RE: find certain files

[Drew Adams]

> I use Ctrl-f to find files in a directory, but...I want to
> limit it to certain files...for example, only sas files, *.sas.
> If if do Ctrl-f /projects/a/*.sas, it will open all the sas files.
> I want to do Ctrl-f /projects/a/, and only display .sas files,
> so I can choose one.  How do I do that?

Use Icicles apropos completion:

C-x C-f \.sas$ S-TAB, if the current directory is /projects/a, or

C-x C-f /projects/a/.*\.sas$ S-TAB, otherwise.

You match the file extension using the regular expression `\.sas$'. You need
to escape the `.' preceding the `sas' file-extension with a backslash, or
else it will match any character (except a newline) - as in the `.*', which
matches any character any number of times. The `$' matches the end of the
file name.

When the list of matching file-name candidates is displayed, click `mouse-2'
on the one you want. If you want to open multiple files, click `C-mouse-2'
on each one you want.

You can also cycle through the matching candidates with the `next' key, and
use `RET' to choose the current one (or `C-RET' to choose more than one).
You can also type a more specific match pattern, to match only certain SAS
files.

For example, `C-x C-f foo.*bar\.sas$ S-TAB' matches file names that start
with `foo', contain also `bar', and end with `.sas'.

You can also save a set of completions - for example, if you often use the
same set of project files. Just use `C-M->' to save the current matches in a
variable, or `C-u C-M->' to save them persistently in a cache file. Later,
when you want to retrieve them for completion with `C-x C-f', use `C-M-<'
(retrieve from a variable) or `C-u C-M-<' (retrieve from a cache file). You
are prompted for the cache file name. You can have any number of variables
or files that hold completion sets.

http://www.emacswiki.org/cgi-bin/wiki/Icicles: doc

http://www.emacswiki.org/cgi-bin/wiki/Icicles_-_Apropos_Completions: about
apropos completion