How to right mouse click File Open from current directory

Andy Klaj

Hi,

When I try to use the Right Mouse click File Open menu item i have to specify the directory.

For example if i have two files (File1.txt and File2.txt) in a directory and File1.txt has the following content then i can right mouse click the ‘/File2.txt’ and open it in a new tab
File1.txt:
…
./File2.txt
…

The problem is that witht he project that I am on does not include the director so the File1.txt content looks more like
File1.txt
…
File2.txt
…

When I try to right mouse click File Open the above it is not recognized as a possible file to open.

Can someone help me to allow for content liek ‘File2.txt’ to be recognized as a file in the current directory in Notepad++ ?

Bonus - I noticed that when i double click the ‘File2.txt’ only the ‘File2’ is highlighted. Does anyone know how to set Notepad ++ so that the entire filename ‘File2.txt’ is highlighted?

Thankyou

Andrew

guy038

Hello, @ady-klaj, and All,

Assuming for instance, that you have a file, named Blablah.txt, in folder C:

And let’s suppose that you have this line in a file :

xxxxx C:\Blablah.txt xxxxx

I’ve added a second line of uppercase letters just to locate the present cursor position

xxxxx C:\Blablah.txt xxxxx
      ABCDEFGHIHKLMNO

Then :

If you right-click in the first line, on the context menu option Open File, with caret on positions C to K, it opens C:\Blablah.txt file in Notepad++
If you right-click, in the first line, on the context menu option Open File, with caret on positions A,B, L, M, N or O , you get the error message The file you’re trying to open doesn’t exist.

Now, if the filename ends the line, as below :

xxxxx C:\Blablah.txt
      ABCDEFGHIHKLMNO

Then, it’s a bit different :

If you right-click in the first line, on the context menu option Open File, with caret on positions C to O, it opens C:\Blablah.txt file in Notepad++
If you right-click, in the first line, on the context menu option Open File, with caret on positions A or B , you get the error message The file you’re trying to open doesn’t exist.

Now, a radical way to select a valid full pathname without bothering about caret location, would be :

Go to Settings < Preferences > Delimiter > Word character list
Select the option Add your character as part of word
Type in the 3 characters .\: in the field
Close the Preferences dialog

From now on, a right-click at any location of a valid pathname OR a double-click on any part of it, followed with the choice of the Open file option, should open this file in Notepad++

Best Regards,

guy038

Alan Kilborn

@Andy-Klaj said:

Can someone help me to allow for content liek ‘File2.txt’ to be recognized as a file in the current directory in Notepad++ ?

What is your definition of “the current directory in Notepad++”?

Alan Kilborn

@guy038 's posting hints that Open File is a not-real-smart feature. Many files these days have spaces in them, their names I mean of course. How is THAT going to work with this feature? Likely not too well.

PeterJones

Open File is a not-real-smart feature

Indeed. A little birdie once told me that there’s someone working on a PythonScript improvement of the open-file-under-cursor, which I beta tested. When I’m home, I’ll have to look through my test cases to see if the local-directory-file was covered; if it is, I may put in a request for accelerated release (and point that someone to this thread); if it’s not in there, I may add a feature request. (No, I do not have permission to publish it for that someone.)

guy038

Hello, @ady-klaj, @alan-kilborn, @peterjones and All,

Really, I’m unforgivable ! I should have tested a file name or a folder name containing spaces, too ;-)) For instance :

xxxxx C:\Bla blah.txt xxxxx

In that case, it’s even worse ! Whatever the location of the caret, in the full pathname, it does not work :-((

Finally, the correct way, in all cases, is to select all the pathname C:\bla blah.txt and right-click on the Open File option

Actually, the context menu option should been named : Open Selected Pathname or File ;-))

Now, it would be hard to find a correct algorithm to get a pathname or file selected, only from current position of caret !

Indeed, let’s suppose the line, below, in a file, with rubbish xxxxx text and caret located between letters e and s of the test word

xxxxx Small test.txt xxxxx

And let’s suppose that a file name, with its extension, should contain word characters, dots or spaces ( very basic rule ! )

Well, even if you scan text rightwards and leftwards, how to decide if the file name is :

Small test.txt
xxxxx Small test.txt xxxxx

as you’ve included spaces as valid characters in filenames ?

So, all in all, the fact of selecting pathname/filename, before a right-click on the context menu option Open File, seems rather pertinent !

Cheers,

guy038