I have a growing set of org files stored in org-directory. How can I navigate between them, preferably with interactive filtering and completion?
I thought there was a way to get org-mode to produce a list of known org files for quick navigation, but I can't seem to find it. If org-mode does not have this feature, how can I make a simple command that launches something like helm or icicles to find them?
The question is not very clear to me. But if your Org-mode files all have a certain file-name pattern (e.g. *.org) and all are in the same directory (org-directory) then you can use several methods Emacs method to access them:
C-x C-f *.org RETURN in org-directory opens them all (the buffers are visiting them but only the last one is shown).
C-x C-f *.org TAB in org-directory, to show them using completion, then pick whichever one you want (or pick more than one, using a glob pattern, as in #1).
The same as #2, using Icicles or Helm. In Icicles, at least, you can also match using regexps and in other ways.
Open Dired for just those files: C-x d *.org.
There are really any number of ways to do what you've described. But I'm guessing that you have not really described your request/problem/question well enough, and when you do you will get a narrower set of answers.
UPDATE after your comments:
Here's one way: Open Dired on all of your Org files in and under org-directory.
(defun foo ()
"Open Dired for (only) the Org files in and under `org-directory`."
(interactive)
(cd org-directory)
(dired "*.org" "-lRF"))
Test it with M-x foo. Put this in your init file:
(foo)
And here's another way: M-x bar or bind bar to a key.
(defun bar ()
"Open an Org file in or under `org-directory`."
(interactive)
(let ((default-directory org-directory)
(icicle-file-match-regexp ".*\\.org"))
(icicle-locate-file-of-content)))
I have a package that does just that: plain-org-wiki.
It's nothing too elaborate: I just dump all of my 45 org files into a single directory and get completion for them.
How about org-iswitchb, which is provided by org already?
Switch between Org buffers.
With one prefix argument, restrict available buffers to files.
With two prefix arguments, restrict available buffers to agenda files.
Add this to your startup file after org is loaded:
(global-set-key "\C-cb" 'org-iswitchb)
My favorite solution to this is helm-mode which is activated with the helm package from MELPA. Here's a demo:
It really makes for a great environment for searching ones files quickly. In addition, one can enable fuzzy completion! Here's a minimal configuration (after installing the helm package):
(require 'helm-config)
(helm-mode 1)
(global-set-key (kbd "C-x C-f") 'helm-find-files)
You can also run grep on the files if you'd like to search their content. Take a look at this amazing guide if you'd like to learn more.
Related
I'm a total emacs newbie. I watched a video which shows ido in emacs working similar to command-t in textmate:
(video is: http://vimeo.com/1013263)
The issue is I don't get this behavior when I'm in emacs with ido mode. Here is my init.el:
(require 'ido)
(ido-mode t)
(setq ido-enable-flex-matching t)
I have no idea what t means, this is just what I found online.
When I search for a file (C-x C-f) it doesn't find files in sub directories. So if I have a file test/core.clj and I search for tc (for test core) it has no match.
On thing I notice is that he has 'Project file:' in the screenshot, where I get 'Find file:'. I installed 'find-file-in-project' to see if that was the missing behavior but it doesn't work either. It only does matching on the filename, not the directories containing the file.
ido 'learns' what files you've visited and maintains a history cache. I believe that's what you're seeing in the screenshot above.(sometimes you'll want to clear the cache with ido-wash-history).
Usually once you've been in a project for a while it'll work in the way you're expecting.
If you're new to emacs, customize is the best way to experiment with the various features. e.g. you can M-x customize-group <RET> ido <RET> and see all the options for ido
There are other options, like find-file-in-project, are you sure you're actually invoking it? Just installing it isn't enough, that won't re-bind C-x C-f for you.
Try M-x find-file-in-project and see if that's the behaviour you desire.
There's also find-file-in-repository if you always work in source controlled dir.
('t' means true btw).
I would take a look at find-file-in-project.el.
http://www.emacswiki.org/cgi-bin/wiki/FindFileInProject
It will search for all files within the .git tree. I have this mapped to C-c f.
the "t" just means non-nil or true. You could use "a", "w", or "t" and it would mean the same thing. People just use t by convention.
Enabling
If you want to enable something you would have in your .emacs (ido-mode t)
Disabling
If you want to disable something you would have in your .emacs (ido-mode nil)
Last week, infuriated (again) by having to cope with different IDEs for R and Perl, neither of which I like or use enough to get really comfortable in, I decided to try Emacs. This decision was not made without a certain trepidation on my part. My main use is for Perl with cperl and for R with ESS. My environment is Windows 7 Ultimate 64-bit and I am running v23.4.1, which I think is what the ESS package installed on my behalf.
Nearly a week in and so far it has been surprisingly painless, no more involved than any other significant piece of software. I have remapped my ctrl key to caps-lock, changed default folders, messed around with .emacs and made some additions such as auto-install, yasnippet, color-theme, icicles and a few others. Clearly there is some very sophisticated stuff out there. In addition of course certain features of base Emacs are immediately very powerful and useful, such as isearching up and down. On the whole I have been pleasantly surprised and reassured.
One thing that is cruder than I was expecting is the process of finding and opening files. After a cursory read of various tutorials I had this image of quasi-magical file location and filename auto-completion. The main directories in my setup have paths like g:/roaming/code/perl or g:/roaming/code/R/ but I often need to branch into completely different paths like g:/pricedata/support files/sector/project01/ and so on.
Currently I laboriously delete the file path when I need to take a different fork, then use auto-complete to move deeper into that branch of the filesystem. It kinda takes me back to running a bash shell on the Amiga twenty years ago.
What had I expected? Something like (using the above example) typing 'project01' to skip immediately into the folder at the bottom of the path. For some reason I had got the idea in my head that Emacs would preload directories. So maybe this wasn't realistic.
My guess is that my difficulties probably stem from my own lack of familiarity rather than a structural shortcoming in Emacs and leads on to my questions. I can't complain that there is not enough documentation; rather there is abundant information that it is scattered around rather haphazardly. Icicles has a similar problem - if anything there's too much.
1) What is the best tactic for moving around different branches of the file tree when trying to open files in the minibuffer or using some other method? Are there aliases that can be used to shortcut from one place to another or can one specify directories to be preloaded? Do people just cd around a lot? Or am I coming at this from completely the wrong angle and need to adopt a different strategy?
2) With additional setup, can auto-complete be used to find files in (say) the project01 directly above by prefixing with wildcards etc? What should I focus on to become more efficient here? Am I not tapping the power of add-ons like icicles, anything etc?
I realise these questions veer dangerously close the deprecated category of not having clear answers. My defence is that some tips/guidance at this stage before I commit myself to bad habits or a poor long-term solution would be welcome and I suspect the answers will benefit others who might be considering the switch. I am happy to withdraw or rephrase if there are problems.
helm (formerly known as anything) might suit you. You can install it manually, or using a auto-install extension.
For the auto-install way: download it, put in Your load-path, then add to .emacs:
(add-to-list 'load-path "~/.emacs.d/site-lisp/auto-install")
(require 'auto-install)
(setq auto-install-directory "~/.emacs.d/site-lisp/auto-install/")
Then do M-x auto-install-batch anything. After that is done, put in .emacs:
(require 'anything)
(require 'anything-match-plugin)
(require 'anything-config)
(require 'anything-show-completion)
Then do M-x anything for anything.
Also give a try to ECB (stands for Emacs Code Browser). If you're on Linux, you probably have it available in a standard repository.
You could benefit from using ido-mode, which greatly enhances autocompletion nearly everywhere in emacs (especially when finding files or buffers)
(setq ido-enable-flex-matching t
ido-auto-merge-work-directories-length -1
ido-create-new-buffer 'always
ido-use-filename-at-point 'guess
ido-everywhere t
ido-default-buffer-method 'selected-window)
(ido-mode 1)
(put 'ido-exit-minibuffer 'disabled nil)
(when (require 'ido-ubiquitous nil t)
(ido-ubiquitous-mode 1))
While this might help you quickly finding files "not far away", it probably won't help you much finding files in entirely different locations.
If find that one way to begin tackling this problem is using recentf-mode to quickly jump to recent locations (if you have only a small number of usual project directories, this might do the trick). recentf can be coupled with ido using something like this (I'm not sure where I got this snippet from):
(recentf-mode 1)
(setq recentf-max-saved-items 50)
(defun ido-recentf-open ()
"Use `ido-completing-read' to \\[find-file] a recent file"
(interactive)
(if (find-file (ido-completing-read "Find recent file: " recentf-list))
(message "Opening file...")
(message "Aborting")))
(global-set-key (kbd "C-x C-r") 'ido-recentf-open)
With this, you can use C-x C-f (ido-find-file) to look for files near you current location, and C-x C-r (ido-recentf-open) to look for recently opened files (hoping one of them is not too far away from where you want to go).
There are various approaches. File name cache is a built in solution. Opening files from recent files is also very effective, especially if you set the stored files to a high number (e.g. 1000). There are also packages for opening files from anywhere on the file system. And there are meta solutions like anything.el which can show you file completions from multiple sources (history, project files, etc.) in a common interface.
You should investigate the different options to find out which is the most suitable for you.
In addition to IDO and recetf you can use the following methods:
Open the directory recursively.
(defun op-i:dired (rec)
"customized dired: will display directory recursively when called with an argument"
(interactive "P")
(let ((dir (car (find-file-read-args "Dired: " nil)))
(opts (if rec (read-string "options: " "-lhAR") "-lhA")))
(if (file-directory-p dir) (dired dir opts))))
(define-key (current-global-map) (kbd "C-x C-d") 'op-i:dired)
Then you can navigate in the directory buffer as in any other buffer using a (wildcard) search.
Use Emacs registers to point to often used directories. You can initialize them in your .emacs
(set-register ?0 (cons 'file "c:/path/to/my-project0"))
(set-register ?1 (cons 'file "c:/path/to/my-project1"))
Then jump to register using C-x r j
Other people have already mentioned anything, suffice it to say, I believe it solves all your problems. :)
Calling out one specific feature of anything is anything-locate. On *nix systems, this uses the DB created by the locate command to quickly find files. On Windows, I believe it works with "Everything", which should give you near instantaneous search results across all your files. I mean all.
Tom has mentioned file-cache. Anything works with that.
Just as a side note, Dired is an absolute monster once you get used to it. You should read the emacswiki pages related to it. In particular dired-x, which comes with Emacs binds C-x C-j, jumps to current buffer in Dired was a revelation for me. Also dired-find, wdired.
Edit: some details on why C-x C-j is awesome.
When you pop the current buffer in a Dired buffer, you can modify it, i.e. rename, delete, etc. And Emacs is aware of what you've done, and adjusts accordingly.
Other possibilities:
Bookmarks. If you use Bookmark+ then you can also:
Bookmark Dired buffers, which remembers their inserted subdirs, their markings, and their file omissions. You can have a bookmark that opens Dired to a specific set of files that need not be in the same directory or even the same directory tree.
From Dired you can hit a key to create a separate bookmark to each marked file or subdir.
Bookmark files automatically (autofiles).
Tag bookmarks and files (autofile bookmarks) with arbitrary-text tags. (Tags can even be non-text Lisp objects). Use tags to organize, search, etc. different categories of bookmarks.
Bookmark sets of bookmarks or bookmark files or Emacs desktops. Jump to such a bookmark to restore a given project state/context.
Icicles.
Define temporary or persistent sets of files on the fly, even from different directories. Operate on the files in a set in various ways. (Use Emacs filesets, less powerful, the same way.)
Complete against file names from such saved sets during any completion command, not just file-finding.
Act in different ways on candidate files during completion.
Search bookmarked objects or saved sets of files or buffers.
Dired+.
Additional navigation, including i bouncing between a subdirectory listing and the subdirectory's line in the parent listing.
Refs:
http://www.emacswiki.org/cgi-bin/wiki/BookmarkPlus
http://www.emacswiki.org/emacs/Icicles_-_Support_for_Projects
http://www.emacswiki.org/emacs/Icicles_-_File-Name_Input
http://www.emacswiki.org/cgi-bin/wiki/DiredPlus
How do I prevent Emacs from showing me all the files I'm not interested in (such as ~ backup files, .pyc files, or .orig files) when I: C-x C-f TAB ?
It is working in one respect: if I know the file I want to open begins with foo and I type foo TAB then the mini-buffer correctly autocompletes all the way to foo.py. It correctly ignored foo~ and foo.pyc, because both ~ and .pyc are in completion-ignored-extensions. It also correctly lets me open either ignored file if I really want to by typing in all the letters my self.
However, if I just hit TAB to to bring up the completion list buffer then that list includes files with extensions in completion-ignored-extensions, which makes it very difficult to find what I'm looking for.
Clearly the code to ignore uninteresting files is there and working. How do I get the completion list buffer to respect completion-ignored-extensions?
(by-the-by, can I make dired behave similarly?)
This piece of advice filters out files with extensions listed in 'completion-ignored-extensions:
(defadvice completion--file-name-table (after
ignoring-backups-f-n-completion
activate)
"Filter out results when they match `completion-ignored-extensions'."
(let ((res ad-return-value))
(if (and (listp res)
(stringp (car res))
(cdr res)) ; length > 1, don't ignore sole match
(setq ad-return-value
(completion-pcm--filename-try-filter res)))))
Note: This doesn't affect dired.
For the dired issue, add this to your .emacs
(eval-after-load "dired"
'(require 'dired-x))
(add-hook 'dired-mode-hook
(lambda ()
(dired-omit-mode 1)))
Read the documentation for dired-x to get an idea of what's available there.
I would recommend using ido-mode to ignore files; it comes with Emacs by default and adds many other useful enhancements that you'll quickly learn to love. The Ignorance is Bliss section from this Mastering Emacs blog post covers how to ignore files, directories, and buffers:
ido-ignore-buffers Takes a list of buffers to ignore in C-x b
ido-ignore-directories Takes a list of directories to ignore in C-x d and C-x C-f
ido-ignore-files Takes a list of files to ignore in C-x C-f
Icicles does what you expect by default. It always respects completion-ignored-extensions for file-name completion, including for buffer *Completions*. And you can toggle this ignoring on/off at anytime, by hitting C-. in the minibuffer.
In addition, if you use library completion-ignored-build.el by Kevin Ryde, then Icicles automatically takes advantage of that library's dynamic adjustment of ignored file extensions. (Just load completion-ignored-build.el -- do not enable its minor mode or advice.)
I don't know of an answer for completion, I'm afraid. I think this is by design - when you know the name you're looking for, you probably don't want e.g. the backup file. But when you don't know, it's probably better to have a list of all of the files.
However, for dired, you can load the 'dired-x' package on startup (in your .emacs), and this provides dired-omit-mode:
(load "dired-x")
You can use 'M-x customize-variable<RET>dired-omit-files' to set the actual patterns to ignore. Then when you are in dired mode you can use M-O (the letter, not the number) to toggle 'omission' on and off.
I'd like to re-format all my source files using the Google formatting function for emacs: google-c-style.el (see here).
How can I apply this function to all my source files at once, so that they are all formatted and indented correctly according to the Google style?
There are several pieces to this:
you need to come up with EMACS functions to do all the reformatting you want. indent-region is a start, but you might also want to untabify or some other things.
you need to invoke them on each file, and since the indent functions work on ranges, you need a function that sets mark to cover the whole file: mark-whole-buffer.
you need to invoke EMACS on each file: this means invoking emacs with the --batch file.
There's a couple of nice blog posts on doing this here and here.
I have done this before by using a keyboard defined macro. I would load all of the files into emacs (something like find . -name "*.cpp" | xargs emacs) and then type the following keys. I've annotated each key combination with what it does.
C-x-( 'Begin recording macro
M-< 'Go to start of file
C-space 'Mark current location (now start of file)
M-> 'Go to end of file
M-x indent-region 'Indent entire file according to coding style
C-x C-s 'Save the current buffer
C-x C-k 'Close the current buffer
C-x-) 'End recording macro
Now you can run this on a buffer by typing C-x e. If you have loaded several files you can run something like C-u 100 C-x e to run this on 100 files. If this is more than the number of files, that is ok, you'll just get some "bell ring" or other error you can ignore once all the processing is complete.
I believe that this script does not do reformatting. Instead it's an example of how to build a custom "style" as described in: CC mode manual - Styles
CC-mode manual also says:
If you want to reformat old code, you're probably better off using some other tool instead, e.g. GNU indent, which has more powerful reformatting capabilities than CC Mode.
CC mode manual - Limitations-and-Known-Bugs
If you want to mark the source files in a dired buffer and then run a function to format each you can do something like this:
(defun clean-file(filename)
(your-function-goes-here))
(defun clean-each-dired-marked-file()
(interactive)
(for-each-dired-marked-file 'clean-file))
(defun for-each-dired-marked-file(fn)
"Do stuff for each marked file, only works in dired window"
(interactive)
(if (eq major-mode 'dired-mode)
(let ((filenames (dired-get-marked-files)))
(mapcar fn filenames))
(error (format "Not a Dired buffer \(%s\)" major-mode))))
When I use Emacs I want to be able to easily display and navigate through a list of files I worked on from not just the current session but from previous sessions. (BTW, running Emacs 22.2 on Windows)
From Joe Grossberg's blog (no longer available):
But if you're using GNU Emacs 21.2
(the latest version, which includes
this as part of the standard distro),
you can just put the following lines
into your .emacs file
;; recentf stuff
(require 'recentf)
(recentf-mode 1)
(setq recentf-max-menu-items 25)
(global-set-key "\C-x\ \C-r" 'recentf-open-files)
Then, when you launch emacs, hit
CTRL-X CTRL-R. It will show a list of
the recently-opened files in a buffer.
Move the cursor to a line and press
ENTER. That will open the file in
question, and move it to the top of
your recent-file list.
(Note: Emacs records file names.
Therefore, if you move or rename a
file outside of Emacs, it won't
automatically update the list. You'll
have to open the renamed file with the
normal CTRL-X CTRL-F method.)
Jayakrishnan Varnam has a page
including screenshots of how this
package works.
Note: You don't need the (require 'recentf) line.
Even if you don't have recentf turned on, Emacs is saving a list of files entered via the minibuffer in the variable file-name-history. Also, executing (savehist-mode 1) in your .emacs file makes that variable persist across invocations of Emacs.
So here's a little function that displays the files that actually exist from that list (anyone is welcome to use/build on this):
(defun dir-of-recent-files ()
"See the list of recently entered files in a Dired buffer."
(interactive)
(dired (cons
"*Recent Files*"
(seq-filter
'file-exists-p
(delete-dups
(mapcar (lambda (s) (string-trim-right s "/*"))
file-name-history)
))))
)
I find this quite useful and have it bound to one of those little special function keys on my desktop keyboard. (And so I have not seen the point of turning on recentf...)