Coping with backup~ file proliferation

Coping with backup~ file proliferation

[ginak]

I use Emacs for all my text editing, and I like it a lot, but one
thing that gets on my nerves is when my directories become littered
with backup files (like foo~).  How can I reduce the numbers of calls
to

  rm *~

??

Thanks,

g.

Re: Coping with backup~ file proliferation

[Jérôme Marant]

ginak wrote:

>I use Emacs for all my text editing, and I like it a lot, but one
>thing that gets on my nerves is when my directories become littered
>with backup files (like foo~).  How can I reduce the numbers of calls
>to
>
>  rm *~
>  
>

This:

(setq make-backup-files nil)

disables backup files. I don't know if this is what you want.

Cheers,

Re: Coping with backup~ file proliferation

[Kester Clegg]

Jérôme Marant   <marant.logatique@fr.thalesgroup.com> writes:

[...]

> >I use Emacs for all my text editing, and I like it a lot, but one
> >thing that gets on my nerves is when my directories become littered
> >with backup files (like foo~).  How can I reduce the numbers of calls
> >to

[...]

> 
> (setq make-backup-files nil)
> 

Or you can stick files of a type into one place, or put all your backups
in one place:

backup-directory-alist

Documentation:
Alist of filename patterns and backup directory names.
Each element looks like (REGEXP . DIRECTORY).  Backups of files with
names matching REGEXP will be made in DIRECTORY.  DIRECTORY may be
relative or absolute.  If it is absolute, so that all matching files
are backed up into the same directory, the file names in this
directory will be the full name of the file backed up with all
directory separators changed to `!' to prevent clashes.  This will not
work correctly if your filesystem truncates the resulting name.

For the common case of all backups going into one directory, the alist
should contain a single element pairing "." with the appropriate
directory name.

-- 
************************************************************************
Kester Clegg				Dept. of Computer Science,
Research Assistant (UTC)		University of York, 
Tel (01904) 43 27 49			email: kester at cs.york.ac.uk
************************************************************************

Re: Coping with backup~ file proliferation

[ginak]

In <yqrsmxfumdp.fsf@cs.york.ac.uk> Kester Clegg <kester@cs.york.ac.uk> writes:
>Or you can stick files of a type into one place, or put all your backups
>in one place:

>backup-directory-alist

< snip >

That's very nice.  Thank you.

g.

Re: Coping with backup~ file proliferation

[Miles Bader]

ginak <gina02122000@yahoo.com> writes:
> I use Emacs for all my text editing, and I like it a lot, but one
> thing that gets on my nerves is when my directories become littered
> with backup files (like foo~).  How can I reduce the numbers of calls
> to rm *~

I suppose it depends on why it gets on your nerves:  do you dislike
the cluttered appearance of ls/dired output, or are you worried about
disk space etc.?

For me, it's the former -- I rather like having my files backed up as
long as I don't have to see the backups -- so I've just put:

  alias ls="ls -B"

in my .bashrc, and have also added the -B option to emacs'
`dired-listing-switches' variable.

So now I almost never realize the ~ files are there, unless I
specifically look for them!

-Miles
-- 
o The existentialist, not having a pillow, goes everywhere with the book by
  Sullivan, _I am going to spit on your graves_.