Here\u2019s a short tip for all you Elispers that clears up an obscure point about moving around in buffers. For a long time I\u2019ve been dimly aware that the preferred way to move to the start of a buffer is<\/p>\n
(goto-char (point-min))\n<\/pre>\n<\/div>\ninstead of the simpler<\/p>\n
\n(goto-char 1)\n<\/pre>\n<\/div>\nThe reason for that is obvious once it\u2019s pointed out: if the buffer is narrowed, the first point in the buffer may not be 1. Still, it never seemed to make a difference in practice. Xah Lee comes to the rescue with a concise post that explains what\u2019s really going on<\/a>. Take a look at Lee\u2019s post to see why either form works but it is<\/i> best to use
(point-min)<\/code>.<\/p>\nAs a final exercise, suppose that like Lee, you decide to replace every
(goto-char 1)<\/code> with(goto-char (point-min))<\/code> in all the.el<\/code> files in, say, your~\/src<\/code> directory. How would you do that?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Here\u2019s a short tip for all you Elispers that clears up an obscure point about moving around in buffers. For a long time I\u2019ve been dimly aware that the preferred way to move to the start of a buffer is … Continue reading