bug#57787: 29.0.50; [PATCH] When using $VAL[INDEX] in Eshell, allow symbols as the index

[Jim Porter]

Eshell variable expansions let you use strings as indices, which will 
treat the outer value as an alist. For example:

  (setq foo '(("a" . 1) ("b" . 2)))
  M-x eshell
  ~ $ echo $foo[a]
  1

However, if the keys in the alist are symbols, that doesn't work:

  (setq foo '((a . 1) (b . 2)))
  M-x eshell
  ~ $ echo $foo[a]
  ;; no output

Attached is a patch to fix this. Now, in the latter case, you'd type:

  ~ $ echo $foo[#'a]
  ;; or
  ~ $ echo $foo[`a]

(Note: "#'a" looks like a sharp quote to denote a function, but the # is 
just Eshell's way of escaping the following single-quote. A bare 
single-quote is the start of a string literal in Eshell.)

0001-Allow-using-a-symbol-as-an-index-into-an-alist-in-Es.patch
Description: Text document