Re: Long file names in Dired

[Emanuel Berg <embe8573@student.uu.se>]

Marcin Borkowski <mbork@mbork.pl> writes:

> BTW, the reason I have long filenames is that I have
> a bunch of pdfs with scientific articles, and
> I decided that putting the author names, publication
> year and a ttile (at least shortened) into the
> filename might be a good idea so that I don't get
> lost. An alternative would be e.g. an Org-mode based
> database with links to files, but then relocating
> them would be non-trivial.

This idea is even better - use BibTeX. In a .bib file,
write entries like this - every book, article, paper,
etc. you read, you make an entry:

    @book{cpp,
        author    = {Bjarne Stroustrup},
        title     = {The C++ Programming Language},
        edition   = {Second Edition},
        publisher = {Addison-Wesley},
        year      = 1992,
        ISBN      = {0-201-53992-6}
    }

In LaTeX, a reference is made with \cite, e.g.:

    C++ is an extension of C, which is the system
    programming language of choice since the early-mid
    70s. \cite[pp. v-vi, 6, 41-42]{cpp}

Then rename the file: cpp.pdf

If you use Emacs to view PDFs as well, for the .bib
file (the BibTeX mode), write a defun that takes the
entry-around-point's name ('cpp' in this case) and
combines it with the path where you have the PDF (all
of them), and suddenly you are only the extention away
from having an as-is text-editable menu to browse all
that stuff as well.

Don't thank me. I'll send an invoice :)

-- 
underground experts united
http://user.it.uu.se/~embe8573