Delegate to rectangle version in delim-col when appropriate

* lisp/delim-col.el (delimit-columns-region): Delegate to
`delimit-columns-rectangle' when called with a rectangular
region (bug#36453).

2 files changed, 50 insertions, 45 deletions

diff --git a/etc/NEWS b/etc/NEWS
index 852b6e49486..532babd0fa6 100644
--- a/etc/NEWS
+++ b/etc/NEWS
@@ -442,7 +442,8 @@ interface that's more like functions like 'search-forward'.
 
 ---
 ** More commands support noncontiguous rectangular regions, namely
-'upcase-dwim', 'downcase-dwim', 'replace-string', 'replace-regexp'.
+'upcase-dwim', 'downcase-dwim', 'replace-string', 'replace-regexp',
+and 'delimit-columns-region'.
 
 +++
 ** When asked to visit a large file, Emacs now offers visiting it literally.
diff --git a/lisp/delim-col.el b/lisp/delim-col.el
index 3e309e917d2..b3a773e5b02 100644
--- a/lisp/delim-col.el
+++ b/lisp/delim-col.el
@@ -260,50 +260,54 @@ at the left corner."
 
 START and END delimit the text region."
   (interactive "*r")
-  (let ((delimit-columns-str-before
-         (delimit-columns-str delimit-columns-str-before))
-        (delimit-columns-str-separator
-         (delimit-columns-str delimit-columns-str-separator))
-        (delimit-columns-str-after
-         (delimit-columns-str delimit-columns-str-after))
-        (delimit-columns-before
-         (delimit-columns-str delimit-columns-before))
-        (delimit-columns-after
-         (delimit-columns-str delimit-columns-after))
-        (delimit-columns-start
-         (if (natnump delimit-columns-start)
-             delimit-columns-start
-           0))
-        (delimit-columns-end
-         (if (integerp delimit-columns-end)
-             delimit-columns-end
-           1000000))
-        (delimit-columns-limit (make-marker))
-        (the-end (copy-marker end))
-        delimit-columns-max)
-    (when (<= delimit-columns-start delimit-columns-end)
-      (save-excursion
-        (goto-char start)
-        (beginning-of-line)
-        ;; get maximum length for each column
-        (and delimit-columns-format
-             (save-excursion
-               (while (< (point) the-end)
-                 (delimit-columns-rectangle-max
-                  (prog1
-                      (point)
-                    (end-of-line)))
-                 (forward-char 1))))
-        ;; prettify columns
-        (while (< (point) the-end)
-          (delimit-columns-rectangle-line
-           (prog1
-               (point)
-             (end-of-line)))
-          (forward-char 1))
-        ;; nullify markers
-        (set-marker delimit-columns-limit nil)
-        (set-marker the-end nil)))))
+  (if rectangle-mark-mode
+      ;; Delegate to delimit-columns-rectangle when called with a
+      ;; rectangular region.
+      (delimit-columns-rectangle start end)
+    (let ((delimit-columns-str-before
+           (delimit-columns-str delimit-columns-str-before))
+          (delimit-columns-str-separator
+           (delimit-columns-str delimit-columns-str-separator))
+          (delimit-columns-str-after
+           (delimit-columns-str delimit-columns-str-after))
+          (delimit-columns-before
+           (delimit-columns-str delimit-columns-before))
+          (delimit-columns-after
+           (delimit-columns-str delimit-columns-after))
+          (delimit-columns-start
+           (if (natnump delimit-columns-start)
+               delimit-columns-start
+             0))
+          (delimit-columns-end
+           (if (integerp delimit-columns-end)
+               delimit-columns-end
+             1000000))
+          (delimit-columns-limit (make-marker))
+          (the-end (copy-marker end))
+          delimit-columns-max)
+      (when (<= delimit-columns-start delimit-columns-end)
+        (save-excursion
+          (goto-char start)
+          (beginning-of-line)
+          ;; get maximum length for each column
+          (and delimit-columns-format
+               (save-excursion
+                 (while (< (point) the-end)
+                   (delimit-columns-rectangle-max
+                    (prog1
+                        (point)
+                      (end-of-line)))
+                   (forward-char 1))))
+          ;; prettify columns
+          (while (< (point) the-end)
+            (delimit-columns-rectangle-line
+             (prog1
+                 (point)
+               (end-of-line)))
+            (forward-char 1))
+          ;; nullify markers
+          (set-marker delimit-columns-limit nil)
+          (set-marker the-end nil))))))
 
 
 ;;;###autoload