Setting default-directory does not change find-file directory

Question

I try to set a default path for opening a file via C-x C-f by adding the following to my .emacs:

(setq default-directory "~/some_dir/")

However, after I launch Emacs in some directory, the find-file directory is always reset to the current working directory when I do C-x C-f.

Is there something else I need to configure to enforce this?

Answer 1

According to the documentation:

default-directory is a variable defined in ‘C source code’. Its value is "~/" Local in buffer *scratch*; global value is nil

Automatically becomes permanently buffer-local when set. This variable is safe as a file local variable if its value satisfies the predicate 'stringp'.

Documentation: Name of default directory of current buffer. To interactively change the default directory, use command ‘cd’.

So, the default-directory variable, is the "current" directory, for the current buffer. And visiting any file or any directory, changes the default-directory for that buffer.

EDIT

You can achieve what you want by:

• adding (cd "/some/dir/") in yout init file.

• using a hook: (add-hook 'find-file-hook #'(lambda () (setq default-directory (expand-file-name "/some/dir/"))))

• writing a custom function that will (cd "/some/dir/") before finding file.

Answer 2

If you are running emacs from a shortcut in Windows, you can edit the properties of the shortcut and set the Start in property to be the directory you'd like ctrl+x,ctrl+f to start from.