Emacs Abbrev Mode: A Deal Breaker

Create and expand abbreviations to make your typing easier
Use yasnippet for code expansions or yankpad
But abbrev-mode can do almost anything you want

One must generally have abbrev-mode activated to expand abbrevs

(setq-default abbrev-mode t)

Different kinds of abbrevs

Abbrevs can be mode-specific, which are active only in one major mode.

e.g. can define abbrevs just for org-mode

e.g. tle

  #+title: 
  #+roam_tags:
  #+STARTUP: showall
  #+OPTIONS: \\n:t"

Abbrevs can also have global definitions that are active in all major modes

Note: A mode-specific definition for the current major mode overrides a global definition if they are the same.

How to define abbrevs

Main way

define-global-abbrev
define-mode-abbrev

It reads two arguments, the abbrev, and its expansion
I.e. type the abbrev first then the expansion

Second way

define abbrevs from within your text C-x a g and C-x a l

C-x a g
C-x a l

Adds word/s before point

hello =C-x a g= adds the word before point
hello there =C-u 2 C-x a g= adds 2 words before point
"Hello there Bob" (selected) =C-u 0 C-x a g= adds region (for this to work one must use mouse)

To change the definition of an abbrev

Just make a new definition

To remove an abbrev definition, just give it a negative argument

e.g. "ac1" "aristocracy"

C-u - C-x a g
C-u - C-x a l (if abbrev is mode specific)

How to expand an abbreviation

aristocracy?

Type it in buffer, hit space, OR any punctuation mark that does not form part of a word (, . ")

Note: Abbrev expansions preserves case!

aristocracy

Aristocracy

Ac1 expands to Aristocracy
ac1 expands to aristocracy

To PREVENT an abbreviation type C-q after the abbreviation

ac1 is an abbreviation

ac1 C-q renders 'ac1' not 'aristocracy'

To REVERT an abbreviation `M-x unexpand-abbrev`

ac1

(global-set-key (kbd "C-x a u") 'unexpand-abbrev)

But it is easier simply to hit "undo" and type C-q

Examining Abbrevs

list-abbrevs

Making sense of the entries

"abililty" 0 "ability"
"abm" 5 "Abraham"
"aboslute" 0 "absolute"

Important The number in the row is the number of times the abbrev has been expanded. Emacs helps you see which abbreviations you actually use. You can delete ones you do not use often, thereby keeping the abbrevs file manageable.

To edit abbrevs

edit-abbrevs

The buffer is called Abbrevs
This is called "Edit-Abbrev-Mode"

Save abbrevs across sessions

Set your default abbrev file–but there is no need to change defaults

abbrev-file-name

~/.emacs.d/abbrev_defs

The set variable:

'(save-abbrevs 'silently)

This allows you to save your abbrevs automatically and silently (i.e. Emacs will not ask you.)

GREAT TWEAK

Thanks to Tom:

https://stackoverflow.com/questions/15375759/how-to-control-cursor-placement-in-emacs-abbrev-expansion

;; ABBREV-MODE
 (defadvice expand-abbrev (after my-expand-abbrev activate)
   ;; if there was an expansion
   (if ad-return-value
       ;; start idle timer to ensure insertion of abbrev activator
       ;; character (e.g. space) is finished
       (run-with-idle-timer 0 nil
          (lambda ()
            ;; if there is the string "@@" in the
            ;; expansion then move cursor there and
            ;; delete the string
            (let ((cursor "@@"))
        (if (search-backward cursor last-abbrev-location t)
            (delete-char (length cursor))))))))

As an example type 'eg' and 'src'

  #+begin_example
  @@
  #+end_example

  #+begin_example

  #+end_example

  #+begin_src

  #+end_src

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