From: awnbreel AT panix DOT com (Michael R Weholt)
Newsgroups: comp.os.msdos.djgpp
Subject: emacs: tilde in a directory name
Date: Sun, 05 Apr 1998 03:14:30 GMT
Organization: Rookery Prawl
Lines: 63
Message-ID: <6g6sum$1pg_002@mrw.panix.com>
NNTP-Posting-Host: mrw.dialup.access.net
To: djgpp AT delorie DOT com
DJ-Gateway: from newsgroup comp.os.msdos.djgpp
Precedence: bulk

I'm using win95. I've got emacs 1934. I have djgpp 2721 (and bash, 
file utilities, etc.) on drive e:

I don't seem to have any problems running emacs (except for problem 
below), bash, compiling with gpp, etc. Long filenames work fine.

I'm trying to open a file that is in a directory that has a leading 
tilde. For example, I'm trying to get into:

f:/Apache/htdocs/~dirname

bash gets there OK. But emacs is refusing to take the tilde literally. 
When I do C-x d and type:

f:/Apache/htdocs/~dirname

emacs tells me:

Directory f:/apache/htdocs/~dirname/~dirname inaccessible or 
nonexistent

so obviously the tilde has some special meaning, wildcard or 
something, in emacs under these circumstances. It repeats whatever 
follows it, then, naturally emacs can't find any such directory.

I tried to M-x global-unset-key ~ (local-unset-key too), not really 
knowing what I was doing, but figuring I would give it a try, but it 
didn't seem to change anything. I tried back-ticks around the name, 
single quotes, double quotes. I'm flailing, here.

Under "describe-key" I learn:

~ runs the command self-insert-command:

Insert the character you type.
Whichever character you type to run this command is inserted.

(self-insert-command N)

Oh ... OK. So I assume this "(self-insert-command N)" goes somewhere 
(how about where the moon don't shine on emacs?) and would turn the 
tilde into a literal character? Oh, I tried /\~dirname, too, just in 
case.

Sigh ...

I don't have any trouble opening files on other drives with emacs. The 
problem really seems to be that damned tilde. I don't want to just get 
rid of it in the directory name because, as you will probably surmise, 
I'm trying to get to a file in the local mirror of a webpage, and the 
user directory on panix begins with a ~. Dropping the tilde would 
screw up the links on the mirror.

I don't know much about lisp. Well, I don't know *anything* about lisp 
except that I once got into file that let me mess around with my 
c++-mode. Managed to do that without screwing things up but I don't 
remember how.

What can I do to get emacs to recognize and get into /~dirname?


-- 
 mrw