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(elisp)File Name Completion

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Enter node , (file) or (file)node

File Name Completion
--------------------

   This section describes low-level subroutines for completing a file
name.  For other completion functions, see Note: Completion.

 - Function: file-name-all-completions partial-filename directory
     This function returns a list of all possible completions for a file
     whose name starts with PARTIAL-FILENAME in directory DIRECTORY.
     The order of the completions is the order of the files in the
     directory, which is unpredictable and conveys no useful
     information.

     The argument PARTIAL-FILENAME must be a file name containing no
     directory part and no slash (or backslash on some systems).  The
     current buffer's default directory is prepended to DIRECTORY, if
     DIRECTORY is not absolute.

     In the following example, suppose that `~rms/lewis' is the current
     default directory, and has five files whose names begin with `f':
     `foo', `file~', `file.c', `file.c.~1~', and `file.c.~2~'.

          (file-name-all-completions "f" "")
               => ("foo" "file~" "file.c.~2~"
                          "file.c.~1~" "file.c")
          
          (file-name-all-completions "fo" "")
               => ("foo")

 - Function: file-name-completion filename directory
     This function completes the file name FILENAME in directory
     DIRECTORY.  It returns the longest prefix common to all file names
     in directory DIRECTORY that start with FILENAME.

     If only one match exists and FILENAME matches it exactly, the
     function returns `t'.  The function returns `nil' if directory
     DIRECTORY contains no name starting with FILENAME.

     In the following example, suppose that the current default
     directory has five files whose names begin with `f': `foo',
     `file~', `file.c', `file.c.~1~', and `file.c.~2~'.

          (file-name-completion "fi" "")
               => "file"
          
          (file-name-completion "file.c.~1" "")
               => "file.c.~1~"
          
          (file-name-completion "file.c.~1~" "")
               => t
          
          (file-name-completion "file.c.~3" "")
               => nil

 - User Option: completion-ignored-extensions
     `file-name-completion' usually ignores file names that end in any
     string in this list.  It does not ignore them when all the possible
     completions end in one of these suffixes or when a buffer showing
     all possible completions is displayed.

     A typical value might look like this:

          completion-ignored-extensions
               => (".o" ".elc" "~" ".dvi")