How to make a link to external file line in Emacs org-mode

Question

I have 2 files:

1. php file with code
2. org file with docs

How to create a link to a line in php file from org file? So clicking it will move the cursor to the appropriate line in php file.

Biennial

Answer 1

Use this notation in the org mode to create a link:

[[/path/to/file.php::line][string-to-display]]

If you want the file name to be displayed, use just

[[/path/to/file.php::line]]

See Hyperlinks in the Org mode Info page for details and other ways to specify links.

Lemmons

This works, but some files (that don't have .org or .txt extensions) open in TextEdit instead of Emacs. Assuming I don't want to go and setq auto-mode-alist for every dot file in my home directory, how can I force an org-mode file link to open the file in Emacs? – Friede

@Friede I've never seen that. What files? What's TextEdit? – Lemmons

TextEdit is an external text editor (it's OSX's default system text editor). Example: in org-mode, I have [[~/.hunspell_en_US]] which is my user local dictionary. But when I place point on that file link and hit enter, it opens in TextEdit. – Friede

I do use a package called open-with that for e.g. tells .pdf files to open in an external application, but I don't see anything in my config that should affect text files. Guess I'll ask it as a new question. Thanks though! – Friede

I need to prefix it with file: for this to work properly. Otherwise it errors with "no match for fuzzy expression: <filename>". – Pentstemon

Answer 2

If I understand the question right you can do it automatically with two org-mode commands:

Move the point to a line in a php file and M-x org-store-link.

Go to an org file and C-c C-l or M-x org-insert-link and follow the instructions in the minibuffer.

You are done, click the link or C-c C-o when the point is on it to open the link.

I have org-store-link on C-c l and org-insert-link on the default C-c C-l. This makes the process very convenient and fast to execute.

Have fun with org-mode.

Godrich

Just a comment here in case someone encounters an issue similar to mine: storing and inserting links to headlines in org files won't work correctly if there is a timestamp in the headline. – Overwork

The point is to tell emacs with which software to open it. Otherwise it will open keynote files on emacs. – Blameful

Years later, I noticed my answer was wrong. Still, it seems helpful to some people, so I'm leaving it as it is. – Godrich

Answer 3

For posterity and some future seeker of this information, which I've been using for a few years in my docs.

Use: [[file+emacs:/path/to/file.php::line]]

The '+emacs' forces Emacs to open the link inside Emacs instead of some other app that handles that file extension.

Vacillatory