how to match lines starting with a single semicolon ; but exclude lines starting with double semicolons ;;

[AnabasisXu]

The Plan

I am trying implement a way to structure elisp files by comment boxes. The plan is that any box title that start with one ; is the first level, and ;; means second level, and so on.

For example:

;;;;;;;;;;;
;  BASIC  ;
;;;;;;;;;;;

;;;;;;;;;;;;;;
;; Straight ;;
;;;;;;;;;;;;;;

When using consult-line to search for comment lines in Lisp code, I want to filter lines starting with a single ; while excluding lines starting with ;;.

I expect consult-line to show only the line ; BASIC ;, but currently, it also includes lines like ;; Straight ;;.

Attempted Solutions

I tried literal =; , initialism ,; but neither of them work.

---

Found a quick solution:

(setq orderless-component-separator #'orderless-escapable-split-on-space)

And then search with ^;\ \ , which means ; followed immediately by two spaces, so that ;; will not be matched.

[minad]

I suggest a different plan. Use the built-in outline mechanism, see outline-regexp in Elisp files. Then simply use consult-outline with narrowing to navigate to the desired levels.

[AnabasisXu]

Hi @minad, thanks for the suggestion. Yes I did start out using outline-regexp, but I am not sure how to "use consult-outline with narrowing". In particular, I am not sure how to set up candidates for narrowing so that I can narrow by level of heading. Sorry, I have only discovered the narrowing utility today...

My current outline-regexp allows me to use only boxes as heading, so that normal comments that also starts with ;; will be left out.

(setq outline-regexp ";+\s+[a-z ]+\s+;+$")

Here are my sample box headings which I have collected with embark:

;  BASIC  ;                         
;; Straight ;;                      
;; Custom Functions ;;              
;; Quick Access Key Binding ;;      
;; Org Output ;;                    
;;;     Eshell     ;;;               
;;; Android System ;;;                

[minad]

My current outline-regexp allows me to use only boxes as heading, so that normal comments that also starts with ;; will be left out.

My suggestion is to not use boxes. I understand that this is a stylistic preference, but overall I rather adapt to the common style I see in the Emacs code base and in most packages.