How to quickly copy/move file in Emacs Dired?

Question

In Dired mode, I can m mark files and R to move them to a destination.

Some times the destination path is too long. With the destination open in a split window, is there a way to move files quicker?

When I see the two dired windows on the screen, I missed the drag-and-drop function in a GUI file manager.

Answer 1

From the documentation:

dired-dwim-target is a variable defined in `dired.el'. Its value is nil

Documentation: If non-nil, Dired tries to guess a default target directory. This means: if there is a Dired buffer displayed in the next window, use its current directory, instead of this Dired buffer's current directory.

The target is used in the prompt for file copy, rename etc.

Put this in your init file: (setq dired-dwim-target t). Then, go to dired, split your window, split-window-vertically & go to another dired directory. When you will press C to copy, the other dir in the split pane will be default destination.

Answer 2

just for posterity:

there is also the handy dired-ranger package, which allows you to copy multiple sets of files to a clipboard, navigate to a target destination and copy or move them there. it also cooperates with the dired-dwim-target mentioned in the other answer.

it doesn't provide keybindings out of the box, you have to set them up yourself. you can do this with some thing like:

(eval-after-load "dired" '(progn
    (define-key dired-mode-map (kbd "C-x w") 'dired-ranger-copy)
    (define-key dired-mode-map (kbd "C-x x") 'dired-ranger-move)
    (define-key dired-mode-map (kbd "C-x y") 'dired-ranger-paste)
    ))

(use C-h c from dired to see what keybindings are undefined.)

it is available from melpa.

a brief description: http://pragmaticemacs.com/emacs/copy-and-paste-files-with-dired-ranger/.

Answer 3

A directory that is visited by a Dired buffer in another window is by default included in the "future history" of the minibuffer that is used for file name completion; when prompted for the destination of the rename operation, use M-n (and M-p) to move through the minibuffer history until you reach the item corresponding to the directory in the other open Dired buffer.

In your case, with only one other Dired buffer open and assuming no other customizations, typing M-n once should yield the desired destination.

It is pointed out by another answer and in Minibuffer History (GNU Emacs Manual) that:

You can customize dired-dwim-target to prefer either the next window with a Dired buffer, or the most recently used window with a Dired buffer, or to use any other function.

That is, however, not necessary for getting quick access to the desired directory, thanks to the "future history" of the minibuffer as we saw above. Still, it may be useful should you find yourself having to type M-n more often than not in that situation.

Answer 4

% m is the command for dired-mark-files-regexp.

In addtion to @Nsukami _'s answer, if your target files shows a certain pattern, 'regex mark' might help boost the process.