From mboxrd@z Thu Jan 1 00:00:00 1970 Path: news.gmane.org!not-for-mail From: Lars Hansen Newsgroups: gmane.emacs.devel Subject: Re: Start value in minibuffer [Was: opening /tmp//foo doesn't work.] Date: Tue, 15 Nov 2005 18:06:56 +0100 Message-ID: <437A15B0.5080303@soem.dk> References: <20051112104720.GK11234@boetes.org> <20051112163852.GA11661@www.trapp.net> <874q6hlqzc.fsf@stupidchicken.com> <4377B512.3050303@soem.dk> <43791357.8090803@soem.dk> NNTP-Posting-Host: main.gmane.org Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1 Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit X-Trace: sea.gmane.org 1132074752 9893 80.91.229.2 (15 Nov 2005 17:12:32 GMT) X-Complaints-To: usenet@sea.gmane.org NNTP-Posting-Date: Tue, 15 Nov 2005 17:12:32 +0000 (UTC) Cc: emacs-devel@gnu.org Original-X-From: emacs-devel-bounces+ged-emacs-devel=m.gmane.org@gnu.org Tue Nov 15 18:12:31 2005 Return-path: Original-Received: from lists.gnu.org ([199.232.76.165]) by ciao.gmane.org with esmtp (Exim 4.43) id 1Ec4H9-0006k3-3n for ged-emacs-devel@m.gmane.org; Tue, 15 Nov 2005 18:07:19 +0100 Original-Received: from localhost ([127.0.0.1] helo=lists.gnu.org) by lists.gnu.org with esmtp (Exim 4.43) id 1Ec4H8-0006GY-GT for ged-emacs-devel@m.gmane.org; Tue, 15 Nov 2005 12:07:18 -0500 Original-Received: from mailman by lists.gnu.org with tmda-scanned (Exim 4.43) id 1Ec4Gy-0006G1-CN for emacs-devel@gnu.org; Tue, 15 Nov 2005 12:07:08 -0500 Original-Received: from exim by lists.gnu.org with spam-scanned (Exim 4.43) id 1Ec4Gw-0006Fi-Iz for emacs-devel@gnu.org; Tue, 15 Nov 2005 12:07:08 -0500 Original-Received: from [199.232.76.173] (helo=monty-python.gnu.org) by lists.gnu.org with esmtp (Exim 4.43) id 1Ec4Gv-0006FZ-KY for emacs-devel@gnu.org; Tue, 15 Nov 2005 12:07:06 -0500 Original-Received: from [212.99.225.245] (helo=odin.broadcom.dk) by monty-python.gnu.org with esmtp (TLS-1.0:DHE_RSA_3DES_EDE_CBC_SHA:24) (Exim 4.34) id 1Ec4Gv-0008Km-Cj for emacs-devel@gnu.org; Tue, 15 Nov 2005 12:07:05 -0500 Original-Received: from pppoe3-ves.broadcom.dk ([212.99.255.42] helo=[10.17.1.239]) by odin.broadcom.dk with esmtp (Exim 4.24; FreeBSD) id 1Ec48g-000AFV-4q; Tue, 15 Nov 2005 17:58:34 +0100 User-Agent: Debian Thunderbird 1.0.2 (X11/20051002) X-Accept-Language: en-us, en Original-To: bob@rattlesnake.com In-Reply-To: X-BeenThere: emacs-devel@gnu.org X-Mailman-Version: 2.1.5 Precedence: list List-Id: "Emacs development discussions." List-Unsubscribe: , List-Archive: List-Post: List-Help: List-Subscribe: , Original-Sender: emacs-devel-bounces+ged-emacs-devel=m.gmane.org@gnu.org Errors-To: emacs-devel-bounces+ged-emacs-devel=m.gmane.org@gnu.org Xref: news.gmane.org gmane.emacs.devel:46024 Archived-At: Robert J. Chassell wrote: >I do not understand you. > > Ok, I try harder. Assuming /usr/local exists on your system but contains no file named foo, do emacs -Q /usr/local/foo Then do C-x C-f, and the minibuffer will contain the value "/usr/local/". 1. You can use the minibuffer contents as a default value: Hit RTN, and you get a dired buffer listing /usr/local. That's fine. 2. You can use the minibuffer contents as a template: If you want a listing of /usr/bin, you can edit the string "/usr/local/" so it becomes "/usr/bin" and then hit RTN. That's fine too. 3. But if you want a listing of /etc, then you don't want to use the minibuffer contents "/usr/local/" at all. To avoid forcing the user to delete the minibuffer contents, Emacs allows you to just type "/etc". This gives the string "/usr/local//etc". When you hit RTN, by magic, you get a listing of /etc. IMHO it is not intuitive and neither elegant that Emacs interprets "/usr/local//etc" as "/etc". I think it would be better if the minibuffer initial contents of "/usr/local/" had been deleted automatically when the user starts to type. One more thing: The approach of interpreting "/usr/local//etc" as "/etc" works for file names because Emacs knows about file name syntax. But for other commands with so special syntax, you can't do that. What I am suggesting is something that works in all cases. Just as an option.