From mboxrd@z Thu Jan 1 00:00:00 1970 Path: news.gmane.io!.POSTED.ciao.gmane.io!not-for-mail From: Gregory Heytings <ghe@sdf.org> Newsgroups: gmane.emacs.help Subject: Opening multiple files in a single buffer? Date: Sat, 13 Jun 2020 14:31:52 +0000 Message-ID: <alpine.NEB.2.22.394.2006131521280.2858@sdf.lonestar.org> Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; format=flowed; charset=US-ASCII Injection-Info: ciao.gmane.io; posting-host="ciao.gmane.io:159.69.161.202"; logging-data="105315"; mail-complaints-to="usenet@ciao.gmane.io" User-Agent: Alpine 2.21 (NEB 202 2017-01-01) To: help-gnu-emacs@gnu.org Original-X-From: help-gnu-emacs-bounces+geh-help-gnu-emacs=m.gmane-mx.org@gnu.org Sat Jun 13 16:41:46 2020 Return-path: <help-gnu-emacs-bounces+geh-help-gnu-emacs=m.gmane-mx.org@gnu.org> Envelope-to: geh-help-gnu-emacs@m.gmane-mx.org Original-Received: from lists.gnu.org ([209.51.188.17]) by ciao.gmane.io with esmtps (TLS1.2:ECDHE_RSA_AES_256_GCM_SHA384:256) (Exim 4.92) (envelope-from <help-gnu-emacs-bounces+geh-help-gnu-emacs=m.gmane-mx.org@gnu.org>) id 1jk7Lt-000RJx-Mm for geh-help-gnu-emacs@m.gmane-mx.org; Sat, 13 Jun 2020 16:41:45 +0200 Original-Received: from localhost ([::1]:60786 helo=lists1p.gnu.org) by lists.gnu.org with esmtp (Exim 4.90_1) (envelope-from <help-gnu-emacs-bounces+geh-help-gnu-emacs=m.gmane-mx.org@gnu.org>) id 1jk7Ls-0000m6-MM for geh-help-gnu-emacs@m.gmane-mx.org; Sat, 13 Jun 2020 10:41:44 -0400 Original-Received: from eggs.gnu.org ([2001:470:142:3::10]:59788) by lists.gnu.org with esmtps (TLS1.2:ECDHE_RSA_AES_256_GCM_SHA384:256) (Exim 4.90_1) (envelope-from <ghe@sdf.org>) id 1jk7LA-0000k7-C3 for help-gnu-emacs@gnu.org; Sat, 13 Jun 2020 10:41:00 -0400 Original-Received: from mx.sdf.org ([205.166.94.20]:57108) by eggs.gnu.org with esmtps (TLS1.3:ECDHE_RSA_AES_256_GCM_SHA384:256) (Exim 4.90_1) (envelope-from <ghe@sdf.org>) id 1jk7L7-0002jF-0S for help-gnu-emacs@gnu.org; Sat, 13 Jun 2020 10:41:00 -0400 Original-Received: from sdf.org (IDENT:ghe@faeroes.freeshell.org [205.166.94.9]) by mx.sdf.org (8.15.2/8.14.5) with ESMTPS id 05DEVtN4026629 (using TLSv1.3 with cipher TLS_AES_256_GCM_SHA384 (256 bits) verified NO) for <help-gnu-emacs@gnu.org>; Sat, 13 Jun 2020 14:31:55 GMT Original-Received: (from ghe@localhost) by sdf.org (8.15.2/8.12.8/Submit) id 05DEVtMN024245; Sat, 13 Jun 2020 14:31:55 GMT Received-SPF: pass client-ip=205.166.94.20; envelope-from=ghe@sdf.org; helo=mx.sdf.org X-detected-operating-system: by eggs.gnu.org: First seen = 2020/06/13 10:31:56 X-ACL-Warn: Detected OS = ??? X-Spam_score_int: -18 X-Spam_score: -1.9 X-Spam_bar: - X-Spam_report: (-1.9 / 5.0 requ) BAYES_00=-1.9, RCVD_IN_DNSWL_NONE=-0.0001, SPF_HELO_NONE=0.001, SPF_PASS=-0.001 autolearn=_AUTOLEARN X-Spam_action: no action X-BeenThere: help-gnu-emacs@gnu.org X-Mailman-Version: 2.1.23 Precedence: list List-Id: Users list for the GNU Emacs text editor <help-gnu-emacs.gnu.org> List-Unsubscribe: <https://lists.gnu.org/mailman/options/help-gnu-emacs>, <mailto:help-gnu-emacs-request@gnu.org?subject=unsubscribe> List-Archive: <https://lists.gnu.org/archive/html/help-gnu-emacs> List-Post: <mailto:help-gnu-emacs@gnu.org> List-Help: <mailto:help-gnu-emacs-request@gnu.org?subject=help> List-Subscribe: <https://lists.gnu.org/mailman/listinfo/help-gnu-emacs>, <mailto:help-gnu-emacs-request@gnu.org?subject=subscribe> Errors-To: help-gnu-emacs-bounces+geh-help-gnu-emacs=m.gmane-mx.org@gnu.org Original-Sender: "help-gnu-emacs" <help-gnu-emacs-bounces+geh-help-gnu-emacs=m.gmane-mx.org@gnu.org> Xref: news.gmane.io gmane.emacs.help:123369 Archived-At: <http://permalink.gmane.org/gmane.emacs.help/123369> Dear List, I've now been using Emacs for many, many years, and there is perhaps a single feature I'm really missing, namely opening more than one file in a single buffer, with the contents of the files appearing one after the other in the same buffer, with some kind of visual separator between them. I don't know if that feature exists in other text editors. For example, suppose you write a book, which has fifteen chapters in files chap1.tex, ..., chap15.tex. Opening these files in a single buffer means that you could use isearch-{forward,backward} in the whole book. (I know that multi-isearch-buffers could be used in this particular case, but it is not as convenient to use.) You could also use query-replace on the whole book, or reindent all files, or execute shell-command on all files at once, and so forth. (Again I know that all this can be done with already existing features, e.g. through dired, but again I find them not as convenient as what I have in mind.) Each file would have its own major and minor modes, and the mode-line would adapt depending on the file corresponding to the buffer portion in which the point is currently located. My question is: Is this feasible, or is the one-to-one correspondence between buffers and files too deeply rooted in Emacs' codebase that it is not feasible? If it is feasible, could this feature be considered for implementation in a future Emacs version? Gregory