GNU bug report logs - #77797
31.0.50; Visit an empty file on creating it

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From: Stefan Kangas <stefankangas <at> gmail.com>
To: Stephen Berman <stephen.berman <at> gmx.net>, Eli Zaretskii <eliz <at> gnu.org>
Cc: 77797 <at> debbugs.gnu.org
Subject: bug#77797: 31.0.50; Visit an empty file on creating it
Date: Mon, 14 Apr 2025 16:06:04 -0500

Stephen Berman via "Bug reports for GNU Emacs, the Swiss army knife of
text editors" <bug-gnu-emacs <at> gnu.org> writes:

> On Mon, 14 Apr 2025 16:38:21 +0300 Eli Zaretskii <eliz <at> gnu.org> wrote:
>
>>> Date: Mon, 14 Apr 2025 13:57:59 +0200
>>> From:  Stephen Berman via "Bug reports for GNU Emacs,
>>>  the Swiss army knife of text editors" <bug-gnu-emacs <at> gnu.org>
>>>
>>> To create an empty file (and perhaps also one or more parent
>>> directories) and then immediately visit the file (e.g., to yank some
>>> copied text into it), you currently have to type `M-x make-empty-file',
>>> enter the file name (possibly with parent directories), and then type
>>> `C-x C-f M-p'.
>>
>> 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.

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