muban.el

This lightweight package allows you to quickly insert pre-defined template strings with just a few keystrokes.

Setup

Install it from MELPA.

Syntax

The definitions of templates are placed in a single file ~/.emacs.muban. They have a very simple syntax:

#muban-begin <formula1>
<template-body1>
#muban-begin <formula2>
<template-body2>
...

The best way to understand it is through examples. (In the following I assume you have bind key to the command muban-apply)

Basic Usage

Example 1

Put the following in ~/.emacs.muban:

#muban-begin example
This is a very looooong string.

In this example, example is a simple formula and the line below is the template body. Then after you type example at any point in an Emacs buffer and hit key, the template string appears in replace of the formula example:

Something here...example

becomes

Something here...This is a very looooong string.

Example 2

Put the following in ~/.emacs.muban:

#muban-begin img
<img src="@url here@" height=@image height@ width=@image width@>

The content between two @ is intended to be modified when applying the template. After you type img at any point in an Emacs buffer and hit key, the template string appears in replace of the formula img:

Something here...img

becomes

Something here...<img src="|" height=image height width=image width>

Note the | indicates where the cursor is. Then you can input the image url there. Having done that, you type TAB to jump to the next position specified by another pair of @:

Something here...<img src="http://url.to.image/" height=| width=image width>

Likewise, having input the height, use TAB again to jump to the width. After all the contents between pairs of @ are already input, hit another TAB and you jump to the end of the template string:

Something here...<img src="http://url.to.image/" height=100 width=100>|

Then you can continue to do your work.

Example 3

Put the following in ~/.emacs.muban:

#muban-begin img#0
#0
<img src="@url here@" height=@image height@ width=@image width@>#0

#digit means to repeat the content between them, where digit is a number from 0-9. Note that the position of #digit in the formula does not matter. You can use im#0g if you like. After you type img10(if you use im#0g above, then you should type im10g instead) at any point in an Emacs buffer and hit key, the template string appears in replace of the formula:

Something here...img10

becomes

Something here...
<img src="|" height=image height width=image width>
<img src="url here" height=image height width=image width>
... 7 duplicates here ...
<img src="url here" height=image height width=image width>

Note all the characters between #0 are repeated, including newline \n. Then you can input the image url and type TAB and jump to the next position.

That's it! @ and #digit are all of the syntax. You can mix them, nest them to create more complicated templates(see below).

Advanced Usage

Example 4

Put the following in ~/.emacs.muban:

#muban-begin list#0.#1
#0
<ul>#1
 <li>@content@</li>#1
</ul>#0

Note again the form of the formula is free, so you can try something like haha#2hehe#9ahah(the template body should be modified accordingly of course). After you type list2.3 at any point in an Emacs buffer and hit key, the template string appears in replace of the formula:

Something here...
<ul>
 <li>|</li>
 <li>content</li>
 <li>content</li>
</ul>
<ul>
 <li>content</li>
 <li>content</li>
 <li>content</li>
</ul>

Then you can continue to edit like the examples above.

Example 5

Of course you can put multiple templates in ~/.emacs.muban:

#muban-begin list#0.#1
#0
<ul>#1
 <li>@content@</li>#1
</ul>#0

#muban-begin img#0
#0
<img src="@url here@" height=@image height@ width=@image width@>#0

The blank line between the two template definitions can be safely ignored. In fact, all the blank characters between the last character of the last template definition and the #muban-begin of the next definition, including \t and \n, are ignored.

Notes

• To use literal # and @ in you template, use \ to escape. For example, \@string\#1@content@\@string\#2 will become @string#1|@string#2, where | is the cursor.
• If TAB conflicts with existing keymaps, you can use (define-key muban-mode-map (kbd "new key") 'muban-next) to bind new key to jumping to the next @ position.