Virtual Dired directories

Virtual Dired directories

[Evans Winner]

A nice feature in Dired, if it doesn't already exist, might
be the ability to create virtual dired directories --
something like symlinks, but just in Emacs.  So instead of
creating a real directory and cluttering up your file
system, you just have this virtual directory where you can
act on a list of files scattered around the system as if
they were all in one place.

For example, on a Windows machine at work I have
emacsclientw.exe set as my desktop shell.  I have a
directory called ~/bin that has Windows ``shortcuts'' to all
the binary files I need on a regular basis and have
w32-integ-dired-explorer-open bound to C-c o in Dired.  This
is a nice simple replacement for the Windows start menu for
me.  But it might be easier if there were a way to simply
create a Dired ``virtual directory'' for that, instead of
having to create links to all those files and put them in a
real directory.

Anyway, a thought.  I have only skimmed the Dired docs, so
maybe it's already possible to do this, or maybe it doesn't
fit well with how Dired does things.  I dunno.

RE: Virtual Dired directories

[Drew Adams]

> A nice feature in Dired, if it doesn't already exist,

You're in luck, it does!

> might be the ability to create virtual dired directories --
> something like symlinks, but just in Emacs.  So instead of
> creating a real directory and cluttering up your file
> system, you just have this virtual directory where you can
> act on a list of files scattered around the system as if
> they were all in one place.
> 
> For example, on a Windows machine at work I have
> emacsclientw.exe set as my desktop shell.  I have a
> directory called ~/bin that has Windows ``shortcuts'' to all
> the binary files I need on a regular basis and have
> w32-integ-dired-explorer-open bound to C-c o in Dired.  This
> is a nice simple replacement for the Windows start menu for
> me.  But it might be easier if there were a way to simply
> create a Dired ``virtual directory'' for that, instead of
> having to create links to all those files and put them in a
> real directory.
> 
> Anyway, a thought.  I have only skimmed the Dired docs, so
> maybe it's already possible to do this, or maybe it doesn't
> fit well with how Dired does things.  I dunno.

The first thing you can do is provide a wildcard (glob) expression to Dired: C-x
d /path/to/dir/foo*.*  AFAIK, you cannot use such a virtual directory as a
bookmark (bookmark.el), however.

Emacs filesets provide more flexibility wrt filename patterns. See the Emacs
manual, node Filesets, but this page provides better help:

http://www.emacswiki.org/emacs/FileSets

If you use Icicles, you have even more flexibility wrt the set of files and
filename patterns. You can use Emacs filesets or saved sets of filenames in a
mix of directories anywhere. You can open Dired (virtual directory) for any such
set. You can create such a saved set using the files that are marked in Dired
(from multiple Dired buffers) or in other ways. And you can use such a saved set
(or a fileset) as the set of completion candidates when you open, delete, etc.
files.

http://www.emacswiki.org/emacs/Icicles_-_Persistent_Completions#toc5
http://www.emacswiki.org/emacs/Icicles_-_Dired_Enhancements
http://www.emacswiki.org/emacs/Icicles_-_Support_for_Projects