Questions tagged [files]
Use this tag for questions about moving, deleting, or opening files. Or for questions about the difference between a buffer and its file. For topics such as "Saving Files", use "buffers" instead.
287
questions
170
votes
10
answers
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How do I reload a file in a buffer?
I usually work on files which are updated in the file system via version control. What's a quick way to reload a file without having to C-x C-f the file again and getting asked if I want to reload it?
- 1,925
97
votes
5
answers
33k
views
Edit file with super-user rights
When you have to edit system files, it's an usual situation that you launched Emacs with a normal user before, so the file will be write-protected. What can I do to gain root privileges? I mean ...
- 1,575
45
votes
2
answers
10k
views
What's the difference between a buffer, a file, a window, and a frame?
When posing questions on this site, people sometimes talk about "windows" when they mean "frames," and "buffers" or "files" when they mean "windows." So:
Q: What is the difference between a buffer, ...
Dan♦
- 32.7k
20
votes
2
answers
8k
views
Save current file with a slightly different name
My files have long filenames and a part of the filename is a date and a version number. Often I'd like to save the file in the buffer using nearly the same name, just change version number or date.
...
- 508
20
votes
2
answers
12k
views
Run command when opening a file of a specific filetype
I'm trying to get a lisp script to run some commands for me when I open a file of a specific filetype. I know that I'm working in the correct init file because if I remove the theme from it, emacs has ...
- 303
20
votes
3
answers
8k
views
How can I find the path to an executable with Emacs Lisp?
My current use case is to find where the Cask executable is (it can be installed in at least two places, and there's an issue open about this).
I need to require cask this way:
(require 'cask "~/....
- 2,430
17
votes
8
answers
8k
views
Recursively list all files and sub-directories
Is there a way, possibly using a package, to recursively list all the files (with paths) and sub-directories (or at least the empty sub-directories, since the paths to the non-empty ones can be ...
- 1,511
16
votes
6
answers
7k
views
Ivy disable completion for a command in minibuffer
Can I disable ivy completion for a single command while in minibuffer?
For example I am in folder ~/code/study/ . If I open find file and autocomplete with Ivy I will see
Find file: ~/code/study/
./...
- 1,231
16
votes
1
answer
1k
views
How to prevent Emacs from breaking hard links?
Let's say I have two files file1 and file2:
$ echo aaa >file1
$ ln file1 file2
Then I check that the inodes are the same:
$ ls -i
18749779 file1 18749779 file2
which shows that the two files ...
- 3,618
15
votes
4
answers
4k
views
Recursively open files matching regexp in marked directories
Generally speaking, I would like to be able to open all files within a given set of directories (and their subdirectories) where the filename matches a given regexp.
For example
/home/nispio/...
- 8,205
15
votes
4
answers
2k
views
How to tell Ido to get out of the way when I can already just paste the file name?
I'm trying to make myself use Ido mode. Some times it's nice, but other times it is extremely stupid. Here's my greatest disappointment.
I read some log with full file names, then I copy one name, ...
- 11.3k
15
votes
2
answers
2k
views
What's wrong with `find-file-noselect`?
In a recent answer by lunaryorn, he stated:
However, I'd recommend against most other parts of Org, for reasons
already stated in comments: It's old, and full of legacy and harmful
practices (...
- 1,657
15
votes
3
answers
2k
views
Put the current file name in the minibuffer
How can I insert the file name of the active file buffer into a command?
When I invoke a command that needs a file name, I am often doing so from a file buffer and want the name of that file while ...
- 639
15
votes
1
answer
4k
views
Open large files?
I want to open just the head of a large file.
I know you can use a shell command (M-! RET head file RET), but I lose helm completion, it opens in a separate window, and the buffer has the ...
- 1,380
15
votes
2
answers
1k
views
Display recursive folder sizes in-line in dired?
I'd like to display the recursive size (the value that would be reported by du) of folder contents in-line in the dired buffer as an additional column or in place of the directory file size. Is this ...
- 7,389
14
votes
5
answers
4k
views
How do I search and replace over a set of files?
I'd like to define a set of files within which I can search and replace text.
To clarify:
I would like to be able to search, e.g., in all files xk*.tex in a given directory (and excluding backup ...
- 141
13
votes
4
answers
17k
views
Spacemacs: kill buffer and kill window in one command?
Is there a spacemacs command that both closes the window and kills the buffer? In other words, the equivalent of Vim's :q?
- 544
13
votes
5
answers
8k
views
What is the easiest way to open the folder containing the current file by the default explorer of the OS?
What is the easiest way to open the folder containing the current file by the default explorer of the OS (e.g. explorer.exe in the case of Windows OS)?
- 7,749
13
votes
5
answers
8k
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Comparing two text files on a Windows system
Since ediff-files and ediff-buffers result in apply: Searching for program: no such file or directory, diff error on windows machines.
How to compare two files using Emacs on a windows system?
- 1,351
13
votes
1
answer
5k
views
Open file in new window after searching it with helm
As written in A Package in a league of its own: Helm there's a way to
search for a file using Helm
decide after searching whether open it in same or other window
My question is: How?
- 1,351
12
votes
2
answers
1k
views
Elisp: How to exclude sensitive information from an init file? (ie login credentials)
I want to define a log in function in my init script, but I don't want to hardcode my login credentials. I think a good workaround is to have my init script read in my login credentials from a local ...
- 2,442
11
votes
2
answers
786
views
Programmatically insert files into Dired buffer
I have a list of file names (with full path) and I want to create a Dired buffer listing this set of files. How would I go about doing that?
How do I create a Dired buffer from a list of file names?
...
- 6,772
10
votes
4
answers
3k
views
How to check whether a buffer is visiting a file?
I'd like to check whether some (say, current) buffer is visiting a file or not. I could say:
(if (buffer-file-name) ...)
but it seems to be not very elegant - what I'm interested in is only the ...
- 1,657
10
votes
4
answers
978
views
Opening a new file whose parent directory doesn't exist yet
When opening a new file whose parent directory doesn't exist yet, I either open a shell window, or an Emacs shell buffer, and then mkdir the directory in it. I find this cumbersome. Is there an ...
- 4,987
10
votes
2
answers
1k
views
How should I get the filename of the original buffer in an indirect cloned buffer?
I wanted to look at different portions of a buffer in two different frames, as I have two monitors of different shapes that I can't easily span a single frame over. Some googling led me to use clone-...
- 483
10
votes
3
answers
736
views
Get all filenames in current Dired buffer with Elisp
As the title suggests, how do I get all the file entries in a Dired buffer using Elisp?
- 6,772
10
votes
1
answer
1k
views
how to ignore current selection from ivy when my typed text matches one
I run into this issue from time to time when I want to create a new file but the new name matches a pattern already so my Ivy auto-complete setup will pick the matched option when I press Enter ...
- 395
9
votes
2
answers
1k
views
Can I view within Emacs the properties of a file which I already opened?
I've opened a file in Emacs. I'd like to view information about that file such as creation date, size, etc. within Emacs. Is there a key shortcut or any Emacs command for that? Thanks.
- 370
9
votes
2
answers
1k
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How can I jump to a file and line number from a list in a buffer?
I have a buffer with content like:
src/file4.rs:9
src/file4.rs:33
src/file4.rs:64
I'd like to be able to put my cursor on a line and jump to the appropriate file / line in the other window, just ...
- 267
9
votes
2
answers
787
views
How can I create a dired buffer listing all open files?
I have a mechanism for burning items to disc from a dired buffer. Unfortunately, the file's I've patched are strewn accross the file system. How can I create a dired buffer from all open files?
- 6,871
9
votes
2
answers
241
views
How to write a major mode that does not open the file but provides a view on it
I would like to write a major mode for inspecting netCDF files. These are binary files which can be multiple GB in size. So I don't want to open them in emacs.
The interaction that I have in mind is ...
- 91
8
votes
2
answers
6k
views
How to do a simple write to file
I simply need to take the output of org-element-parse-buffer and put it in a file -- maybe with some "if-does-not-exist" etc. bells and whistles. In CL I have with-open-file and write as tools. For ...
- 2,937
8
votes
1
answer
1k
views
Specify major-mode for files with multiple extensions
In my .emacs file, I have:
(setq-default major-mode
(lambda ()
(let ((buffer-file-name
(replace-regexp-in-string
"\\.tmp$" ""
...
- 627
8
votes
2
answers
2k
views
Saving open file list and buffer command history in between sessions
I've discovered desktop-save-mode which allows Emacs to be closed and when it reopens, it appears with the same files that were open before.
I want to take this a bit further and I was wondering if I ...
- 1,537
8
votes
2
answers
2k
views
.tramp_history files
I have noticed that opening a tramp connection on remote hosts sometimes created a .tramp_history file in the user's directory. Is there any way to disable such a behavior? I have to log in to many ...
- 387
8
votes
2
answers
1k
views
How to split a long org file into separate org files?
I've an huge org file HUGE.org with this structure:
* ID-HEAD-1 Title1 :TAG:
bla bla bla
* ID-HEAD-2 Title2 :TAG:
bla bla bla
...
* ID-HEAD-N TitleN :TAG:
bla bla bla
and I want to split HUGE.org ...
- 151
7
votes
1
answer
2k
views
How to prevent creating files starting with .# (lock files)?
Emacs 26
I have a file rest.api.rc. When I start editing it, the following lock file is automatically created:
.#rest.api.rc
After saving file rest.api.rc, the lock file .#rest.api.rc is gone.
How ...
- 3,916
7
votes
4
answers
1k
views
Does some command exist, which goes to the next file of the current directory?
I'm looking for a command inside Emacs.
For example, you are currently in a directory.
In the directory there are 2 files: foo.txt and bar.txt.
I have foo.txt opened in Emacs and is being ...
- 3,808
7
votes
1
answer
129
views
Emacs handle when file renamed externally
How can I configure Emacs to update a buffer's file association when the file is renamed externally?
In Textmate, I can open a file "foo.txt", use a different program to rename the file to "bar.txt", ...
- 322
6
votes
2
answers
1k
views
How to make emacs automatically kill buffer after invoking delete-file command?
Whenever I delete a file that I no longer need in emacs using delete-file command, the buffer associated with the file is still open in emacs. Is there a way I can change this behaviour so that ...
- 3,152
6
votes
1
answer
1k
views
Why does calling expand-file-name indirectly produce a different result?
Running the following in ielm in emacs -Q:
ELISP> (defun wh/expand-file-name (name &optional default-directory)
(expand-file-name name default-directory))
wh/expand-file-name
ELISP> (...
- 6,910
6
votes
1
answer
2k
views
Single function to return file contents as a string
I'm wondering if there's a terse (i.e. single function) approach for reading a file's content given its path and returning it as a string.
My go-to has been:
(with-temp-buffer
(insert-file-...
- 7,389
6
votes
1
answer
2k
views
Auto-refresh files when using tramp
I am viewing remote log files using tramp mode in emacs. Is there a way to get tramp to auto-refresh these buffers when they change remotely? If this is not possible, is there a way to reload a ...
- 2,671
6
votes
2
answers
303
views
Save all open files in current folder and subfolders
Some of my projects are organised in way that the there isn't one make file at the top route of the project (git/svn/...) folder but I have several small Makefiles in subfolders of the project. ...
- 825
6
votes
2
answers
2k
views
Get filename from dired using elisp
Using elisp, I call this function (dired "~"), for example, to get to my Home directory in dired mode. When I press RET on one of the files, I want to capture the file path and store it in a variable ...
6
votes
2
answers
2k
views
Human readable directory tree with org-attach
By default, org-attach.el names project folders, using a UUID scheme, which is paired with headlines in org-mode, via the :PROPERTIES: drawer.
I would love to find a way to make this directory ...
- 1,887
6
votes
1
answer
185
views
How do I include non-code resources as part of an Emacs package?
I have a project that wants to play a sound file. I'd like to distribute this project in MELPA. There are two issues I'm having with that. They're both part of the question "how do I use ...
- 9,034
5
votes
3
answers
1k
views
Load all org files into buffers?
I've got a couple dozen org files that I'd like to have loaded at once. They're in a directory structure something like this:
org/dev
org/dev/python.org
org/dev/emacs.org
...
org/dev/ios
org/dev/ios/...
- 269
5
votes
2
answers
2k
views
What's the equivalent of `helm-find` in ivy/counsel? I want to find files **recursively**
helm-find is
Preconfigured ‘helm’ for the find shell command
I need the same functionality with ivy/counsel.
- 693
5
votes
3
answers
592
views
Switch buffer to the file path in current cursor position
My .emacs file contains multiple file names as,
(load "~/.emacs.d/others/keymaps.el")
(load "~/.emacs.d/others/py.el")
(load "~/.emacs.d/others/web.el")
Is there a way any library, gives way for me ...
- 1,977