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(autotype)Autoinserting


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Autoinserting Text in Empty Files
*********************************

   `M-x auto-insert' will put some predefined text at the beginning of
the buffer.  The main application for this function, as its name
suggests, is to have it be called automatically every time an empty,
and only an empty file is visited.  This is accomplished by putting
`(add-hook 'find-file-hooks 'auto-insert)' into your `~/.emacs' file
(Note: (emacs)Init File).

   What gets inserted, if anything, is determined by the variable
`auto-insert-alist'.  The CARs of this list are each either a mode
name, making an element applicable when a buffer is in that mode.  Or
they can be a string, which is a regexp matched against the buffer's
file name.  In that way different kinds of files that have the same
mode in Emacs can be distinguished.  The CARs may also be cons cells
consisting of mode name or regexp as above and an additional
descriptive string.

   When a matching element is found, the CDR says what to do.  It may
be a string, which is a file name, whose contents are to be inserted, if
that file is found in the directory `auto-insert-directory' or under a
absolute file name.  Or it can be a skeleton (Note: Skeleton
Language) to be inserted.

   It can also be a function, which allows doing various things.  The
function can simply insert some text, indeed, it can be skeleton
command (Note: Using Skeletons).  It can be a lambda function which
will for example conditionally call another function.  Or it can even
reset the mode for the buffer. If you want to perform several such
actions in order, you use a vector, i.e. several of the above elements
between square brackets (`[...]').

   By default C and C++ headers insert a definition of a symbol derived
from the filename to prevent multiple inclusions.  C and C++ sources
insert an include of the header.  Makefiles insert the file
makefile.inc if it exists.

   TeX and bibTeX mode files insert the file tex-insert.tex if it
exists, while LaTeX mode files insert a typical `\documentclass' frame.
Html files insert a skeleton with the usual frame.

   Ada mode files call the Ada header skeleton command.  Emacs lisp
source files insert the usual header, with a copyright of your
environment variable `$ORGANIZATION' or else the FSF, and prompt for
valid keywords describing the contents.  Files in a `bin' directory for
which Emacs could determine no specialised mode (Note: (emacs)Choosing
Modes) are set to Shell script mode.

   In Lisp (Note: (emacs)Init File) you can use the function
`define-auto-insert' to add to or modify `auto-insert-alist'.  See its
documentation with `C-h f auto-insert-alist'.

   The variable `auto-insert' says what to do when `auto-insert' is
called non-interactively, e.g. when a newly found file is empty (see
above):
`nil'
     Do nothing.

`t'
     Insert something if possible, i.e. there is a matching entry in
     `auto-insert-alist'.

other
     Insert something if possible, but mark as unmodified.

   The variable `auto-insert-query' controls whether to ask about
inserting something.  When this is `nil', inserting is only done with
`M-x auto-insert'.  When this is `function', you are queried whenever
`auto-insert' is called as a function, such as when Emacs visits an
empty file and you have set the above-mentioned hook.  Otherwise you
are alway queried.

   When querying, the variable `auto-insert-prompt''s value is used as a
prompt for a y-or-n-type question.  If this includes a `%s' construct,
that is replaced by what caused the insertion rule to be chosen.  This
is either a descriptive text, the mode-name of the buffer or the regular
expression that matched the filename.


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