Re: Abbreviated filenames for display

[Kevin Rodgers <ihs_4664@yahoo.com>]

Michael Mauger wrote:
> This is not a critical need but it has been bugging me for a while.
> 
> I have three locations of files that I use regularly.  One is local on my w32 
> machine, the other two are on Unix machines.  I use Tramp and everything works 
> beatifully.  I have something like the following in my .emacs:
> 
>    (putenv "D0" "~/My Documents/Projects/xyz")
>    (putenv "D1" "/sshx:myuser@unix1.abc.def.com:/home/myuser")
>    (putenv "D2" "/sshx:myuser@unix2.abc.def.com:/home/myuser")
> 
> This allows me to specify remote files easily at the C-x C-f prompt, with a 
> string like:
> 
>     Find File: $D2/proj/xyz/src/x.sql
> 
> The "$D2" gets expanded and my fingers don't fall off for excess wear.
> 
> What I'd like to be able to do, especially in the recentf menu or buffer lists, 
> is to replace the long Tramp prefix with a shorter string that allows me to see 
> what machine the file is from quicker.  Ideally, I'd like to be able to replace 
> the leading portion of the file path with environment variable names I use when 
> entering the file name.
> 
> For example, rather than showing me
> 
>     /sshx:myuser@unix2.abc.def.com:/home/myuser/proj/xyz/src/x.sql
> 
> as the filename, I want:
> 
>     $D2/proj/xyz/src/x.sql
> 
> Part of my problem is that the Unix host names are long and very similar and 
> they hold two different but similarly structured directory trees (think, test 
> and production files).  I've made the mistake of opening the file on the wrong 
> host more than once because I didn't notice the host name difference in my 
> haste.  (I'm a little ADHD as well, so I do it more often than I like to admit.)
> 
> I've played around with file name handlers, but quickly got lost.

Does it make sense to put environment variables in directory-abbrev-alist?

(setq directory-abbrev-alist
       (list (cons (getenv "D0") "D0")
             (cons (getenv "D1") "D1")
             (cons (getenv "D2") "D2")))

-- 
Kevin Rodgers