36.2 Abbrev Tables

This section describes how to create and manipulate abbrev tables.

Function: make-abbrev-table

This function creates and returns a new, empty abbrev table--an obarray containing no symbols. It is a vector filled with zeros.

Function: clear-abbrev-table table

This function undefines all the abbrevs in abbrev table table, leaving it empty. It always returns nil.

Function: define-abbrev-table tabname definitions

This function defines tabname (a symbol) as an abbrev table name, i.e., as a variable whose value is an abbrev table. It defines abbrevs in the table according to definitions, a list of elements of the form (abbrevname expansion hook usecount). The return value is always nil.

Variable: abbrev-table-name-list

This is a list of symbols whose values are abbrev tables. define-abbrev-table adds the new abbrev table name to this list.

Function: insert-abbrev-table-description name &optional human

This function inserts before point a description of the abbrev table named name. The argument name is a symbol whose value is an abbrev table. The return value is always nil.

If human is non-nil, the description is human-oriented. Otherwise the description is a Lisp expression--a call to define-abbrev-table that would define name exactly as it is currently defined.