Clojure Snippets

Using snippets saves you time typing common coding structures and helps you avoid silly typos too. Simply typing in a snippet name and pressing M-/ or using M-x yas-expand gives you the full text & code structure from the snippet template.

For example, if you are defining a new function in Clojure then type defn and press M-/ to expand to the full definition structure, including all parens. Then use TAB to move through the structure to complete the name, doc-string, arguments and behaviour of the function.

Lets look at the built-in snippets that come with the Clojure layer in Spacemacs (and should be the default in Emacs YASnippet package).

Its easy to wrtie your own snippets for Clojure or any other language you use with Spacemacs / Emacs

Where do Snippets fit in

There are several ways to speed up typing your Clojure code, Leiningen Templates, autocompletion, clj-refactor and YASnippets.

Snippets are a great way to create much of the common code structures you typically write as you are developing your code. The snippets I use the most are defn, let, ifl and for.

Some of the snippets are made redundant by other Clojure layer features in Spacemacs. For example, when I create a new file then the namespace is automatically added, so I rarely use the ns snippet. I also use clj-refactor which takes care of adding require statements for me, so the require snippet is rarely used.

Note: Smartparens does not work when you are completing an expanded snippet the first time. However, as soon as you tab out of the end of the snippet then smartparens works again. I havent determined if this is simply a missing config or some conflict between YASnippets & Smartparens.

Default snippets for Clojure

The snippets that are available in Spacemacs can be found in the yasnippet github repository or in the ~/.emacs.d/elpa/yasnippet-20160501.1841/snippets/clojure-mode directory on your laptop (when yasnippet package is updated then name of that directory will change).

All the current snippets for Clojure mode are in the following table, indicating which tab stops they have.

Snippet Description Tab Stops
bench benchmark an expression, using the time function body
bp depreciated: break point in swank
def def expression N/A
defm defmacro expression, with name, doc-string, arguments & body tabstops name, docstring, args, body
defn defn expression, with name, doc-string, arguments & body tabstops name, docstring, args, body
defr defrecord docstring, object, args, body
deft deftype docstring, object, args, body
doseq doseq name, body
fn fn - anonymous function name, body
for for condition, body
if if condition, body
ifl if-let - if true, bind a local name binding, body
import import java library library name
is is - clojure test assertion value, expected
let let - bind a local name to a value name, value, body
map map fn, col, col
map.lambda map with anonymous function #() fn, body
mdoc metadata docstring docstring
ns ns - expression with the current namespace inserted automatically N/A
opts destructuring a map with :keys, :or for default values, :as for entire vector :key binding, or defaults, :as binding
pr prn - print function string/value
print println - print function string/value
reduce reduce - reduce expression with an anonymous function args, body
require :require expression with library and alias library, alias
test deftest expression test description, value/expected
try try & catch expression try expression, exception name, body
use depreciated: use require instead
when when when expression, body
whenl when-let - local binding on when condition binding, body

Hint: The above table was created in Emacs markdown mode by enabling the minor mode: orgtbl-mode. Start the table with a | character followed by a word and use TAB to create and align the table as you go through. If you already have content, use the function orgtbl-create-or-convert-from-region. To enable orgtbl-mode by default when in markdown major mode, edit your ~/.spacemacs file, in the dotspacemacs/user section add the line (add-hook 'markdown-mode-hook 'turn-on-orgtbl).

Hope you have fun speeding up the writing of your Clojure code (and any other common text) in Spacemacs / Emacs.

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