GNU Info

(emacs)Operating on Files

---

Next: Shell Commands in Dired Prev: Marks vs Flags Up: Dired

---

Enter node , (file) or (file)node

Operating on Files
==================

   This section describes the basic Dired commands to operate on one
file or several files.  All of these commands are capital letters; all
of them use the minibuffer, either to read an argument or to ask for
confirmation, before they act.  All of them give you several ways to
specify which files to manipulate:

   * If you give the command a numeric prefix argument N, it operates
     on the next N files, starting with the current file.  (If N is
     negative, the command operates on the -N files preceding the
     current line.)

   * Otherwise, if some files are marked with `*', the command operates
     on all those files.

   * Otherwise, the command operates on the current file only.

   Commands which ask for a destination directory, such as those which
copy and rename files or create links for them, try to guess the default
target directory for the operation.  Normally, they suggest the Dired
buffer's default directory, but if the variable `dired-dwim-target' is
non-`nil', and if there is another Dired buffer displayed in the next
window, that other buffer's directory is suggested instead.

   Here are the file-manipulating commands that operate on files in this
way.  (Some other Dired commands, such as `!' and the `%' commands,
also use these conventions to decide which files to work on.)

`C NEW <RET>'
     Copy the specified files (`dired-do-copy').  The argument NEW is
     the directory to copy into, or (if copying a single file) the new
     name.

     If `dired-copy-preserve-time' is non-`nil', then copying with this
     command sets the modification time of the new file to be the same
     as that of the old file.

     The variable `dired-recursive-copies' controls whether directories
     are copied recursively.  The default is to not copy recursively,
     which means that directories cannot be copied.

`D'
     Delete the specified files (`dired-do-delete').  Like the other
     commands in this section, this command operates on the _marked_
     files, or the next N files.  By contrast, `x'
     (`dired-do-flagged-delete') deletes all "flagged" files.

`R NEW <RET>'
     Rename the specified files (`dired-do-rename').  The argument NEW
     is the directory to rename into, or (if renaming a single file)
     the new name.

     Dired automatically changes the visited file name of buffers
     associated with renamed files so that they refer to the new names.

`H NEW <RET>'
     Make hard links to the specified files (`dired-do-hardlink').  The
     argument NEW is the directory to make the links in, or (if making
     just one link) the name to give the link.

`S NEW <RET>'
     Make symbolic links to the specified files (`dired-do-symlink').
     The argument NEW is the directory to make the links in, or (if
     making just one link) the name to give the link.

`M MODESPEC <RET>'
     Change the mode (also called "permission bits") of the specified
     files (`dired-do-chmod').  This uses the `chmod' program, so
     MODESPEC can be any argument that `chmod' can handle.

`G NEWGROUP <RET>'
     Change the group of the specified files to NEWGROUP
     (`dired-do-chgrp').

`O NEWOWNER <RET>'
     Change the owner of the specified files to NEWOWNER
     (`dired-do-chown').  (On most systems, only the superuser can do
     this.)

     The variable `dired-chown-program' specifies the name of the
     program to use to do the work (different systems put `chown' in
     different places).

`P COMMAND <RET>'
     Print the specified files (`dired-do-print').  You must specify the
     command to print them with, but the minibuffer starts out with a
     suitable guess made using the variables `lpr-command' and
     `lpr-switches' (the same variables that `lpr-buffer' uses; Note:
     Hardcopy).

`Z'
     Compress the specified files (`dired-do-compress').  If the file
     appears to be a compressed file already, it is uncompressed
     instead.

`L'
     Load the specified Emacs Lisp files (`dired-do-load').  Note: Lisp
     Libraries.

`B'
     Byte compile the specified Emacs Lisp files
     (`dired-do-byte-compile').  Note: Byte Compilation.


`A REGEXP <RET>'
     Search all the specified files for the regular expression REGEXP
     (`dired-do-search').

     This command is a variant of `tags-search'.  The search stops at
     the first match it finds; use `M-,' to resume the search and find
     the next match.  Note: Tags Search.

`Q REGEXP <RET> TO <RET>'
     Perform `query-replace-regexp' on each of the specified files,
     replacing matches for REGEXP with the string TO
     (`dired-do-query-replace-regexp').

     This command is a variant of `tags-query-replace'.  If you exit the
     query replace loop, you can use `M-,' to resume the scan and
     replace more matches.  Note: Tags Search.

   One special file-operation command is `+'
(`dired-create-directory').  This command reads a directory name and
creates the directory if it does not already exist.