(find-function-search-for-symbol): Add comments.

1 files changed, 8 insertions, 0 deletions

diff --git a/lisp/emacs-lisp/find-func.el b/lisp/emacs-lisp/find-func.el
index 754ad9fdf19..5d504586323 100644
--- a/lisp/emacs-lisp/find-func.el
+++ b/lisp/emacs-lisp/find-func.el
@@ -228,6 +228,14 @@ The search is done in the source for library LIBRARY."
           (with-syntax-table emacs-lisp-mode-syntax-table
             (goto-char (point-min))
             (if (or (re-search-forward regexp nil t)
+                    ;; `regexp' matches definitions using known forms like
+                    ;; `defun', or `defvar'.  But some functions/variables
+                    ;; are defined using special macros (or functions), so
+                    ;; if `regexp' can't find the definition, we look for
+                    ;; something of the form "(SOMETHING <symbol> ...)".
+                    ;; This fails to distinguish function definitions from
+                    ;; variable declarations (or even uses thereof), but is
+                    ;; a good pragmatic fallback.
                     (re-search-forward
                      (concat "^([^ ]+" find-function-space-re "['(]?"
                              (regexp-quote (symbol-name symbol))