Symex (pron. "sym-ex", pl. symexes): A Lisp symbolic expression, which describes a computation to be performed.
An intuitive way to edit Lisp symbolic expressions ("symexes") structurally in Emacs.
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Symex (pronounced sym-ex, as in symbolic expression) is a modal (like Vim but simpler) way of editing Lisp code as trees. Entering symex mode allows you to reason about your code in terms of its structure, similar to other tools like paredit and lispy. But while those packages provide a curated number of useful tree operations, Symex treats the tree structure explicitly so that arbitrary tree navigations and operations can be described using an expressive DSL, and invoked conveniently via a simple ("point-free") modal interface. As a consequence of this:
- Symex provides many novel features, such as "leap branch," "climb/descend branch," "goto highest/lowest," "skip forward/backward", recursive indent, recursive evaluate, among many others
- Implementing new structure-related features in general is easy [1].
- Keybindings are short and memorable
At the moment, symex mode uses paredit, lispy, and evil-cleverparens to provide much of its low level functionality. In the future, this layer of primitives may be replaced with a layer that explicitly uses the abstract syntax tree, for still greater precision.
As of Jan 2023, there is "alpha" support for non-Lisp languages via tree-sitter. While motions and a couple of basic transformations should work across languages (i.e. not only Lisp), it should be considered an early preview rather than production-worthy. Full support is planned for completion as part of the 2.0 release coming in Spring '23.
| [1] | As long as, from a theoretical perspective, the intended traversal can be accomplished using a finite automaton. More complex traversals can be implemented (such as "leap branch"), but not as easily. Symex may be made Turing-complete at some point in the future, if there is interest in a feature that cannot be implemented in the DSL in its current form. |
- Install the package the usual way via MELPA (e.g.
M-x package-install). - Then, assuming you're using use-package to manage your configuration, add the following config to your
init.d(note these instructions have changed as of version 0.9):
(use-package symex :config (symex-initialize) (global-set-key (kbd "s-;") 'symex-mode-interface)) ; or whatever keybinding you like
This provides a keybinding to load the symex editing interface, and also enables the symex minor mode in all recognized lisp modes (the minor mode ensures that manual edits respect the tree structure, e.g. keeps parens balanced like paredit).
The best way to learn how to use Symex is to read the Animated Guide. Besides animations, it also contains lots of helpful field notes. Go check it out!
Symex provides both an evil state as well as a hydra-based modal interface. Which one should you use?
TL;DR: Use the evil option -- this is the default, and it is available to both evil and vanilla emacs users. If you're learning and would like some hand-holding as you familiarize yourself with the keybindings, use the hydra option, but it is likely that hydra will eventually be deprecated here.
The evil option is less obtrusive and allows you to, for instance, execute M-x commands without leaving symex mode. It should feel very similar to using Normal state, and doesn't interfere with normal Emacs usage including any custom keybindings you may be using.
The hydra operates almost identically to the evil state, but it provides a comprehensive menu that can be toggled on and off, and can therefore help you learn the keybindings as you go along. On the other hand, the drawback is that the hydra will exit if you do something not specifically connected to symex mode -- for instance, if you run an M-x command, or do a text search, or save the buffer, or run a custom command of some kind. You could customize the hydra so that it is more persistent (e.g. "pink" or "amaranth" hydra) but doing so could cause it to interfere with normal Emacs functions, as hydra keybindings take precedence over everything else.
In short, evil provides a more seamless experience, but hydra may be a good option while you are learning to use symex.
Depending on your choice, put one of these in the :custom section (not the :config section) of your use-package form:
(symex-modal-backend 'evil)
(symex-modal-backend 'hydra)
The table below lists the key bindings in Symex mode for Evil Symex users. You don't need this with the hydra frontend since you can lookup the keybindings at any time by pulling up the hydra menu (default binding: H-m). Also for the evil frontend, while you don't have the menu, you can always use Emacs's C-h k to learn what a key does, as another way of learning the bindings.
| Key | Action | Remarks |
|---|---|---|
h, j, k, l |
backwards, down, up, forwards | |
gj, gk |
linewise down, up | don't rely too heavily on these -- e.g. "leap branch" is often better |
f, b |
traverse forwards, backwards | |
C-f, C-b |
traverse forwards, backwards more | quicker ways to get around |
F, B |
skip forwards, backwards | quick ways to move forwards and backwards -- traverse without entering nested expressions |
{, } |
leap backwards, forwards | "leap" to adjacent branches in the current tree, preserving position on branch |
M-{, M-} |
soar backwards, forwards | leap, but crossing trees if necessary |
C-k, C-j |
climb, descend | a quick way to go up and down a tree |
0 / M-h |
go to first symex at this level | |
$, M-l |
go to last symex at this level | |
M-j, M-k |
go to lowest, highest symex in the tree |
i, a |
insert at beginning, append at end | |
I, A |
insert before, append after | |
o, O |
open line below, above | |
(, [ |
create symex with indicated delimiter | |
), ] |
wrap symex with indicated delimiter | |
C-', C-,, `, C-` |
cycle quoting, cycle unquoting, add quoting level, remove quoting level | |
w, W |
wrap with parens and insert, wrap and append | |
x, X, D |
delete, delete backwards, delete remaining | |
c, C |
change, change remaining | |
y, Y, p, P |
yank (copy), yank remaining, paste after, paste before | |
C--, s |
clear, replace/substitute | |
S |
change "surrounding" delimiter | |
H, L |
move/shift symex backwards, forwards | |
M-H, M-L |
move/shift symex backwards, forwards as far as possible on line or column | Remember that usually the Meta prefix M- means "the most" and the Shift prefix S- means an action or "to shift" in a direction |
K |
raise | |
C-S-j / C-{, C-S-k / C-} |
emit backwards, forwards | |
C-S-h / C-(, C-S-l / C-) |
capture backwards, forwards | |
z, Z |
swallow head, swallow tail | |
|, & |
split, join/merge | |
- |
splice | clip the delimiters, joining the symex to the containing expression |
>, C-> / C-S-o |
insert newline before, append newline after | |
<, J / C-< |
join with preceding line, join with next line | |
M-J / M-< |
collapse to a single line | |
M-> |
unfurl across multiple lines | |
C-M-<, C-M-> |
collapse remaining, unfurl remaining | |
=, <tab> |
tidy | indent and remove extraneous whitespace |
C-=, C-<tab> |
tidy remaining | tidy remaining symexes at this level |
M-= / M-<tab> |
tidy recursively | tidies while traversing the symex from the highest branch to the root, for cases where a simple tidy isn't adequate |
;, M-; |
comment out, comment out remaining |
e, E, d, M-e, C-M-e, T |
evaluate, evaluate remaining, evaluate definition, evaluate recursively, pretty evaluate, evaluate as "thunk" | T evaluates the indicated symex as if it were wrapped with parentheses, i.e. invoking it as a function, passing no arguments |
: |
eval-expression | evaluate an arbitrary expression in the minibuffer |
t |
switch to a scratch buffer | |
M |
display the messages buffer alongside | |
r |
go to REPL | |
R / X |
run/eval the buffer | |
C-; |
evaluate, and insert result | |
H-h |
toggle highlight | |
? |
describe / lookup documentation | |
<return> |
enter insertion state | |
<escape> |
exit |
Entering the symex modal interface (via e.g. s-;) using the hydra option shows you a comprehensive menu of all possible actions, by default. This is helpful initially, but over time you may prefer to dismiss the menu and bring it up only on demand, in order to conserve screen real estate. To do this, either run symex-toggle-menu via the menu entry point (H-m) while in symex mode, or add this to your init.d (e.g. in the :config section of the use-package form):
(symex-hide-menu)
The default keybindings in symex mode treat increasingly nested code as being "higher" and elements closer to the root as "lower." Think going "up" to the nest and "down" to the root. But symex allows you to modify these or any other keybindings to whatever you may find most natural.
If you're using evil, put something resembling this in your configuration before the call to (symex-initialize):
(setq symex--user-evil-keyspec
'(("j" . symex-go-up)
("k" . symex-go-down)
("C-j" . symex-climb-branch)
("C-k" . symex-descend-branch)
("M-j" . symex-goto-highest)
("M-k" . symex-goto-lowest)))
If you're using hydra, put something resembling this in your configuration after the call to (symex-initialize):
(defhydra+ hydra-symex (:columns 4
:post (symex-exit-mode)
:after-exit (symex--signal-exit))
"Symex mode"
("j" symex-go-up "up")
("k" symex-go-down "down")
("C-j" symex-climb-branch "climb branch")
("C-k" symex-descend-branch "descend branch")
("M-j" symex-goto-highest "go to highest")
("M-k" symex-goto-lowest "go to lowest"))
When going up and down, the choice of initial position on the branch is arbitrary. By default, symex the squirrel remembers where it was on each branch as it goes up and down the tree, so you return to your last position when going up and down. If you'd like to move to the first or last position, you can use (for instance) 0 or $ at each level, as usual, or traverse the tree using f and b instead. If, on the other hand, you'd like to start always at the first position when going up (as it was in older versions of Symex), disable the branch memory feature by adding this to the :custom section (not the :config section) of your use-package form:
(symex-remember-branch-position-p nil)
The current expression is highlighted by default (as of Jan 2023). If you'd like to disable highlighting, add this to the :custom section (not the :config section) of your use-package form:
(symex-highlight-p nil)
By default, C-' and C-, cycle through standard quoting and unquoting prefixes (', ` and ,, ,@, respectively) recognizable to all Lisps. But some Lisps, such as Racket, provide additional quoting styles that you may want to add here. You could also technically add any prefixes here that you may find yourself using often, and they don't have to have anything to do with quoting. To add custom prefixes, add something like this to the :custom section (not the :config section) of your use-package form:
(symex-quote-prefix-list (list "'" "`" "#'" "#`")) (symex-unquote-prefix-list (list "," ",@" "#,@"))
Symex supports the following lisps:
| Flavor | Runtime and docs |
|---|---|
| Racket | Racket Mode |
| Emacs Lisp | Native/IELM |
| Clojure | CIDER |
| Common Lisp | Slime or Sly. This defaults to Slime, but you can use Sly by putting this in the :custom (not :config) section of your use-package declaration: (symex-common-lisp-backend 'sly) |
| Scheme | Geiser |
| Arc | Arc.el |
| Other | Structural editing only (no runtime). Please create an issue if you need additional support for your Lisp. |
For evil users, when you "escape" from Insert state, you may prefer to enter Symex state rather than Normal state while in Lisp buffers. You could write one-off keybindings to do this (e.g. this recipe by user @tommy-mor), but if you'd like a more structured and flexible alternative, use Rigpa.
Also see Easy Entry Into Symex State, below, for another option.
When you define macros in symex mode (e.g. via q for evil users), make sure that the commands you use are those that have the same effect in every situation. For instance, the "up" and "down" motions (default: k and j) could vary based on "branch memory" - up may sometimes move you to the first position on the higher level, but at other times it may move you to the third position, if that happens to be your most recent position. Using up and down in your macro would mean that it could have different results in each tree depending on your activities in the tree, unless you remember to reset the frame of reference by using something like 0 or $. Instead, it may be more natural to use the "flow" traversal commands (default: f and b), repeating them or prefixing them with count arguments if necessary, to move around in a fully deterministic way. This will ensure that your macros behave the same way in every case.
The vanilla mode line in Emacs does show some textual indication of your current evil state, e.g. <N> for Normal state, and <λ> for Symex state, and this kind of visual feedback is helpful, yet also subtle. If you'd like more pronounced visual feedback, you might try extensions such as powerline or telephone-line, which provide customizable color coded indicators for each evil state in the mode line. For example, for telephone-line, you could use the following config in the config section of the use-package declaration for telephone-line:
(defface telephone-line-evil-symex
'((t (:background "SlateBlue3" :inherit telephone-line-evil)))
"Face used in evil color-coded segments when in Symex state."
:group 'telephone-line-evil)
User @doyougnu suggests binding your local leader to , (instead of the default, \), which frees up \ to be used as entry into Symex Mode. This is convenient as \ feels like another Esc but dedicated to Symex state instead of Normal state. The drawback is that , is an otherwise useful key in Normal mode (for in-line repeat search backwards). Although, using it for the local leader is a widely used pattern by Vim and Evil users, and if you are one of them, then this might be a good option for you.
With this option, entering Symex from Normal state is convenient, but you'd still need to visit Normal state on your way to Symex state from Insert state. If you'd like to avoid this, see Escaping to Symex Instead of Normal State, above.
In writing Lisp code, parentheses are among the most commonly typed characters, and yet, these require us to leave home position dramatically to type! I recommend a keybinding resembling the following to make it more efficient. Of course this applies only in Insert state (for Evil users) or in vanilla Emacs state, as you can insert and modulate delimiters in other ways while in Symex state:
(define-key
symex-mode-map
(kbd "C-w")
(lambda ()
(interactive)
(execute-kbd-macro (kbd "("))))
You could think of "w" as "wrap" in this context, as in, "to wrap with parentheses," and it matches a similar binding in symex state (i.e. w to wrap an expression and enter insert state). For the closing parenthesis, you could just use Emacs's C-f to move forward a character -- since symex (via paredit) ensures that parentheses are balanced, you rarely need to actually type a closing delimiter. The binding C-w would be fine for Evil users, but vanilla Emacs users may need to find something else here. Of course it goes without saying that the Control key should be conveniently accessible without having to leave home position. I have Control under my right thumb, and Escape in place of Caps Lock.
Read the documentation for the Symex DSL.
Learn more about the implementation and see some usage examples in the video overview (given at an Emacs SF meetup in 2019):
A little while ago I was discussing Lisp syntax with @apromessi:
Me: "...And so we have these sex-puhs..."
A: "Excuse me?"
Me: "Oh, I mean ess expressions! It stands for symbolic expression."
A: "Why not just call it sym-ex?"
Me: [mindblown]
A: "..."
Lisp has inherited a few oddball names from its deep prehistory, including the infamous car and cdr for the first and the rest of the elements in a list. But S-expression / sex-puh / symbolic expression are all somewhat of a mouthful too. Here are a few reasons why we might want to consider using "sym-ex" instead:
"Symbolic expression": 6 syllables, long in written form too
"S-expression": 4 syllables, I find this name confusing at least partially because it is a single-letter acronym which is unusual. In addition, it is long in written form.
"Sexpuh" / "sex-p" / "sexpr": 2 syllables, short in written form. But I mean, these are terrible.
"s-ex": Speaks for itself.
"Symex": 2 syllables, short in written form, has normal linguistic analogues like "complex/complexes," and it's fun to say! Symex also sounds like Ibex, and that's obviously a plus.
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- by Venmo to
@Sid-K - by Paypal to skasivaj at gmail dot com
Please mention "Symex" in your message.
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