Re: [[[...(org)...]]] in the mode line

[Tim X]

Memnon Anon <gegendosenfleisch@googlemail.com> writes:

> Hi,
>
>> On Mon, Jan 24, 2011 at 12:13 AM, ishi soichi <soichi777@gmail.com> wrote:
> ...
>>> [[[...(org)...]]]
>>> [[[...(Lisp Iteration)...]]]
>
> Jeff Horn <jrhorn424@gmail.com> writes:
>> I, too, would be interested in finding the cause of this. I sometimes
>> have as many as 6 or 7 brackets around the modes if emacs has been
>> running for a while.
>
> FWIW, I see this sometimes, too. 
> I can fix it killing the frame and getting a new one.
> Additional brackets are gone in a fresh frame.
> (I run emacs as daemon.)
>
> Memnon
>
>

As mentioned by others, the [[ ]] indicate emacs is in a recursive edit
state. There are numerous things that can cause this, some indicating
problems and others which are not so bad. For example, if you have many
frames open and you do something that causes emacs to start the debugger
and you are put into a backtrace, but then you change to another
window/frame without quitting the debugger and continue doing some other
work, such as reading your mail, you will likely see that emacs is in a
recursive edit. 

One way that may help to track down the point at which the recursive
session starts is to close all windows and frames except 1, then hit the
escape key 3 times. Note the window and what is happening now. This will
often represent the point at which emacs was in just prior to the start
of the last recursive edit. If you still have [ ] in the modeline, hit
escape another 3 times and note where you are at. Again, this should
have unwound the stack to where that recursive edit began. Continue the
process, but note at each point where and what was going on. This may
provide you a clue as to what is causing the recursie edit. 

In my experience, this has generally be the result of how I am
interactin with the system rather than code in my .emacs etc. Doing
things like starting to execute a command, switching to another frame to
lookup command arguments, getting distracted and starting to read mail
and then later returning to my work, but via another frame and
forgetting I was already part-way through something somewhere else can
result in a recursive session. Usually, they are not an issue. 

Tim
-- 
tcross (at) rapttech dot com dot au