RE: Easy/Possible to globally change prompt strings of messages? e.g. changing find-file's prompt string from "Find file:" to "open file:" ?

[Drew Adams <drew.adams@oracle.com>]

> Is it easy/possible to change the prompt strings of various Emacs commands?
> 
> For example, what Emacs calls find-file I think of as "opening a file"
> and hence would like to change the prompt from "Find file:" to "open file:".
> 
> Are global changes like that possible/easy?  Perhaps it would require
> an Lisp style macro or something?

Generally speaking, no.  Typically, a general function that reads
input is called by a command, and it is passed a literal string as
the prompt to use.

Anything is possible, of course.  You can replace, for example, the
standard definition of `find-file-read-args' (which reads the file
name for `find-file' and similar commands), so that it uses your
preferred prompt.

But there is a reason that such functions take a PROMPT argument:
so that they can be called by different commands or in different
contexts, using different prompts.  For `find-file-read-args',
for example:

files.el:1433:   (find-file-read-args "Find file: "
files.el:1453:   (find-file-read-args "Find file in other window: "
files.el:1476:   (find-file-read-args "Find file in other frame: "
files.el:1490:   (interactive (nbutlast (find-file-read-args "Find existing file: " t)))
files.el:1513:   (find-file-read-args "Find file read-only: "
files.el:1522:   (find-file-read-args "Find file read-only other window: "
files.el:1531:   (find-file-read-args "Find file read-only other frame: "
menu-bar.el:206:	 (filename (car (find-file-read-args "Find file: " mustmatch))))
files.el:1433:   (find-file-read-args "Find file: "
files.el:1453:   (find-file-read-args "Find file in other window: "
files.el:1476:   (find-file-read-args "Find file in other frame: "
files.el:1490:   (interactive (nbutlast (find-file-read-args "Find existing file: " t)))
files.el:1513:   (find-file-read-args "Find file read-only: "
files.el:1522:   (find-file-read-args "Find file read-only other window: "
files.el:1531:   (find-file-read-args "Find file read-only other frame: "
menu-bar.el:206:	 (filename (car (find-file-read-args "Find file: " mustmatch))))

Alternatively, you could replace not the utility functions that read
input but the commands that call the utility functions.  In that case,
you would have even more to change. ;-)

In sum, don't bother to try.  Just learn to live with "Find file" etc.