How to insert character or word N times in a buffer or file?

Question

Just curious to know how to do this, since i already know in other languages (bash, etc).

I know how to insert a character in elisp, just not sure on how to do it when it's done nth time (in succession) in elisp.

Here an example:

Basically, inserting (in file or buffer) the character X, 10 times.

XXXXXXXXXX something like that.

Firstly you do it (N-1) times. Then you do it one more time. — phils, May 17 '20 at 03:51
My bad, let me try again: basically, you know how you can input/insert a character *once* in "put your language here" right? what i want to do here, is basically that, but more than *once*...as in, i can insert/input X character with a given number of time to input it. — Nordine Lotfi, May 17 '20 at 03:58
I already know how to do it in bash and python, but i'm curious about a pure elisp method. — Nordine Lotfi, May 17 '20 at 03:59
and lastly, i do know how to insert a character in elisp, but what i don't know (or at least not sure enough)is how to do it but with a specific amount of time. @phils tell me if this clearer btw :) — Nordine Lotfi, May 17 '20 at 03:59
Like `(insert (make-string 10 ?X))` ? Or `(dotimes (_ 10) (insert "X"))` ? — phils, May 17 '20 at 04:19

phils · Accepted Answer · 2020-05-17T08:12:31.847

8

There are many ways to write loops/iterative/repetitive behaviour in elisp.

C-hig (elisp)Iteration has the basic options, including dotimes, which is the canonical way to repeat something N times. E.g.:

(dotimes (_ 10) (insert "X"))

For the specific example of repeating a character N times, you might alternatively use make-string.

(insert (make-string 10 ?X))

For more sophisticated looping options, I suggest starting at C-hig (cl)Iteration

edited May 17 '20 at 08:12

answered May 17 '20 at 08:06

phils

help for `dotimes` notes _its use is deprecated_. Is there a more modern substitute? – Jeff Trull Aug 22 '21 at 20:11
1

It says that using the `RESULT` argument is deprecated, not that `dotimes` is deprecated. – phils Aug 22 '21 at 22:08
Oh, so it does! That's good I guess. – Jeff Trull Aug 23 '21 at 02:23
1

It looks like the only reason they've marked it deprecated is that the macro expansion for handling RESULT has to bind VAR, but VAR might not be used in RESULT, which then produces a byte-compilation warning under lexical binding about VAR not being used. I feel like this problem could be fixed. In any case, I don't imagine that functionality is *going away* any time soon, so I wouldn't be too concerned about using it it you need it. – phils Aug 23 '21 at 02:48

score 5 · Answer 2 · edited May 17 '20 at 13:27

5

If you want to insert the character interactively, do C-u 10 X. This will give you XXXXXXXXXX.

This repeats the self-insert-command (here, for "X"), 10 times. See the manual node on repeating.

edited May 17 '20 at 13:27

Dan

answered May 17 '20 at 07:54

Dayan Sivalingam

2 Answers2