Redirect Files

Redirect files are an adjunct to the search path mechanism used by Xic for finding files. Redirect files are files created by the user, that tell Xic about additional locations to search for input files.

Redirect files must be named ``xt_redirect'', and are text files with the following format and properties:

• Lines that start with `#' or contain only white space are ignored.
• Each line otherwise contains one or more directory paths, separated by white space. If a directory path contains white space or other special characters, it should be double-quoted (i.e., as "...").
• Multiple directories can be provided on a single line, or in different lines.
• Paths that are not rooted are taken as relative to the directory containing the redirect file.
• Paths that do not point to an existing directory are silently ignored.

When searching a directory, the directories found in a redirect file are also searched, in order, after the current directory. The search is recursive, so that arbitrarily deep hierarchies can be searched via the redirect file mechanism.

With redirect files, only the top directory of a hierarchy needs to be included in the search path (or given explicitly). This can be very convenient for organizing collections of native cell files, for example.

The Path Files Listing panel from the File Menu will list files found through the redirect files on separate pages for each redirected directory, just as for the directories contained in the search path.