elisp function to find pwd

elisp function to find pwd

[Vijay Lakshminarayanan]

Hi

I'd like to know if there exists a simple elisp function that I can
call and just get the present working directory.

I tried (pwd) but it gives a prefix.  For example:

(pwd)
"Directory C:\\emacs-22.2\\bin/"

Which prefixes "Directory" to the result.  I could just strip that bit
out but I'd like to know if there's an easier way.

Another hack I tried is:

(defun get-pwd-hack ()
  (let* ((buffer-name (buffer-name))
         (buffer-file-name (buffer-file-name))
         (bnl (length buffer-name))
         (bfnl (length buffer-file-name)))
    (substring buffer-file-name 0 (- bfnl (1+ bnl)))))

Which will fail if I'm in, say, the *scratch* buffer.

Thanks
Vijay

Re: elisp function to find pwd

[Shaun Johnson]

Hi Vijay,

Not a function but the buffer local variable default-directory. This is what pwd uses.

S.

Vijay Lakshminarayanan wrote:
> Hi
> 
> I'd like to know if there exists a simple elisp function that I can
> call and just get the present working directory.
> 
> I tried (pwd) but it gives a prefix.  For example:
> 
> (pwd)
> "Directory C:\\emacs-22.2\\bin/"
> 
> Which prefixes "Directory" to the result.  I could just strip that bit
> out but I'd like to know if there's an easier way.
> 
> Another hack I tried is:
> 
> (defun get-pwd-hack ()
>   (let* ((buffer-name (buffer-name))
>          (buffer-file-name (buffer-file-name))
>          (bnl (length buffer-name))
>          (bfnl (length buffer-file-name)))
>     (substring buffer-file-name 0 (- bfnl (1+ bnl)))))
> 
> Which will fail if I'm in, say, the *scratch* buffer.
> 
> Thanks
> Vijay
> 

Re: elisp function to find pwd

[Nikolaj Schumacher]

Vijay Lakshminarayanan <liyer.vijay@gmail.com> wrote:

> Which prefixes "Directory" to the result.  I could just strip that bit
> out but I'd like to know if there's an easier way.

With Emacs, you can find out yourself very easily.  Do
C-h f pwd
then click on the link.

It will take you to the function's source code and you can see what it
uses.


regards,
Nikolaj Schumacher

Re: elisp function to find pwd

[B. T. Raven]

Vijay Lakshminarayanan wrote:
> Hi
> 
> I'd like to know if there exists a simple elisp function that I can
> call and just get the present working directory.
> 
> I tried (pwd) but it gives a prefix.  For example:
> 
> (pwd)
> "Directory C:\\emacs-22.2\\bin/"
> 
> Which prefixes "Directory" to the result.  I could just strip that bit
> out but I'd like to know if there's an easier way.
> 
> Another hack I tried is:
> 
> (defun get-pwd-hack ()
>   (let* ((buffer-name (buffer-name))
>          (buffer-file-name (buffer-file-name))
>          (bnl (length buffer-name))
>          (bfnl (length buffer-file-name)))
>     (substring buffer-file-name 0 (- bfnl (1+ bnl)))))
> 
> Which will fail if I'm in, say, the *scratch* buffer.
> 
> Thanks
> Vijay

Why not just:

(substring (pwd) 10)

which happens to yield

"C:\\mydocu~1/"

on my system (i.e. (pwd) without the prefix). Also works in *scratch*. 
Why is this not "easier?"

Ed

Re: elisp function to find pwd

[Vijay Lakshminarayanan]

> On Nov 15, 4:59 am, "B. T. Raven" <ni...@nihilo.net> wrote:
> Why not just:
>
> (substring (pwd) 10)
>
> which happens to yield
>
> "C:\\mydocu~1/"
>
> on my system (i.e. (pwd) without the prefix). Also works in *scratch*.
> Why is this not "easier?"

I also have a GNU/Linux machine and it might have a different prefix.
Also, if you need to discard a prefix to get at the original there /
has/ to be an easier way.  If I hadn't found one, I would have used
either the first solution or extracting the substring.  But Shaun's
answer is exactly what I had been looking for.

On Nov 13, 3:06 pm, Shaun Johnson <sh...@slugfest.demon.co.uk> wrote:
> Not a function but the buffer local variable default-directory. This is what pwd uses.

Thanks Shaun.  This is exactly what I needed.

Cheers
~Vijay