8.1 zap-to-char

The zap-to-char function changed little between GNU Emacs version 19 and GNU Emacs version 22. However, zap-to-char calls another function, kill-region, which enjoyed a major rewrite.

The kill-region function in Emacs 19 is complex, but does not use code that is important at this time. We will skip it.

The kill-region function in Emacs 22 is easier to read than the same function in Emacs 19 and introduces a very important concept, that of error handling. We will walk through the function.

But first, let us look at the interactive zap-to-char function.

• Complete zap-to-char: The complete implementation.
• zap-to-char interactive: A three part interactive expression.
• zap-to-char body: A short overview.
• search-forward: How to search for a string.
• progn: The progn special form.
• Summing up zap-to-char: Using point and search-forward.