a org-mode easy-template like plugin for yasnippet

major-expand.el

  (defun coldnew/major-mode-expand ()
    "Try to complete a structure template before point like org-mode does.
  This looks for strings like \"<e\" on an otherwise empty line and
  expands them.
  Before use this function, you muse setup `major-mode-name'-expand-alist variable.
  
  Take emacs-lisp-mode as example, if you wand to use <r to expand your snippet `require'
  in yasnippet, you muse setup the emacs-lisp-mode-expand-alist variable.
  
   (setq emacs-lisp-expand-alist '((\"r\" . \"require\")))"
    (let* ((l (buffer-substring (point-at-bol) (point)))
           (expand-symbol (intern (concat (symbol-name major-mode) "-expand-alist")))
           (expand-alist (if (boundp expand-symbol) (symbol-value expand-symbol) nil))
           a)
      (when (and (looking-at "[ \t]*$")
                 (string-match "^[ \t]*<\\([a-zA-Z]+\\)$" l)
                 (setq a (assoc (match-string 1 l) expand-alist)))
        (backward-delete-char (1+ (length (car-safe a))))
        (insert (cdr-safe a))
        t)))
  
  (defadvice yas-expand (before coldnew/major-mode-expand activate) (coldnew/major-mode-expand))