From mboxrd@z Thu Jan 1 00:00:00 1970 Path: news.gmane.io!.POSTED.blaine.gmane.org!not-for-mail From: Gregory Heytings Newsgroups: gmane.emacs.help Subject: Re: Why does (file-exists-p "") return t? Date: Thu, 09 Feb 2023 10:56:49 +0000 Message-ID: References: <87zg9n15f1.fsf@posteo.net> Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=utf-8; format=flowed Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable Injection-Info: ciao.gmane.io; posting-host="blaine.gmane.org:116.202.254.214"; logging-data="17845"; mail-complaints-to="usenet@ciao.gmane.io" Cc: help-gnu-emacs@gnu.org To: Edgar Vincent Original-X-From: help-gnu-emacs-bounces+geh-help-gnu-emacs=m.gmane-mx.org@gnu.org Thu Feb 09 11:57:14 2023 Return-path: 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 ) id 1pQ4c6-0004O5-Jl for geh-help-gnu-emacs@m.gmane-mx.org; Thu, 09 Feb 2023 11:57:14 +0100 Original-Received: from localhost ([::1] helo=lists1p.gnu.org) by lists.gnu.org with esmtp (Exim 4.90_1) (envelope-from ) id 1pQ4bn-0003Ti-WC; Thu, 09 Feb 2023 05:56:56 -0500 Original-Received: from eggs.gnu.org ([2001:470:142:3::10]) by lists.gnu.org with esmtps (TLS1.2:ECDHE_RSA_AES_256_GCM_SHA384:256) (Exim 4.90_1) (envelope-from ) id 1pQ4bm-0003TM-15 for help-gnu-emacs@gnu.org; Thu, 09 Feb 2023 05:56:54 -0500 Original-Received: from heytings.org ([95.142.160.155]) by eggs.gnu.org with esmtps (TLS1.2:ECDHE_RSA_AES_256_GCM_SHA384:256) (Exim 4.90_1) (envelope-from ) id 1pQ4bj-0004xq-Lb for help-gnu-emacs@gnu.org; Thu, 09 Feb 2023 05:56:53 -0500 DKIM-Signature: v=1; a=rsa-sha256; c=relaxed/relaxed; d=heytings.org; s=20220101; t=1675940209; bh=2aW8w67IR/DyyBWOchQDft+IheuLwhBO+DPNoJRgLX4=; h=Date:From:To:cc:Subject:In-Reply-To:Message-ID:References:From; b=rQHZ7AQ3KBFEop9+YTVFeyN6iZhWWSYXfOp5//OV6rfowoSHTsJ3qpsExZKh+HX0H XZ9JNoATz7xHm3zjoV+32ltELiHKsmQPtJAqB4/ANbUFYmGHkh9BXMgi1HnfTkSH1e EL3w/xkYs5Edh829SbDS+w4SiaOfbTP80h9vCd4N9UGPX3W2qpzoELrjzhzJ5iqbbr MUDe85Qgf4RaK8aYbiWwZaXq1vcwt+ImDqL8jJdcsAP7qtcyAOmzonNUIYlLmNssmP AEMcCoPnVhUqsrzs7moFikVgysRDJj0+YG135s47Kp/ZQzQF7JG1srIKY1/J9zedX1 Y6YkAIP1Iz5Pg== In-Reply-To: <87zg9n15f1.fsf@posteo.net> Received-SPF: pass client-ip=95.142.160.155; envelope-from=gregory@heytings.org; helo=heytings.org X-Spam_score_int: -20 X-Spam_score: -2.1 X-Spam_bar: -- X-Spam_report: (-2.1 / 5.0 requ) BAYES_00=-1.9, DKIM_SIGNED=0.1, DKIM_VALID=-0.1, DKIM_VALID_AU=-0.1, DKIM_VALID_EF=-0.1, SPF_HELO_PASS=-0.001, SPF_PASS=-0.001 autolearn=ham autolearn_force=no X-Spam_action: no action X-Content-Filtered-By: Mailman/MimeDel 2.1.29 X-BeenThere: help-gnu-emacs@gnu.org X-Mailman-Version: 2.1.29 Precedence: list List-Id: Users list for the GNU Emacs text editor List-Unsubscribe: , List-Archive: List-Post: List-Help: List-Subscribe: , Errors-To: help-gnu-emacs-bounces+geh-help-gnu-emacs=m.gmane-mx.org@gnu.org Original-Sender: help-gnu-emacs-bounces+geh-help-gnu-emacs=m.gmane-mx.org@gnu.org Xref: news.gmane.io gmane.emacs.help:142668 Archived-At: > > I just noticed that (file-exists-p =E2=80=9C=E2=80=9D) returns t on my sy= stem (Emacs=20 > 28.2 on Arch Linux). > > I am not familiar with Emacs=E2=80=99 file handling internals, so the ans= wer=20 > might be obvious. > > However, I did not find any mention of this case in the docstring or the= =20 > Elisp manual. > When the argument to file-exists-p is not an absolute file name, it is=20 understood as being relative to default-directory. Therefore with an=20 empty string, file-exists-p checks whether default-directory exists, which= =20 is normally the case. But (let ((default-directory "/nonexistent")) (file-exists-p "")) returns nil.