Custom shells started automatically from .emacs

Question

I would like to start a few shells, and set their directories from my .emacs. Opening them is easy:

;; run a few shells.
(shell "*shell5*")
(shell "*shell6*")
(shell "*shell7*")

But I would like to specify their directory, too.

Just an idea, and a bit hacky, but does the shell directory come from the currently open buffer's directory? If so, you could open a temp file in each directory, and start the shell after opening the file. — Skilldrick
– Skilldrick, Commented Feb 18, 2010 at 12:40

Ivan Andrus · Accepted Answer · 2010-02-18 20:09:50Z

4

The following works for me

(let ((default-directory "/path/to/whereever/"))
  (shell "*shell1*"))

answered Feb 18, 2010 at 13:44

Ivan Andrus

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3 Comments

Did not work for me, for example if i use /usr/src, the shell start on /usr only, the same happens with /home/guest, starting on /home

Try adding a trailing slash, i.e. "/path/to/wherever/".

Works, even with "\\" for backslash on windows. Thank you!

coelhudo · Accepted Answer · 2010-02-18 14:49:12Z

0

(shell "*shell5*")
(with-current-buffer "*shell5*"
(goto-char (point-max))
(insert "cd dir")) ;;for example
(comint-send-input nil t) ;; enter

For now I have this, its need some improvement I think. When I use in my emacs its causes an error, but does what you want. I will try to figure why.

answered Feb 18, 2010 at 13:26

coelhudo

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That would be awesome. Have no time to playu with this now, maybe later tonight.

I think my accepted solution is probably better, but this idea is still interesting if I would like to do anything else in the shell!

Yeah, Ivan answer is a straightforward solution :)