Editing the bookmark list buffer on Emacs

emacs

On Emacs (using Bookmarks+), if I type C-x r l I can open the buffer *Bookmark List* and navigate through my bookmarks.

On this buffer, if I type Enter on a given bookmark, Emacs opens the bookmark, and if I type r Emacs allows me to edit it (rename). However, this mode of editing requires me to type my edits from scratch on the minibuffer (i.e. I need to provide the new name of the bookmark and the full new path of the bookmark).

I was wondering if there is a way to edit the *Bookmark List* buffer directly, as if I was editing any regular buffer, so that I don't have to re-type the new name or path of the bookmark (in case I want to keep parts of them) from scratch.

Best Answer

No, the *Bookmark List * buffer is not directly editable. But there are commands (keys) for editing bookmarks that are displayed there. You mentioned r. There are also e and E, depending what part of a bookmark you want to change. Not to mention several keys for editing a bookmark's tags.

As for recuperating existing text to reuse (edit) it, that should be trivial. The current value is available as a default value (M-n, M-p). Or you can copy it from a help buffer: C-h RET gives help on the current-line's bookmark (in buffer *Help*), and with a prefix arg the full bookmark record is shown, i.e., the Lisp sexp representing the bookmark, which is in your bookmark file (~/.emacs.bmk, by default).

The current values of any part of a bookmark that you would want to edit are thus easily available - you should never have to start from scratch.

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Directory shortcuts in emacs buffer

The Emacs component that's responsible for expanding ~ in file names is expand-file-name. Unfortunately, it's written in C, and deep inside its bowels is code that assumes that what comes after ~ is a user name. Fortunately, Emacs has a generic way of adding a wrapper around functions, so you can do what you want if you don't mind repeating some of the logic in the built-in function.

Here's some completely untested code that should get you going. Look up “Advising Emacs Lisp Functions” in the Emacs Lisp manual for more information; the basic idea is that defadvice adds some code to run before the actual code of expand-file-name. Please signal the mistakes I've inevitably made in comments (whether you know how to fix them or not).

(defvar expand-file-name-custom-tilde-alist
  '(("foo" . "/home/Documents/foo")))

(defadvice expand-file-name (before expand-file-name-custom-tilde
                             (name &optional default-directory)
                             activate compile)
  "User-defined expansions for ~NAME in file names."
  (save-match-data
    (when (string-match "\\`\\(\\(.*/\\)?~\\([^:/]+\\)\\)/" name)
      (let ((replacement (assoc (match-string 3 name) expand-file-name-custom-tilde-alist)))
        (when replacement
          (setq name (replace-match (cdr replacement) t t name 1)))))))

I'll leave parsing the shortcuts in .zshrc to fill expand-file-name-custom-tilde-alist (or whatever technique you choose to keep the aliases in synch) as an exercise.

How to get current buffer’s filename in emacs

You can put a function like follows into your .emacs and bind it to any key you like.

(defun insert-file-name ()
  "Insert the full path file name into the current buffer."
  (interactive)
  (insert (buffer-file-name (window-buffer (minibuffer-selected-window)))))

Also see this question, it seems to be similar.

Best Answer

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