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* Opening multiple files in a single buffer?
@ 2020-06-13 14:31 Gregory Heytings
  2020-06-13 15:20 ` Douglas Lewan
                   ` (4 more replies)
  0 siblings, 5 replies; 31+ messages in thread
From: Gregory Heytings @ 2020-06-13 14:31 UTC (permalink / raw)
  To: help-gnu-emacs


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



^ permalink raw reply	[flat|nested] 31+ messages in thread

end of thread, other threads:[~2020-06-15 15:31 UTC | newest]

Thread overview: 31+ messages (download: mbox.gz follow: Atom feed
-- links below jump to the message on this page --
2020-06-13 14:31 Opening multiple files in a single buffer? Gregory Heytings
2020-06-13 15:20 ` Douglas Lewan
2020-06-13 16:53   ` Gregory Heytings
2020-06-13 15:21 ` tomas
2020-06-13 15:36   ` Douglas Lewan
2020-06-13 15:53     ` tomas
2020-06-13 15:49 ` Jakub Jankiewicz
2020-06-13 16:43 ` Stefan Monnier
2020-06-14 11:11   ` Michael Albinus
2020-06-15  8:26   ` Gregory Heytings
2020-06-15  9:33     ` tomas
2020-06-15  9:52       ` Gregory Heytings
2020-06-15 10:58         ` tomas
2020-06-15 12:48     ` Joost Kremers
2020-06-15 14:24       ` Gregory Heytings
2020-06-15 14:41     ` Stefan Monnier
2020-06-15 12:21   ` Sergey Organov
2020-06-15 15:26   ` Gregory Heytings
2020-06-15 15:31     ` Perry Smith
2020-06-13 18:10 ` Dan Hitt
2020-06-13 18:41   ` Jakub Jankiewicz
2020-06-13 18:41   ` Eli Zaretskii
2020-06-13 19:22     ` Gregory Heytings
2020-06-13 19:45       ` Perry Smith
2020-06-13 20:42         ` Gregory Heytings
2020-06-14  5:29           ` Arthur Miller
2020-06-14  7:12             ` Gregory Heytings
2020-06-14  7:45               ` Arthur Miller
2020-06-14 20:14                 ` Gregory Heytings
2020-06-15  6:58                   ` Sv: " arthur miller
2020-06-13 19:31   ` Stefan Monnier

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