Emacs bookmark with function

Question

I would like an Emacs bookmark that jumps to a 'today' file. This is a different file every day, so I would like to use a function.

I tried an entry in bookmark-alist in the bookmarks file at .emacs.d/bookmarks:

("Today"
  (filename . (today-file))
  ;; removed for brevity
)

(where the function today-file returns the filename)

But this give the error (wrong-type-argument stringp (today-file)) from file-readable-p.

My current workaround is a keybinding:

(define-key mode-specific-map "t" (lambda () (interactive) (find-file (today-file))))

which works.

How can I define a bookmark with a function that runs when I open the bookmark?

René Steetskamp · Accepted Answer · 2025-03-14 16:16:57Z

0

Just define your own handler:

(defun visit-today-file (bookmark)
  "bookmark handler to visit the org file for today"
  (find-file (today-file)))

and use it like

("Today"
  (filename . "Org file for today")
  (handler . visit-today-file)
  ;; removed for brevity
)

I also tried using a lambda function, but that crashed the bookmark list.

edited Mar 14 at 16:16

answered Mar 14 at 16:10

René Steetskamp

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3 Comments

phils Mar 18 at 7:29

Regarding lambdas, bookmark file (("test" . ((handler . (lambda (_bookmark) (find-file "~/.emacs.d/init.el")))))) works for me in Emacs 30.1.

René Steetskamp Mar 19 at 17:21

Interesting... With that bookmark, I get bookmark-bmenu--revert: Wrong type argument: symbolp, (lambda (_bookmark) (find-file "~/.emacs.d/init.el")) on running C-x r l (bookmark-bmenu-list) in Emacs 30.1 on MacOS, but only the first time. It appears the error appears on reverting the bookmark file.

phils Mar 19 at 21:01

Sounds like insufficient testing on my part, then. At least part of the bookmark system must indeed be assuming function values will be symbols.

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