Re: using variable names as args to interactive functions

[Kevin Rodgers <kevin.d.rodgers@gmail.com>]

Stuart wrote:
> Here's what I ended up doing:
> 
> First I changed all the my script to generate the variables as
> defvar's instead of setq's:
>   (defvar my-special-dir-a "/path/to/my/special/dir" "*Special
> directory `a'.")
> 
> This allows the "*" to make it a user variable so it can be read by
> the interactive prompt.
> 
> Now my definition looks like this:
> 
> (defun find-my-special-dir (dir)
> 	(interactive "vSpecial Directory: ")
> 	(find-file (symbol-value (symbol-value 'dir))))
> 
> symbol-value 'dir returns the name of the variable the user types at
> the prompt (i.e., my-special-dir-a)
> Then the symbol-value on top of that returns the string "/path/to/my/
> special/dir" and now it works!

(find-file (symbol-value dir)) ; dir should be renamed dir-sym

-- 
Kevin Rodgers
Denver, Colorado, USA