Shift a region or line in emacs

Question

I\'m looking for a way in emacs to shift text to the right or to the left by n spaces. A similar functionality that it in vim << or >>

Answer 1

To achieve this I usually do a trick:

• activate CUA mode
• go to the beginning of line
• C-RET, now if you move the cursor you should see a rectangular red region
• Move the cursor down the lines and type space until you've obtained the correct shifting.

This can be done also programmatically in some way (in the same way).

EDIT: I've just read the article in emacs wiki, it's the same solution except for the CUA mode that is infinitely more powerful than the "common" rectanguar selection (since it's visual).

Answer 2

You could select the region then C-u C-x <tab> will shift 4 spaces. You can type a number after C-u to change 4 to anything else.

Answer 3

Maybe this works the way you want.

(defun shift-text (distance)
  (if (use-region-p)
      (let ((mark (mark)))
        (save-excursion
          (indent-rigidly (region-beginning)
                          (region-end)
                          distance)
          (push-mark mark t t)
          (setq deactivate-mark nil)))
    (indent-rigidly (line-beginning-position)
                    (line-end-position)
                    distance)))

(defun shift-right (count)
  (interactive "p")
  (shift-text count))

(defun shift-left (count)
  (interactive "p")
  (shift-text (- count)))