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When I use ! on a *.tar.bz2 file in Dired, I'm presented with the following prompt:

! on WANem_3.0_Beta2.tar.bz2: {3 guesses} [bunzip2 -c * | tar xvf -] -!-

How can I add similar functionality for other file types?

Drew
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Sean Allred
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1 Answers1

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TL;DR:

This functionality comes from dired-x, not Dired. Use (require 'dired-x) in your init file and then customize dired-guess-shell-alist-user.

We can see though where Dired plugs into dired-x:

(defun dired-read-shell-command (prompt arg files)
  "Read a dired shell command.
PROMPT should be a format string with one \"%s\" format sequence,
which is replaced by the value returned by `dired-mark-prompt',
with ARG and FILES as its arguments.  FILES should be a list of
file names.  The result is used as the prompt.

This normally reads using `read-shell-command', but if the
`dired-x' package is loaded, use `dired-guess-shell-command' to
offer a smarter default choice of shell command."
  (minibuffer-with-setup-hook
      (lambda ()
    (set (make-local-variable 'minibuffer-default-add-function)
         'minibuffer-default-add-dired-shell-commands))
    (setq prompt (format prompt (dired-mark-prompt arg files)))
    (if (functionp 'dired-guess-shell-command) ; <<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<
    (dired-mark-pop-up nil 'shell files
               'dired-guess-shell-command prompt files)
      (dired-mark-pop-up nil 'shell files
             'read-shell-command prompt nil nil))))

After reading the dired-x manual (info "dired-x"), you learn of the variable dired-guess-shell-alist-user, which you can customize.

Here is an example of changing dired-guess-shell-alist-user

(setq dired-guess-shell-alist-user
      '(("\\.e?ps$" "gv" "xloadimage" "lpr")
        ("\\.chm$" "xchm")
        ("\\.rar$" "unrar x")
        ("\\.e?ps\\.g?z$" "gunzip -qc * | gv -")
        ("\\.pdf$" "zathura")
        ("\\.flv$" "mplayer")
        ("\\.mov$" "mplayer")
        ("\\.3gp$" "mplayer")
        ("\\.png$" "feh")
        ("\\.jpg$" "feh")
        ("\\.JPG$" "feh")
        ("\\.avi$" "mplayer")))
Sean Allred
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    In sum: `(require 'dired-x)` and customize `dired-guess-shell-alist-user`. ;-) – Drew Nov 18 '14 at 16:39
  • @Drew I'd feel bad about posting such a short answer though! XD I'll add your TL;DR :) – Sean Allred Nov 18 '14 at 18:25
  • I didn't at all mean that comment as a substitute for your more complete answer. – Drew Nov 18 '14 at 20:29
  • @Drew :) But you make a good point -- it wasn't straightforward to get 'the answer' from my answer. I need some practice my writing; that's one of the reasons I'm here :) – Sean Allred Nov 18 '14 at 20:37
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    Good. Wanting to communicate better shows how much you are trying to help people. – Drew Nov 18 '14 at 20:45