Omit current and parent directories in Ivy find-file completion

Question

I'm using Ivy in a fairly standard Spacemacs setup.

When I'm opening a file I'd like . and .. to be omitted from the list of completion candidates. In particular, I'd like to be able to tab through directories with only one entry; right now if I spam TAB in the middle of a long Java path I get a Dired buffer for a directory I don't particularly care about.

E.g., if my current directory is ~/src and I find a file in the following file hierarchy, I'd like C-xC-fjTABTABTABTABBRET to open java/com/example/foo/Bar.java.

ls -R
.:
Makefile java

./java:
com

./java/com:
example

./java/com/example:
foo

./java/com/example/foo:
Bar.java
Quux.java

Answer 1

When I'm opening a file I'd like . and .. to be omitted from the list of completion candidates.

This is what the user option ivy-extra-directories is for:

ivy-extra-directories is a variable defined in ‘ivy.el’.
Its value is ("../" "./")

Documentation:
Add this to the front of the list when completing file names.
Only "./" and "../" apply here.  They appear in reverse order.

In your case, you just need to clear the list:

(setq ivy-extra-directories ())

Quoth (ivy) File Name Completion:

-- User Option: ivy-extra-directories
    Decide if you want to see ‘../’ and ‘./’ during file name
    completion.

    Reason to remove: ‘../’ is the same as ‘DEL’.

    Reason not to remove: navigate anywhere with only ‘C-n’, ‘C-p’ and
    ‘C-j’.

    Likewise, ‘./’ can be removed.