2

If I:

  • Start Emacs in my home directory (~)
  • Find a file in the ~/Projects/ruby-play directory with C-x C-f
  • Try to find another file with C-x C-f

The default directory in the file finder will be ~/Projects/ruby-play.

What I'd like to see is the default directory being ~ still.

Thank you very much!

P. S. Can I maybe use some external package for it? Will Projectile do it for me, for instance?

P. P. S. Since, apparently, I wasn't clear enough... I don't want Emacs to return to my home directory every time. I wish to preserve any directory I need (e. g., if I start Emacs in the Project directory, I want the file finder to start in the Project directory as well).

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5
  • 1
    I don't know how to change this behaviour, but if you used Ido mode, then selecting the home directory when looking for a file to open would only require typing ~/.
    – wvxvw
    Apr 30 '15 at 9:25
  • @wvxvw Thanks! However, I'd like to have similar behavior if I, say, launched Emacs from the Projects directory (i.e., having the default directory always be Projects).
    – art-solopov
    Apr 30 '15 at 9:27
  • Would it be a solution to save the default directory in your init file to custom variable and then later access that custom variable instead of default-directory?
    – Håkon Hægland
    Apr 30 '15 at 10:01
  • @HåkonHægland I'm sorry, I'm an Emacs newbie. How can I reassign the file finder dialogue to a custom directory?
    – art-solopov
    Apr 30 '15 at 10:03
  • Keep in mind that doing such a thing will break every single package relying on this very behaviour. I tried it out for fun and it broke smart-mode-line because it was using vc which relies on it for its widget to work normally. Please consider either using a package giving you a simple way to find a file in your home directory or something like projectile to do things from the project root.
    – wasamasa
    Apr 30 '15 at 15:55
5

default-directory is a buffer local variable which can be set by all sorts of things although it is always set on loading a file. The simplest dumb solution is to use the find-file-hook and set it back to what you want:

(add-hook 'find-file-hook #'(lambda () (setq default-directory (expand-file-name "~/"))))

However this does have the disadvantage of always setting it to your home directory. More complex tricks are possible, so for example I have a hook in my mailer to set the directory to the relevant source tree depending on the source of the email:

;; Set default directory when viewing messages
(defvar my-mailing-list-dir-mapping
  '( ("qemu-devel.nongnu.org" . "~/lsrc/qemu/qemu.git/")
     ("kvmarm.lists.cs.columbia.edu" . "~/lsrc/kvm/linux.git/") )
  "Mapping from mailing lists to source tree.")

(defvar my-maildir-mapping
  '( ("linaro/virtualization/.qemu" . "~/lsrc/qemu/qemu.git/")
     ("linaro/kernel" . "~/lsrc/kvm/linux.git/") )
  "Mapping from maildirs to source tree.")

(defun my-set-view-directory ()
  "Switch the `default-directory' depending on the mailing list we
  are in."
  (interactive)
  (let ((list (mu4e-message-field (mu4e-message-at-point)
                                  :mailing-list))
        (maildir (mu4e-message-field (mu4e-message-at-point)
                                     :maildir)))
    (setq default-directory
          (expand-file-name
           (or
            (assoc-default list my-mailing-list-dir-mapping)
            (assoc-default maildir my-maildir-mapping 'string-match)
            "~"))))))

(add-hook 'mu4e-view-mode-hook 'my-set-view-directory)
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3
  • However this does have the disadvantage of always setting it to your home directory. There really isn't anything stopping me from saving the project name in a variable though, right?
    – art-solopov
    Apr 30 '15 at 10:27
  • @art-solopov: of course not, just make sure it's declared as buffer local. Most of the project management extensions will already have some sort of project-root variable that points to the top of the tree already.
    – stsquad
    Apr 30 '15 at 10:35
  • Thank you @stsquad. I probably should to that before I try to implement a monstrosity of my own. =)
    – art-solopov
    Apr 30 '15 at 10:48

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