What to do after error?...
Gregory A. Shimansky
I am not sure it happens all the time but it does happen quite often. When
I get an error in lisp I sometimes want to see the backtrace so I set
debug-on-error to t. Later I notice that modes in modeline are in square
brackets like this: [(C)], [(Group Topic)], etc. One time when I tried to
debug some lisp that gave an error I got even triple nesting. So I wonder
1. What exactly do these square brackets mean?
2. Is it bad when I have them?
3. How to get rid of them?
--
Gregory
Eli Zaretskii
>
> 1. What exactly do these square brackets mean?
They mean you are in recursive edit. See the node "Recursive Edit" in the
on-line manual.
> 2. Is it bad when I have them?
It's not too healthy.
> 3. How to get rid of them?
Type "C-]". See the node "Quitting" in the manual.
Gregory A. Shimansky
>>>>> <el...@is.elta.co.il> writes:
EZ> "Gregory A. Shimansky" wrote:
>>
>> 1. What exactly do these square brackets mean?
EZ> They mean you are in recursive edit. See the node "Recursive Edit" in
EZ> the on-line manual.
Yeah thank you. I see now... Didn't realize I am in this mode since there's
no prompt in minibuffer.
>> 3. How to get rid of them?
EZ> Type "C-]". See the node "Quitting" in the manual.
Thank you it worked.
--
Gregory
Kai Großjohann
> 1. What exactly do these square brackets mean?
They indicate recursive editing levels. Idea: start recursive edit,
move around in Emacs, switch to other buffers, change the window
configuration. Then you exit recursive edit and you're back exactly
where you were when you started recursive edit.
This is useful for editing stuff while in the midst of a
query-replace, for example. (I think query-replace even offers `C-r'
as a key binding to enter recursive edit. Use `C-M-c' or `M-x
exit-recursive-edit RET' to exit the recursive edit.)
> 2. Is it bad when I have them?
It means that Emacs is keeping state for you to use when you return.
Maybe you want M-x toplevel RET to discard all that state.
> 3. How to get rid of them?
M-x toplevel RET or M-x abort-recursive-edit RET (aka `C-]') or M-x
exit-recursive-edit RET (aka `C-M-c').
kai
--
A large number of young women don't trust men with beards. (BFBS Radio)
Colin Walters
> I am not sure it happens all the time but it does happen quite
> often. When I get an error in lisp I sometimes want to see the
> backtrace so I set debug-on-error to t. Later I notice that modes in
> modeline are in square brackets like this: [(C)], [(Group Topic)],
> etc. One time when I tried to debug some lisp that gave an error I
> got even triple nesting. So I wonder
>
> 1. What exactly do these square brackets mean?
That you're in a recursive editing level.
> 2. Is it bad when I have them?
Not terrible, but you don't want to accumulate them :)
> 3. How to get rid of them?
C-]
See also the node "Recursive Edit" in the manual.