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I'm trying to define a custom Python skeleton and have found there are two macros in python.el that might be of use here.

After poking around and looking at the value for python-skeleton-autoinsert it revealed there is...

python-define-skeleton

python-mode-skeleton-abbrev-table is a variable defined in
python.el.gz.

Value
[## 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 def 0 0 class 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 try 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 while 0 0 0 for 0 0 0 0 0 0]

Set

Documentation
Abbrev table for Python mode skeletons.

Value is slightly confusing but I also found...

python-define-auxiliary-skeleton

python-define-auxiliary-skeleton is a macro defined in python.el.gz.

Signature
(python-define-auxiliary-skeleton NAME &optional DOC &rest SKEL)

Documentation
Define a python-mode auxiliary skeleton using NAME DOC and SKEL.

The skeleton will be bound to python-skeleton-NAME.

Aim

My aim is to have a skeleton that inserts the following (correctly indented for the position but I think that is taken care of by the functions), getting a prompt for the <value> and inserting it so that the output is...

print(f"{<value>=}")

First Attempt

Tried the following and it evaluated without error...

;; Define a skeleton for printing
(python-define-auxiliary-skeleton print-debug
  "Insert a print statement that will show the value of the argument."
  "Enter the variable/object name: "
  "print(f\"{" str "=}\")")

Checking the value of python-mode-skeleton-abbrev-table this hasn't been added though.

Questions

  1. I don't understand what the values of &optional and &rest are so I'm unsure if I'm defining this correctly.

  2. Once I've got the definition correct how would I get this included in python-mode-skeleton-abbrev-table (or otherwise registered/recognised) so that the skeleton is available with the others (so I can bind it to a key sequence)?

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1 Answer 1

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If you look at the python skeleton commands, you will find their names use a single dash after the 'namespace'. Using your print-debug definition example, the created python-skeleton--print-debug has two dashes after after the namespace part. So we jump to the python-skeleton definitions (using M-x find-function). We find that they have been defined using python-skeleton-define and that python-define-auxiliary-skeleton has been used only for 'auxiliary' skeletons (skeletons used by other skeletons, like the else skeleton in the if skeleton).

So you should simpy replace python-define-auxiliary-skeleton with python-skeleton-define in your exmple definition and your code will work fine (the functions take the same arguments, and you have interpreted &optional and &rest correctly. You can find their meanings in the elisp documentation).

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    Brilliant, thank you, as you say works as expected. I found a useful description of how &optional and &rest work at xahlee.info/emacs/emacs/elisp_optional_params.html should anyone else come across this. Commented Feb 11, 2024 at 21:39
  • 1
    Another description can be found in the Elisp manual here. Commented Feb 12, 2024 at 8:38

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