How to clear recent files list?

Question

I renamed few files using Dired. I noticed helm shows old names in the list of recent files (helm-recentf).

How do I remove the files that do not exist from recent files list?

Answer 1

How do I remove the files that do not exist from recent files list?

M-xrecentf-cleanupRET

recentf-cleanup is an interactive compiled Lisp function in
‘recentf.el’.

(recentf-cleanup)

Cleanup the recent list.
That is, remove duplicates, non-kept, and excluded files.

See also the user options recentf-auto-cleanup:

recentf-auto-cleanup is a variable defined in ‘recentf.el’.
Its value is ‘mode’

Documentation:
Define when to automatically cleanup the recent list.
The following values can be set:

- ‘mode’
Cleanup when turning the mode on (default).
- ‘never’
Never cleanup the list automatically.
- A number
Cleanup each time Emacs has been idle that number of seconds.
- A time string
Cleanup at specified time string, for example at "11:00pm".

Setting this variable directly does not take effect;
use M-x customize.

See also the command ‘recentf-cleanup’, that can be used to manually
cleanup the list.

You can customize this variable.

as well as recentf-keep and recentf-exclude for more granular control over what is allowed into recentf-list. The default value of recentf-keep ensures non-readable files are removed from the list.

---

See also M-xrecentf-edit-listRET:

recentf-edit-list is an interactive compiled Lisp function in `recentf.el'.

(recentf-edit-list)

Show a dialog to delete selected files from the recent list.