\& is documented in "Regexp Replacement" in the Emacs Manual. It represents the whole of the matched regexp.
Mark: If I run your macro with standard Emacs settings (having started it with the -Q flag) then I see the problem that you describe, whereas if I run with my normal settings then I don't. I think it's a question of how the region is handled and the significant difference is that in my normal environment I have Delete Selection Mode turned on, whereas by default it is off. And it's the setting when the macro is defined that seems to matter. If you look at the help for M-< it says "Don't use this command in Lisp programs!", but by using it in a macro that's effectively what you are doing. However, rather than worrying any further about precisely why your macro is unreliable, I suggest you use Kevin Buchs' proposal. Francis > -----Original Message----- > From: help-emacs-windows-bounces+f.j.wright=live.co...@gnu.org > [mailto:help-emacs-windows-bounces+f.j.wright=live.co...@gnu.org] On Behalf > Of Raymond Zeitler > Sent: 25 May 2012 5:18 pm > To: help-emacs-windows@gnu.org > Cc: MBR > Subject: Re: [h-e-w] Why do replace commands sometimes not work? > > Hi MBR: > > To me, the search and replace syntax you're using is incorrect. Or perhaps \& is > an undocumented feature -- you did mention that it sometimes works. > > I would search for "\([A-Z]\)" and replace with "SPC\1". > > HTH > > - Ray > > -----Original Message----- > > Date: Thu, 24 May 2012 19:15:40 -0400 > From: MBR <m...@arlsoft.com> > To: help-gnu-em...@gnu.org, help-emacs-windows@gnu.org > Subject: [h-e-w] Why do replace commands sometimes not work? > > -snip- > The purpose of this part of the macro is to turn CamelCase into space-separated > words. > > M-< ;; Go to beginning of narrowed buffer > M-x replace-regexp RET > [A-Z] RET ;; Find any capital letter > C-q SPC \& RET ;; Replace it with a space followed by itself > M-< ;; Go to beginning of narrowed buffer > C-d ;; Delete the unwanted space before the > first letter > > So, if the narrowed portion of the buffer contains: > > "JohnJacobJingleheimerschmidt" > > after running this portion of the macro, it should contain: > > "John Jacob Jingleheimerschmidt" > > Instead, when run in Emacs 23, the result is: > > "ohnJacobJingleheimerschmidt" > > which is exactly what you'd expect if the M-x replace-regexp failed to do the > replacement that it should have. -snip- >
