[OS X Emacs] add delimiters to major mode

[Jack Repenning]

On Feb 10, 2011, at 11:57 PM, Marinos K wrote:

> How can I add some delimiters to what a major mode considers as such ??
> 
> I want to do this on some other file (not the one that defines this
> major mode)

There are two parts to your question:

1. How does one modify the "syntax table" (which is what defines stuff like this)?
Ans: (modify-syntax-entry ...).  See the documentation (C-h f modify-syntax-entry); it's largish, too large to paste into list email like this.

2. How does one modify a given major mode's behavior?
Ans: that depends on the mode. Most of them define a "hook", a variable that can hold a list of functions to run when the mode is entered. Some also define "load-hooks" and others as well. Check the documentation for your mode of interest (C-h the-mode-name). So, for example, "C-h emacs-lisp-mode" says a bunch of stuff, ending with
 Entry to this mode calls the value of `emacs-lisp-mode-hook'
 if that value is non-nil.
There's a function, add-hook that ... well ... does what you think it does ;-). So in ~/.Aquamacs/Preferences.el, do

(defun my-whatever-mode-hook
 (modify-syntax-entry ?< '(>'))
(add-hook 'whatever-mode-hook 'my-whatever-mode-hook)

to make <...> act like a parenthesized expression in whatever-mode