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How can I insert text so that the cursor stays in the same position while text I type is shifted to the left, overwriting existing text? For example:

   row_title: some words
   old_title: letters here
            ^

   row_title: some words
 newer_title: letters here
            ^

Where the ^ represents the position of the cursor.

Ell
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1 Answers1

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There is no predefined way to do this.

You'll probably want to start by defining your own replacement for overwrite-mode, mirroring what is done for overwrite-mode but:

  • Switching (for example), the keys for commands delete-backward-char and delete-forward-char.

  • Binding your own replacement command for quoted-insert (C-q), using backward-delete-char in place of delete-char in the definition.

However, because there are multiple predefined Lisp functions that use overwrite-mode (e.g., check the value and do something accordingly), you might just want to advise overwrite-mode, instead of defining a replacement command.

Finally, I would ask why you want to do this? What is your actual use case?

Update after your use-case comment:

In that case:

  • Try M-x picture-mode -- see the Emacs manual, node Picture-Mode and its 4 subnodes.

  • Maybe try the table package -- see the Emacs manual, node Text Based Tables and its 8 subnodes.

Drew
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  • My use case is editing ascii tables while keeping things in line. – Ell Oct 19 '15 at 20:05
  • @Ell Even `align-regexp` might help you out in that case. Do you want to update the question with a sample of ascii table text you need to edit? – Kaushal Modi Oct 19 '15 at 20:17