Skip to main content

Is there a syntax for single-line comments for notebooks?


I'm aware that I can use (* ... *) to comment out stuff in a notebook. Many languages have a syntax for single-line comments, such as



  • // in C, C++, Java, C#, ...

  • # in shell, Python, ...


For example, in C++ you can write


int x = 5;

// std::cout << "debug: x = " << x << std::endl;
return x;

in which the second line is commented out.


Is there a way to quickly comment out just one line in Mathematica, without having to type paired comment characters?



Answer



There is no way to comment out a single line.


Mathematica doesn't really respect lines, it pushes working at the expression level when possible (not at the source text level). Converting cells between different forms (StandardForm, InputForm) will even shuffle around newlines. Copying and pasting code does the same.


As @acl has mentioned, you can select a piece of code and comment it out with Alt-/. The shortcut Ctrl-. makes it easy to select subparts of expressions. These commands are found in the Edit menu (mentioning in case the keyboard shortcut is different on other platforms).


I am not advocating this behaviour, just explaining the current situation.



Comments

Popular posts from this blog

front end - keyboard shortcut to invoke Insert new matrix

I frequently need to type in some matrices, and the menu command Insert > Table/Matrix > New... allows matrices with lines drawn between columns and rows, which is very helpful. I would like to make a keyboard shortcut for it, but cannot find the relevant frontend token command (4209405) for it. Since the FullForm[] and InputForm[] of matrices with lines drawn between rows and columns is the same as those without lines, it's hard to do this via 3rd party system-wide text expanders (e.g. autohotkey or atext on mac). How does one assign a keyboard shortcut for the menu item Insert > Table/Matrix > New... , preferably using only mathematica? Thanks! Answer In the MenuSetup.tr (for linux located in the $InstallationDirectory/SystemFiles/FrontEnd/TextResources/X/ directory), I changed the line MenuItem["&New...", "CreateGridBoxDialog"] to read MenuItem["&New...", "CreateGridBoxDialog", MenuKey["m", Modifiers-...

How to thread a list

I have data in format data = {{a1, a2}, {b1, b2}, {c1, c2}, {d1, d2}} Tableform: I want to thread it to : tdata = {{{a1, b1}, {a2, b2}}, {{a1, c1}, {a2, c2}}, {{a1, d1}, {a2, d2}}} Tableform: And I would like to do better then pseudofunction[n_] := Transpose[{data2[[1]], data2[[n]]}]; SetAttributes[pseudofunction, Listable]; Range[2, 4] // pseudofunction Here is my benchmark data, where data3 is normal sample of real data. data3 = Drop[ExcelWorkBook[[Column1 ;; Column4]], None, 1]; data2 = {a #, b #, c #, d #} & /@ Range[1, 10^5]; data = RandomReal[{0, 1}, {10^6, 4}]; Here is my benchmark code kptnw[list_] := Transpose[{Table[First@#, {Length@# - 1}], Rest@#}, {3, 1, 2}] &@list kptnw2[list_] := Transpose[{ConstantArray[First@#, Length@# - 1], Rest@#}, {3, 1, 2}] &@list OleksandrR[list_] := Flatten[Outer[List, List@First[list], Rest[list], 1], {{2}, {1, 4}}] paradox2[list_] := Partition[Riffle[list[[1]], #], 2] & /@ Drop[list, 1] RM[list_] := FoldList[Transpose[{First@li...

plotting - Magnifying Glass on a Plot

Although there is a trick in TEX magnifying glass but I want to know is there any function to magnifying glass on a plot with Mathematica ? For example for a function as Sin[x] and at x=Pi/6 Below, this is just a picture desired from the cited site. the image got huge unfortunately I don't know how can I change the size of an image here! Answer Insetting a magnified part of the original Plot A) by adding a new Plot of the specified range xPos = Pi/6; range = 0.2; f = Sin; xyMinMax = {{xPos - range, xPos + range}, {f[xPos] - range*GoldenRatio^-1, f[xPos] + range*GoldenRatio^-1}}; Plot[f[x], {x, 0, 5}, Epilog -> {Transparent, EdgeForm[Thick], Rectangle[Sequence @@ Transpose[xyMinMax]], Inset[Plot[f[x], {x, xPos - range, xPos + range}, Frame -> True, Axes -> False, PlotRange -> xyMinMax, ImageSize -> 270], {4., 0.5}]}, ImageSize -> 700] B) by adding a new Plot within a Circle mf = RegionMember[Disk[{xPos, f[xPos]}, {range, range/GoldenRatio}]] Show...