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https://github.com/cjauvin/find-file-suggest

Emacs adaptive filename suggestions based on user-defined file indexes
https://github.com/cjauvin/find-file-suggest

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Emacs adaptive filename suggestions based on user-defined file indexes

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;; find-file-suggest.el --- Adaptive filename suggestions based on

;;                          user-defined file indexes.

;;   

;; Author: Christian Jauvin 

;; Created: December 2008

;; Last updated: 2010-06-08

;;

;; This extension performs filename matching against an index of files

;; living below a user-specified directory. The 'find-file-suggest'

;; function is meant to be invoked in a similar way to the 'find-file'

;; built-in function. The difference is that the current buffer will

;; be replaced by a new one in which indexed filename suggestions

;; matching the "query" (from the minibuffer) are presented.  These

;; suggestions are easily navigated with the mouse or up/down arrows,

;; and are also dynamically recomputed whenever the query minibuffer

;; changes (as the user types a longer filename, for instance).

;;

;; The system is somewhat adaptive because the suggested files are

;; sorted in decreasing order of the number of times that they've been

;; visited (in the current session), thus making the ones that are

;; used the most often percolate to the top.

;;

;; Multiple file indexes can be created, with different

;; inclusion/exclusion rules, based at different directory points, and

;; it's easy to switch between them, as needed.

;;

;; One limitation with this mechanism is that whenever a file is

;; created, the corresponding file index has to be recreated

;; (refreshed) explicitly. As for my own style of work, I find that

;; it's not a serious limitation however.

;;

;; To create a file index, only one function call is needed

;; (interactively, or in .emacs). One example would be:

;;

;; (ffs-create-file-index "project1" "/base/dir" "\\.py$\\|\\.js$" "\\.svn$")

;;

;; (or alternatively: M-x ffs-create-file index) which would create a

;; file index named "project1", over all the Python and JavaScript

;; files in /base/dir, excluding whatever is found in .svn subfolders.

;;

;; A file index for a second project could also be created:

;;

;; (ffs-create-file-index "project2" "/other/dir" "" "")

;;

;; This one would contain all the files (no inclusion/exclusion rules)

;; under /other/dir.

;;

;; To determine which file index will have the focus at the start, the

;; default-directory (at Emacs load time) is used: if it is found to

;; be a sub-directory of a given file index directory, then this file 

;; index has the focus.

;;

;; To manually switch to another file index, use the interactive

;; command with an existing file index name:

;;

;; M-x ffs-use-file-index

;;

;; To refresh a file index (if new files were created after Emacs has

;; loaded, and you want them included in the corresponding file

;; index):

;;

;; M-x ffs-refresh-file-index

;;

;; Note that this will not change the file index focus however. You

;; can also know what is the current file index with:

;;

;; M-x ffs-which-file-index

;;

;; Note that to prevent a hang that would result from the unwanted

;; creation of a file index based at the root of your drive, for

;; instance, there is a limit of 1000 files (for each index) that can

;; easily be adjusted with the ffs-max-file-index-size variable.

;;

;; I also added 'ffs-grep', a function that performs a basic grep on a

;; file index, using the same interface.  Again this is a very crude

;; and not terribly efficient function that is in no way meant to

;; replace the real grep, as it simply tries to 'match-string' your

;; query against the set of files, no more. If the index does not

;; contain too many files however this can be an acceptable and quick

;; way to check for the occurrence of a certain string, and visit the

;; retrieved files, using the same mechanism.

;;

;; Once a file index is created and has the focus, invoking the

;; 'find-file-suggest' or 'ffs-grep' functions will display a buffer

;; with filename suggestions interactively matching your minibuffer

;; query. You can navigate this buffer while still typing in the

;; minibuffer, using the up/down arrow keys, or the mouse, and

;;  or click to visit the highlighted file.

;;

;; Finally, you can also recall the last query by using either

;; ffs-revert-last-query or ffs-grep-revert-last-query.

;;

;; To install:

;;   (1) Put find-file-suggest.el somewhere in your load-path

;;   (2) Add to your .emacs file:

;;         (require 'find-file-suggest)

;;   (3) Optionally, you can set shortcut keys, I use:

;;         (global-set-key [(control x) (meta f)] 'find-file-suggest)

;;         (global-set-key [(control x) (meta g)] 'ffs-grep)

;;         (global-set-key "\C-xq" 'ffs-revert-last-query)

;;         (global-set-key "\C-xw" 'ffs-grep-revert-last-query)

;;   (4) Create at least one file index (interactively, or in .emacs):

;;         (ffs-create-file-index    )

;;       This for instance would index all Python, JS and SQL source files under "/some/dir", 

;;       while excluding all .svn subfolders:

;;         (ffs-create-file-index "bla" "/some/dir/" "\\.py$\\|\\.js$\\|\\.sql$" "\\.svn")

;;         

;; Issues: This extension works best with Emacs >= 22. It works with

;;    21 as well, but for some reason the highlighting mechanism does

;;    not work properly, making it less visually pleasing.

;;

;; Acknoledgement: I would like to thank Justin Weiss: although

;;    working quite differently, the code from his

;;    fuzzy-find-in-project extension was my starting point for this

;;    project.

;;