021 at 20:13
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    This seems to be something to do with ivy / counsel. If I disable ivy-mode and copy the definition of describe-function to describe-function-2 and evaluate that (to avoid counsel messing with it via advice or whatever), then run that, it works. Also in spacemacs (but not doom), if I put point somewhere in a buffer that says map!, describe-function lists it -- but otherwise, it doesn't show up. In doom it never shows up unless I go to the lenghs above.
    – Croad Langshan
    Feb 26, 2021 at 20:39

1 Answer 1

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If you are using Ivy, this is expected. Ivy's user manual states that Ivy uses the exclamation mark for regex negation:

Ivy supports regexp negation with "!". For example, "define key ! ivy quit" first selects everything matching "define.*key", then removes everything matching "ivy", and finally removes everything matching "quit". What remains is the final result set of the negation regexp.

Since Ivy treats minibuffer input as a regexp, the standard regexp identifiers work: "^", "$", "\b" or "[a-z]". The exceptions are spaces, which translate to ".*", and "!" that signal the beginning of a negation group.

You should get what you need if you escape the exclamation mark. In other words, when you use describe-function, search for

map\!
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  • Can you please explain why? Is ! a special character that needs escaping? Or is this something else? Is that special to Doom? Is it something to do with ivy/counsel as a comment mentions or is that unrelated? Is it a Doom bug?
    – NickD
    Jan 21, 2022 at 12:51
  • I'm not sure I can, I'm relatively new to Emacs myself, but using the backslash does help finding "Doom's own functions" so I thought it answered the question. If you feel like this answer should be deleted or relegated to a comment I can do so.
    – Dargscisyhp
    Jan 21, 2022 at 20:58
  • No, not at all: I'm just trying to make sure that it is as helpful as possible. It would help if the OP chimed in on whether it solved his problem.
    – NickD
    Jan 21, 2022 at 21:14
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    Hi @NickD I went ahead and added some information to my answer, hopefully it's more helpful now. Thank you for the input!
    – Dargscisyhp
    Feb 9, 2022 at 16:07

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