14.9.1 Entering Dired

To invoke dired, type C-x d or M-x dired. The command reads a directory name or wildcard file name pattern as a minibuffer argument just like the list-directory command, C-x C-d. Where dired differs from list-directory is in naming the buffer after the directory name or the wildcard pattern used for the listing, and putting the buffer into Dired mode so that the special commands of Dired are available in it. The variable dired-listing-switches is a string used as an argument to ls in making the directory; this string must contain ‘-l’.

To display the Dired buffer in another window rather than in the selected window, use C-x 4 d (dired-other-window) instead of C-x d.