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### 4.9 Actions

Actions are special formatting commands which are executed automatically while you write code in order to check the structure of the program or to enforce coding standards. Most actions which have been implemented in IDLWAVE are turned off by default, assuming that the average user wants her code the way she writes it. But if you are a lazy typist and want your code to adhere to certain standards, actions can be helpful.

Actions can be applied in three ways:

- Some actions are applied directly while typing. For example, pressing ‘`=`’ can run a check to make sure that this operator is surrounded by spaces and insert these spaces if necessary. Pressing <SPC> after a reserved word can call a command to change the word to upper case.
- When a line is re-indented with <TAB>, actions can be applied to the entire line. To enable this, the variable `idlwave-do-actions` must be non-`nil`.
- Actions can also be applied to a larger piece of code, e.g. to convert foreign code to your own style. To do this, mark the relevant part of the code and execute `M-x expand-region-abbrevs`. Useful marking commands are `C-x h` (the entire file) or `C-M-h` (the current subprogram). See Code Indentation, for information how to adjust the indentation of the code.

— User Option: idlwave-do-actions (`nil`)

> Non-`nil` means performs actions when indenting. Individual action settings are described below and set separately.