Dired
Shares rank 13 of 24 Emacs packages by recommenders
People recommend Dired, the directory editor built into Emacs, for handling files with familiar shortcuts for marking, deleting, renaming, compressing and encrypting. The most common caveat is that its key bindings must be learned before it feels comfortable.
People recommend Dired, the directory editor built into Emacs, for handling files with familiar shortcuts for marking, deleting, renaming, compressing and encrypting. The most common caveat is that its key bindings must be learned before it feels comfortable.
10 people gave an opinion
- recommend it
- 9
- criticize it
- 1
- approval share
- 90%
Recommended in 4 of 13 months
- November 2025: not recommended
- December 2025: not recommended
- January 2026: not recommended
- February 2026: not recommended
- March 2026: not recommended
- April 2026: not recommended
- May 2026: not recommended
- June 2026: recommended
- July 2026: recommended
- August 2026: recommended
- September 2026: recommended
- October 2026: not recommended
- November 2026: not recommended (month in progress)
Why it doesn’t carry the badge
- 9 people recommend itNeeds 10 or more, not met.
- 9 recommenders for every criticNeeds 2 to 1 or better, met.
- Recommended in 4 of 13 monthsNeeds 4 or more, met.
The same three rules apply to every product, and the badge can’t be bought. How the badge works
What people say about it
The reasons people give, with the number of comments that give each one. Open a reason to read what they said.
Why people recommend it
Each mark is one comment
Familiar shortcuts for common file tasks
“it kinda follows the usual shortcuts over bare unix util output: mark/select, delete, rename, compress, encrypt”
Comment from 15 Jun 2026 in “Even More Batteries Included with Emacs” “some features are really, really nice”
Comment from 15 Jun 2026 in “Even More Batteries Included with Emacs” Fills a gap other managers missed
“Aha! That's what's been missing in my life!”
Comment from 16 Jun 2026 in “Even More Batteries Included with Emacs” “no other file manager ever worked for me”
Comment from 16 Jun 2026 in “Even More Batteries Included with Emacs”
What people warn about
Each mark is one comment
Hard to use without learning key bindings
“I find the Dired UX out of the box to be frustrating given its reliance on remembering key bindings”
Comment from 15 Jun 2026 in “Even More Batteries Included with Emacs”
Other Emacs packages people recommend
The four most recommended other Emacs packages, with the same counts for each, so you can compare like for like. The tick on each bar marks the 2 to 1 line the badge needs.
| Product | Recommend | Criticize | Approval | Months | Owned | Badge |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Evil mode for Emacs | 39 | 7 | 85% | 11 | — | Approved |
| agent-shell | 25 | 6 | 81% | 11 | — | Approved |
| TRAMP for Emacs | 25 | 10 | 71% | 8 | — | Approved |
| gptel | 20 | 1 | 95% | 12 | — | Approved |
| DiredThis page | 9 | 1 | 90% | 4 | — | — |
What people said
9 of the 11 comments that mention it, newest first. Each links to the original comment.
“dired mode is fine, and i appreciate it”
“dired without any configuring or customizing is pretty rad”
“Aha! That's what's been missing in my life!”
“no other file manager ever worked for me”
“it kinda follows the usual shortcuts over bare unix util output: mark/select, delete, rename, compress, encrypt”
“dired was a total win here”
“some features are really, really nice”
“I find the Dired UX out of the box to be frustrating given its reliance on remembering key bindings”
“it's convenient to use in quick and dirty situations”
Counts come from 1,795,640 Hacker News comments, November 2025 to November 2026. How we count. Report a mistake.