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authorRichard M. Stallman <rms@gnu.org>2005-04-17 15:46:33 +0000
committerRichard M. Stallman <rms@gnu.org>2005-04-17 15:46:33 +0000
commitfaa44aee7b057a841cf52fa2b51d4c7a127325b8 (patch)
tree3361c6c4d05c39b3b567059b903dd0bc481a37bd /lispref/positions.texi
parent86cf000e8409952e492ed786102af11d4017fdd3 (diff)
downloademacs-faa44aee7b057a841cf52fa2b51d4c7a127325b8.tar.gz
(Positions): Clarify converting marker to integer.
Diffstat (limited to 'lispref/positions.texi')
-rw-r--r--lispref/positions.texi18
1 files changed, 10 insertions, 8 deletions
diff --git a/lispref/positions.texi b/lispref/positions.texi
index 822238a6342..9a71cf29e33 100644
--- a/lispref/positions.texi
+++ b/lispref/positions.texi
@@ -15,14 +15,16 @@ speak of the character before or after a given position. However, we
often speak of the character ``at'' a position, meaning the character
after that position.
- Positions are usually represented as integers starting from 1, but can
-also be represented as @dfn{markers}---special objects that relocate
-automatically when text is inserted or deleted so they stay with the
-surrounding characters. Functions that expect an argument to be a
-position (an integer), but accept a marker as a substitute, normally
-ignore the marker buffer. Of course, markers used this way usually
-point to a position in the buffer that the function operates on, but
-that is entirely the programmer's responsibility. @xref{Markers}.
+ Positions are usually represented as integers starting from 1, but
+can also be represented as @dfn{markers}---special objects that
+relocate automatically when text is inserted or deleted so they stay
+with the surrounding characters. Functions that expect an argument to
+be a position (an integer), but accept a marker as a substitute,
+normally ignore which buffer the marker points into; they convert the
+marker to an integer, and use that integer, exactly as if you had
+passed the integer as the argument. Markers used this way usually
+point to a position in the buffer that the function will operate on,
+but if not, they are converted to integers anyway. @xref{Markers}.
See also the ``field'' feature (@pxref{Fields}), which provides
functions that are used by many cursor-motion commands.