I showed you my source code, pls respond

9.3 KiB

Raw Blame History

Editor

Configuration and imrpovements to the editor experience within Emacs. Vim¹ user? This module extends the keybindings by implementing Evil². Doom³, Spacemacs⁴? The all powerful leader key is also implemented right here!

Keys

Offer ESC as an alternative to quit (most) prompts, instead of the default C-g.

(global-set-key (kbd "<escape>") 'keyboard-escape-quit)

Completions

Emacs has a lot of keybindings, sometimes it's useful to just start mashing keys and see what happens. This behaviour exists in a third-party package called which-key⁵. It displays the current incomplete keybinding input in a mini-buffer, showing available completion options with their corresponding keybindings.

(use-package which-key
  :diminish which-key-mode
  :custom (which-key-idle-delay dotfiles/idle)
  :config (which-key-mode))

Turn Emacs into Vim

Emacs has some strange default keybindings, they're not like any other editor you've likely ever used. To overcome this nearly show-stopping hurdle, we turn Emacs into Vim¹ with Evil Mode - The Extensible VI Layer for Emacs².

(use-package evil
  :custom (evil-want-integration t)  ;; Required for `evil-collection'.
          (evil-want-keybinding nil) ;; Same as above
  :config (evil-mode +1))

While covering substantial ground towards our goal, the default keybindings implemented in Evil² alone are lacking compared to what you would expect from Vim¹. There's, of course, a communicated curated package evil-collection⁶ that does a much better job implementing the proper keybindings.

(use-package evil-collection
  :after evil
  :config (evil-collection-init))

Surround text

Whether it's on purpose, or more likely, you forgot an opening brace; evil-surround⁷ surrounds highlighted blocks of text with functions, quotations, and any symbol you can input.

(use-package evil-surround
  :after evil
  :config (global-evil-surround-mode 1))

Toggle comments

When you're in deep with errors, or just trying some new code, it's useful to be able to toggle large comment sections in a language agnostic manner. In comes evil-nerd-commentor⁸, with a custom binding to M-;. What is M- ? Typically that refers to the Alt key, called the Meta key in Emacs.

(use-package evil-nerd-commenter
  :after evil
  :bind ("M-;" . evilnc-comment-or-uncomment-lines))

Implementing the leader key

If you're like me and started with Emacs using a framework like Doom³ or Spacemacs⁴, you probably have a lot of muscle memory for using SPC as a leader key. This behaviour is actually not difficult to implement, especially when using general.el⁹.

SPC in most situations as a prefix key
C-SPC when using the Desktop module within an X buffer

(use-package general
  :after evil
  :config
  (general-create-definer dotfiles/leader
    :states '(normal motion)
    :keymaps 'override
    :prefix dotfiles/leader-key
    :global-prefix dotfiles/leader-key-global))

Transient bindings

Create transient keybindings with a shared prefix through Hydra¹⁰. This is also used by a number of third-party packages as a completion system. An implementation example is available in the Font section of the Interface module.

Defer loading for performance

(use-package hydra
  :defer t)

Place runtime tweaks behind SPC t

(dotfiles/leader
  "t" '(:ignore t :which-key "Tweaks"))

Cherry picked shortcuts

Implement shortcut bindings, cherry picked from Doom³.

Close buffers with SPC c
Find files with SPC , (comma)

(dotfiles/leader
  "." '(find-file :which-key "Files")
  "c" '(kill-buffer-and-window :which-key "Close"))

Managing windows

Window management with SPC w

Swap with w
Close with c
Move with h,j,k,l
Split with s - <motion>

(dotfiles/leader
  "w" '(:ignore t :which-key "Window")
  "ww" '(window-swap-states :which-key "Swap")
  "wc" '(delete-window :which-key "Close")
  "wh" '(windmove-left :which-key "Left")
  "wj" '(windmove-down :which-key "Down")
  "wk" '(windmove-up :which-key "Up")
  "wl" '(windmove-right :which-key "Right")
  "ws" '(:ignore t :which-key "Split")
  "wsj" '(split-window-below :which-key "Down")
  "wsl" '(split-window-right :which-key "Right"))

Quitting Emacs

Quit Emacs with SPC q

Save and quit q
Quit without saving w
Exit the Frame (daemon) f

(dotfiles/leader
  "q" '(:ignore t :which-key "Quit")
  "qq" '(save-buffers-kill-emacs :which-key "Save")
  "qw" '(kill-emacs :which-key "Now")
  "qf" '(delete-frame :which-key "Frame"))

Help

Use the built-in describe-* functionality of Emacs to quickly access documentation for packages, variables, and functions.

Run helper functions with SPC h
- Packages p
- Variables v
- Functions f

(dotfiles/leader
  "h" '(:ignore t :which-key "Help")
  "hp" '(describe-package :which-key "Package")
  "hv" '(describe-variable :which-key "Variable")
  "hf" '(describe-function :which-key "Function"))

Files

Emacs has some really cool built-in packages, Dired¹¹ is one of them. It's not perfect out of the box though, there's work to do.

Navigating to the current directory

I don't want to have to press RET twice to navigate to the current directory. Avoid this behaviour with jump, included in the dired-x package that ships with Dired¹¹.

Open a new dired buffer with SPC d.

(require 'dired-x)
(dotfiles/leader
  "d" '(dired-jump :which-key "Dired"))

Reusing the same buffer

By default Dired¹¹ will create a new buffer every time you press RET over a directory. This leads to unwanted buffers all over the place. Avoid this behaviour with Dired Single¹², reusing the same dired buffer.

Move up a directory with h
Open a single buffer with l

(use-package dired-single
  :config (evil-collection-define-key 'normal 'dired-mode-map
            "h" 'dired-single-up-directory
            "l" 'dired-single-buffer))

Interface tweaks

Shell

Another really incredible piece of kit, shipped with Emacs. Eshell¹³ is a fully POSIX compliant shell written entirely in Emacs Lisp. While not a traditional terminal emulator, it provides me with all of the functionality I expect and require from one. The infamous lambda prompt implemented with the Eshell Prompt Extras¹⁴ package.

(use-package eshell-prompt-extras
  :custom (eshell-highlight-prompt nil)
          (eshell-prefer-lisp-functions nil)
	        (eshell-prompt-function 'epe-theme-lambda))

Open an eshell buffer with SPC e.

(dotfiles/leader
  "e" '(eshell :which-key "Shell"))

Magit

/chris/dotfiles/src/commit/879222ed6a8bc8cf2ff6944f45c0d1dab57804a4/docs/images/2021-02-13-example-magit.gif

Yet another hallmark feature of Emacs: Magit¹⁵ with the darling name, the developer stresses it's supposed to be Magic but with Git¹⁶. It's a complete Git¹⁶ porcelain within Emacs.

(use-package magit
  :commands magit-status
  :custom (magit-display-buffer-function
           #'magit-display-buffer-same-window-except-diff-v1))

Open the status page for the current repository with SPC g.

(dotfiles/leader
  "g" '(magit-status :which-key "Magit"))

GitHub integration

Interact with Git¹⁶ forges from Magit¹⁵ and Emacs using Forge¹⁷, requiring only a GitHub¹⁸ token to get started. If you're not sure what GitHub¹⁸ is, it's to Git¹⁶ what Porn is to PornHub. No citations!