Printing an alist to a specific buffer

Question

I have the following code to print an alist. But I now want to recode this in a way that one can specify the buffer used for display. In addition, I would like that whether on not to erase the buffer is optional (not erasing the buffer as default).

(defun print-alist2 (alist)
  "Write an associated list to a buffer."
(let ((table-format "%-20s %-20s\n")
        (output-buffer (get-buffer-create "Alist Output")))
(with-current-buffer output-buffer
  (erase-buffer)
  (insert (format table-format &quot;Key&quot; &quot;Value&quot;))
  (dolist (vpair alist)
    (insert (format table-format (car vpair) (cdr vpair)))))
(switch-to-buffer output-buffer)))


(setq foo '((a1 . a2) (b1 . b2) (c1 . c2)))
(print-alist2 foo)

score 0 · Accepted Answer · answered Jun 13 '23 at 19:38

(defun print-alist2 (alist &optional buffer erasep)
  "Write an associated list to a buffer."

  (let ((table-format   "%-20s %-20s\n")
        (output-buffer  (or buffer  (get-buffer-create "*Alist Output*"))))
    (with-current-buffer output-buffer
      (when erasep (erase-buffer))
      (insert (format table-format "Key" "Value"))
      (dolist (vpair alist)
        (insert (format table-format (car vpair) (cdr vpair)))))
    (switch-to-buffer output-buffer)))

Printing an alist to a specific buffer

1 Answers1