What does "merge" in ido.el mean?

What does "merge" in ido.el mean?

[Xue Fuqiao]

I'm reading ido.el, and I have a small question.

I saw the word (or term) "merge" in in `ido-ignore-directories-merge',
`ido-merge-ftp-work-directories',
`ido-auto-merge-work-directories-length', and some other
symbols/docstrings.

I don't know what this term means here (what does it merge?).  I want
to read the sources in detial but don't know where to start.  And I
have also searched "emacs ido merge" and "ftp merge" on web but
there's nothing promising.  Can anyone point me in the right
direction?

--
Best regards, Xue Fuqiao.

Re: What does "merge" in ido.el mean?

[Óscar Fuentes]

Xue Fuqiao <xfq.free@gmail.com> writes:

> I'm reading ido.el, and I have a small question.
>
> I saw the word (or term) "merge" in in `ido-ignore-directories-merge',
> `ido-merge-ftp-work-directories',
> `ido-auto-merge-work-directories-length', and some other
> symbols/docstrings.
>
> I don't know what this term means here (what does it merge?).  I want
> to read the sources in detial but don't know where to start.  And I
> have also searched "emacs ido merge" and "ftp merge" on web but
> there's nothing promising.  Can anyone point me in the right
> direction?

It seems that this feature is almost undocumented. My understanding
comes from the docstring of ido-find-file, which contains:

\\[ido-merge-work-directories] search for file in the work directory history.

My guess is that when you input a string it is used for searching for a
file on the current directory *and* on the directories contained in the
"work directory history" (whatever that means) and the candidates coming
from all those directories are merged into a single list which is what
the user sees.

HTH

Re: What does "merge" in ido.el mean?

[Xue Fuqiao]

On Sun, Jun 16, 2013 at 5:55 AM, Óscar Fuentes <ofv@wanadoo.es> wrote:
> Xue Fuqiao <xfq.free@gmail.com> writes:
>
>> I'm reading ido.el, and I have a small question.
>>
>> I saw the word (or term) "merge" in in `ido-ignore-directories-merge',
>> `ido-merge-ftp-work-directories',
>> `ido-auto-merge-work-directories-length', and some other
>> symbols/docstrings.
>>
>> I don't know what this term means here (what does it merge?).
>
> It seems that this feature is almost undocumented. My understanding
> comes from the docstring of ido-find-file, which contains:
>
> \\[ido-merge-work-directories] search for file in the work directory history.
>
> My guess is that when you input a string it is used for searching for a
> file on the current directory *and* on the directories contained in the
> "work directory history" (whatever that means) and the candidates coming
> from all those directories are merged into a single list which is what
> the user sees.

Sounds reasonable, thank you.  (Kim F. Storm has the final say, tho.)

--
Best regards, Xue Fuqiao.
http://www.gnu.org/software/emacs/