Subject: bug#77797: 31.0.50; Visit an empty file on creating it

From: Stephen Berman <[email-masked]>
Date: Tue, 15 Apr 2025 09:19:20 +0200

On Tue, 15 Apr 2025 09:28:07 +0300 Eli Zaretskii <[email-masked]> wrote:

>> From: Stefan Kangas <[email-masked]>
>> Date: Mon, 14 Apr 2025 16:06:04 -0500
>> Cc: [email-masked]
>>
>> >> That's backwards: in Emacs, you type "C-x C-f NEWFILE RET", then edit
>> >> it, then save it.  IOW, you don't create an empty file first, because
>> >> that's not useful.
>> >
>> > It's useful in the case I noted above: yanking text into a buffer that
>> > you want to save to a file, and in particular if you want the file to be
>> > in a not-yet-existing subdirectory.  In that case, with `C-x C-f' when
>> > you type `C-x C-s' you are queried (from `basic-save-buffer') and have
>> > to confirm that the subdirectory should be created, while with
>> > `make-empty-file' it already has been created.  Or have I overlooked an
>> > option to suppress the confirmation query?
>>
>> Maybe we should add an option to suppress the query?  Either as a
>> defcustom or a prefix argument, or something.  Not sure which is best,
>> because I actually prefer the query, myself.
>
> Same here: I prefer the query because it many times saves me from
> creating files with wrong names and/or in wrong directorties, due to
> simple typos.

I agree, and consequently think an option is too blunt.  A prefix
argument would be better, but as I wrote in my reply to Eshel Yaron, I
prefer adding that to make-empty-file.

Steve Berman