[ESS] tcsh, bash, and the inferior R process

[Erik Iverson]

Hello Kasper -

Kasper Daniel Hansen wrote:
> I have no idea why you observe a difference, but here is waht I see  
> using bash:
> 
> Btw. how do you start Emacs - in a terminal or what?

I use KDE, and have a button to launch it.  I tried launching Xemacs 
from a terminal, and both of my problems went away.

Any ideas on why this makes a difference ?

Thanks!
Erik






> 
> On Oct 15, 2007, at 10:34 AM, Erik Iverson wrote:
> 
>> Hello -
>>
>> I have been using the "tcsh" shell under Linux for a while now.   Today,
>> I experimented with changing my default shell to bash.  The  behavior of
>> the inferior R process mode (iESS) in ESS seems to change depending on
>> which shell I'm using, and I can't figure out why.
>>
>> First, my software.  I'm using ESS 5.3.6, R 2.5.1, XEmacs 21.5.24
>> (Beta), all on RHEL4.  I've verified the issue using Emacs also, so
>> XEmacs doesn't seem to be the problem.
>>
>> I am using ypchsh to change my default shell, since we use NIS here.
>>
>> So here is my problem.  I start an inferior R process using M-x R, and
>> issue a command, say
>>
>>> 2 + 2
>>
>> [1] 4
>>
>> Now, if my shell is tcsh, I am able to move point to the line  containing
>> "2 + 2", and hit "Return" to copy "2 + 2" to the inferior R mode's
>> prompt.  I could then edit the command, and hit "Return" again to  submit
>> it.
>>
>> However, after changing my default shell to the bash shell, moving  point
>> to the "2 + 2" line and hitting "Return" copies the "2 + 2" command
>> *and* submits it to the R process, so I see
>>
>>> 2 + 2
>>
>> [1] 4
>>
>> again, with only hitting "Return".  So I seem to have lost my editing
>> capabilities.
> 
> 
> I see this behavior as well. I find it strange that hitting RETURN  
> should copy the line to the prompt line, but perhaps I just haven't  
> been exposed to it.
> 
> 
> 
>> Another issue is that, using tcsh, I am used to hitting C-c C-c to  move
>> point to a command prompt in the iESS buffer.
>>
>> Under bash, C-c C-c seems to do this properly, but it copies whatever
>> line I'm on before doing it.  For example,
>> hitting C-c C-c on the 2 + 2 line, I get
>>
>>> 2 + 2 C-c C-c
>>>
>>
>> So it literally prints 'C-c C-c' in the iESS buffer.  Further, if I  hit
>> C-c C-c on the
>> [1] 4
>> line, the minibuffer says "No command on this line." and point remains
>> on that line.
> 
> 
> I do _not_ see this. C-c C-c just brings me to the prompt no matter  what.
> 
> Kasper
> 
>> If anyone has any idea why changing shells might do this, I'd be  glad to
>> try some things!
>>
>> I do very often submit R code from a source file to the R process, and
>> that still works just fine.  I do prefer that approach, but once in
>> awhile find myself typing something quick in the iESS buffer.  I'm  just
>> curious why the shell might be affecting the bahavior of that buffer.
>> Hopefully this isn't something obvious that I've overlooked.  I've  only
>> tried tcsh and bash, I suppose I could try some more shells and see  what
>> behavior I observe.
>>
>> Thanks,
>> Erik Iverson
>> iverson at biostat.wisc.edu
>>
>> ______________________________________________
>> ESS-help at stat.math.ethz.ch mailing list
>> https://stat.ethz.ch/mailman/listinfo/ess-help
> 
>