How can I have term.el (ansi-term) track directories if using anyhting other than bash.

Question

When using eshell or ansi-term and bash emacs changes the default-directory variable depending on what directory you are in.

So if I move to /home/user/code/project and then use ido-find-file to open a file it starts ido with the CWD. If I use ksh (my normal shell) or zsh (tried for testing) it doesnt work. Is there a setting or is this just supported under bash?

Thanks

Answer 1

There are a number of solutions to this problem. I happen to prefer my implementation which changes the prompt to contain the current path, which Emacs recognizes and uses to get the behavior you want. Additionally, my solution hides the portion of the prompt which contains the path because I find it ugly.

My solution can be found in the blog post: Emacs Tip #25 Shell Dirtrack By Prompt.

However, there are a number of other solutions which can be found on the Emacs Wiki or other places:

• Shell dirtracking again
• Emacs Wiki Shell Dirtrack By Prompt