list-registers, errors

I'm trying to use the list-register command out of register.el. I set some registers to contain values: (set-register ?a "register a" ) (set-register ?b "register b" ) (set-register ?c "register c" ) (set-register ?d "register d" ) evaling each with C-x C-e after the close paren on that line. I can verify that the values are correct this way: (view-register ?a ) (view-register ?b ) (view-register ?c ) (view-register ?d ) But when I run the command (list-registers) I get various errors: wrong argument type: number-char-or-marker-p, "a" But I didn't give it the string "a", I gave it char a ?a. so what type is it expecting? or it gives me a buffer *output* with the words: Register a contains then the following error in the minibuffer: Invalid regexp: "Invalid content of \\{\\}" putting debug on error on, from the menu, gives this backtrace: Debugger entered--Lisp error: (invalid-regexp "Invalid content of \\{\\}") string-match("[^ \n].\\{,20\\}" "register a") describe-register-1(?a) (progn (describe-register-1 (car elt)) (terpri)) (if (get-register (car elt)) (progn (describe-register-1 ...) (terpri))) (while #:G34812 (setq elt (car #:G34812)) (if (get-register ...) (progn ... ...)) (setq #:G34812 (cdr #:G34812))) (let ((#:G34812 list) elt) (while #:G34812 (setq elt ...) (if ... ...) (setq #:G34812 ...))) (catch (quote #:nil) (let (... elt) (while #:G34812 ... ... ...))) (block nil (let (... elt) (while #:G34812 ... ... ...))) (dolist (elt list) (when (get-register ...) (describe-register-1 ...) (terpri))) (with-output-to-temp-buffer "*Output*" (dolist (elt list) (when ... ... ...))) (let ((list ...)) (setq list (sort* list ... :key ...)) (with-output-to-temp-buffer "*Output*" (dolist ... ...))) list-registers() eval((list-registers)) eval-interactive((list-registers)) eval-last-sexp(nil) call-interactively(eval-last-sexp) (dispatch-event "[internal]") I assume the string-match is where it is failing and that is part either of the sort* (when the error was wrong type) or part of the describe-register function (when the error is invalid regex). the code for list-registers is short: ---from /usr/src/xemacs-21.5.32/lisp/register.el (defun list-registers () "Display a list of nonempty registers saying briefly what they contain." (interactive) (let ((list (copy-sequence register-alist))) (setq list (sort* list #'< :key #'car)) (with-output-to-temp-buffer "*Output*" (dolist (elt list) (when (get-register (car elt)) (describe-register-1 (car elt)) (terpri)))))) I looked up the sort* function, and understand the list that will be sorted in place, and the :key is to tell what field to base the sort on, the car of each list item, so sorting by register name here, I think, but do not comprehend the predicate in the middle: #'< Does the less than mean do an ascending or descending sort? I haven't found a list in the manuals of what is allowed for the predicate of sort*. Any ideas? Steve M. _______________________________________________ XEmacs-Beta mailing list XEmacs-Beta(a)xemacs.org http://lists.xemacs.org/mailman/listinfo/xemacs-beta