Re: Q: Is there a built-in way to read multiple file names?

[Max Nikulin <manikulin@gmail.com>]

On 14/07/2024 19:33, Ihor Radchenko wrote:
> Max Nikulin writes:
>>       tar cvfz f.tar.gz one/two.txt three/four/five.jpg six/seven.org
>>
>> I would prefer to avoid rambling through directories and marking files
>> when I approximately know location of files. I find it convenient to
>> type and hit TAB (or C-/ in some cases) to confirm that a file exists.
> 
> Sorry, but I do not understand what you are describing.
> Do you mean that you type partial completion, hit TAB, and get _all_ the
> matching candidates completed, separated by spaces?

Usually it is something like

     tar cvfz f.tar.gz on<TAB>tw<TAB> th<TAB>fo<TAB>f<TAB> s<TAB>se<TAB>

to get arguments in the command above. In most cases I prefer this way, 
not marking each file and directory view may be distracting (at least 
til <TAB><TAB> to get list of completions). It is basic completion. 
Rarely I use M-* insert-completions readline function.

>> At first I though that it might be easier to bind to key sequences some
>> functions that add/remove current text to/from an externally maintained
>> list (perhaps displayed in another buffer) while single item is
>> presented in the minibuffer. However is should be a pain when users
>> configure their preferred completion frameworks.
> 
> I think that icicles does exactly this. So does
> filechooser-read-file-names that Rahguzar shared.

I do not mind. The question is how much efforts are necessary for 
minimal variant without external dependencies.