Efficient File Searching in Emacs: Leveraging completing-read with Customizable Methods

I thought I would share a little bit of elisp that I’ve been using for a while now that allows me to quickly find a file. It leverages completing-read, allows the selection of the find method and will search recursively.

When called you can select which search type you prefer:

You can select the built-in find-name-dired but as you see I can also choose an external find tool such as find, fd or rg and it should be flexible enough to add in any others by expanding find-options in the function below:

(defun my/find-file ()
  "Find file from current directory in many different ways."
  (interactive)
  (let* ((find-options '(("find -type f -printf \"$PWD/%p\\0\"" . :string)
                          ("fd --absolute-path --type f -0" . :string)
                          ("rg --follow --files --null" . :string)
                          ("find-name-dired" . :command)))
          (selection (completing-read "Select : " find-options))
          (metadata '((category . file)))
          (file-list)
          (file))
    (pcase (alist-get selection find-options nil nil #'string=)
      (:command
        (call-interactively (intern selection)))
      (:string
        (setq file-list (split-string (shell-command-to-string selection) "\0" t))
        (setq file (completing-read (format "Find file in %s: " (abbreviate-file-name default-directory))
                     (lambda (str pred action)
                       (if (eq action 'metadata)
                         `(metadata . ,metadata)
                         (complete-with-action action file-list str pred)))
                     nil t nil 'file-name-history)))
      (when file (find-file (expand-file-name file))))))

To be completely honest, I don’t really use Emacs’ built-in find functions, such as find-file and find-name-dired. Here are a few reasons why:

• Speed and Efficiency
  • Tools like fd and rg are incredibly fast and efficient.
  • They allow easy filtering through a simple .ignore file configuration.

• Enhanced File Search
  • I can leverage completing-read to process the file list.
  • Using vertico, I gain the advantage of fuzzy completion, making file search more efficient and user-friendly.

• Alternative Methods
  • I seldom need to find a single file using find-file
  • Instead, I rely on bookmarks, dired and recentf

• Dired Benefits
  • While find-name-dired offers the benefits of a dired buffer, I generally don’t need to perform specific actions on files found this way.
  • Most of the time, I just need to jump to a file quickly.
  • A dired bufer can be generated through embark-export anyway when going through a file fuzzy search at any point.

• Customization and Flexibility
  • External tools often provide more customization options, which align better with my workflow.
  • These tools integrate seamlessly with my Emacs setup, enhancing my overall productivity.

By considering these reasons, I’ve found that external tools better fit my workflow compared to the built-in Emacs find functions when wanting to find a file quickly.

P.S. I still have a fondness for the basic find command, which I continue to use, particularly on the command line and especially when operating through SSH. However, I still can’t remember how to prune directories!, but then who can? 😀