be-quiet.el - Emacs, be quiet!

The be-quiet Emacs package helps manage and minimize unwanted output in your Emacs environment. It is useful in contexts where controlling or suppressing verbosity is required.

Installation

Emacs: Install with straight (Emacs version < 30)

To install be-quiet with straight.el:

1. It if hasn't already been done, add the straight.el bootstrap code to your init file.
2. Add the following code to the Emacs init file:

(use-package be-quiet
  :ensure t
  :straight (be-quiet
             :type git
             :host github
             :repo "jamescherti/be-quiet.el"))

Alternative installation: use-package and :vc (Built-in feature in Emacs version >= 30)

To install be-quiet with use-package and :vc (Emacs >= 30):

(use-package be-quiet
  :ensure t
  :vc (:url "https://github.com/jamescherti/be-quiet.el"
       :rev :newest))

Alternative installation 2: Doom Emacs

Here is how to install be-quiet on Doom Emacs:

1. Add to the ~/.doom.d/packages.el file:

(package! be-quiet
  :recipe
  (:host github :repo "jamescherti/be-quiet.el"))

2. Add to ~/.doom.d/config.el:

(after! be-quiet
  ;; TODO: Add setq options here
  )

3. Run the doom sync command:

doom sync

Usage

be-quiet (macro)

The simplest way to use the be-quiet macro is as follows:

(be-quiet
  (message "You will not see this message")
  (message "You will also not see this message"))

The be-quiet macro silences specific function calls while allowing you to capture their output. For example:

(let (output) (be-quiet (message "Foo")
                        (setq output (be-quiet-output)))
  (message "This was the last message: %s" output))

In this example, the message "Foo" is silenced, but its output is captured and stored in the variable output.

be-quiet-advice-add (function)

To prevent certain functions from generating output, use the be-quiet-advice-add function.

For instance, to disable the message "Indentation setup for shell type bash" when sh-set-shell is called:

(be-quiet-advice-add #'sh-set-shell)

In this example, calling the sh-set-shell function will execute as usual without displaying any messages.

Here is another example to prevent recentf from showing messages during saving and cleanup:

(with-eval-after-load "recentf"
  (be-quiet-advice-add #'recentf-save-list)
  (be-quiet-advice-add #'recentf-cleanup))

be-quiet-funcall (function)

Use be-quiet-funcall when you want to invoke a function while suppressing all output, including messages and printed text. For instance, to call message without displaying anything:

(be-quiet-funcall 'message "You won't see this")

Unlike be-quiet, which is a macro and captures output in a temporary buffer for later inspection, be-quiet-funcall is a regular function that discards all output entirely. Use it when you do not need to capture or inspect the suppressed output.

Frequently asked question

Identifying Functions to Silence in Emacs

You can assign a regular expression to the variable debug-on-message by adding the following line early in your Emacs init files. This will cause Emacs to invoke the debugger when a matching message is displayed during Emacs startup:

(setq debug-on-message "Regular expression")

What is the difference between be-quiet and shut-up?

The be-quiet package offers the same core functionality as shut-up, but with several enhancements:

• Provides new functions: be-quiet-advice-add and be-quiet-advice-remove
• Ensures internal helper functions are properly marked as internal
• Fixes byte-compiler warnings and other issues and improves docstrings for clarity and completeness
• Fix bug: Kill the temporary buffer created by the be-quiet macro when be-quiet-disable is non-nil (unlike shut-up, which leaves the buffer behind when shut-up-ignore is non-nil)
• Fix bug: Do not set inhibit-message to t when be-quiet-disable is non-nil (unlike shut-up, which sets it regardless of the value of shut-up-ignore)
• Replaced buffer-name with buffer-live-p to ensure that the be-quiet buffer is still valid before performing operations like kill-buffer.

License

• Copyright (C) 2024-2025 James Cherti
• Copyright (C) 2013-2014 Johan Andersson
• Copyright (C) 2014-2015 Sebastian Wiesner

The be-quiet package is based on the shut-up package, originally developed by Johan Andersson and Sebastian Wiesner. This program is free software: you can redistribute it and/or modify it under the terms of the GNU General Public License as published by the Free Software Foundation, either version 3 of the License, or (at your option) any later version. This program is distributed in the hope that it will be useful, but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. See the GNU General Public License for more details. You should have received a copy of the GNU General Public License along with this program.

Links

• be-quiet.el @GitHub

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