***** DONE Skipping Empty Directories In zsh                          :blog:software:diy:programming:
CLOSED: [2017-07-23 Sun 19:00] SCHEDULED: <2017-07-23 Sun>
:PROPERTIES:
:CREATED:  [2017-07-23 Sun 18:52]
:ID:       2017-07-23-zsh-skip-empty-dirs
:END:
:LOGBOOK:
- State "DONE"       from "NEXT"       [2017-07-23 Sun 19:00]
:END:

On GitHub, I started to love a nice feature I would like to have in my
zsh as well. If I change to a directory that contains nothing but a
single sub-directory, change to this sub-directory instead
(recursive).

Therefore, when I am in a directory which contains the following
sub-directories, I would like to skip all directories until
=there_is_a_file= when I type =cd dir_with_empty_subdirs=:

- =dir_with_empty_subdirs= (dir)
  - =until= (dir)
    - =once= (dir)
      - =there_is_a_file= (dir)
        - =this_is_a_file.txt= (file)

You can [[https://github.com/novoid/github-tests/tree/7ecd4b58dbeaf1d4ff6dfc0f338bd03b0d522c25][try out this feature on GitHub in my test repo]]: simply click
on the directory =dir_with_empty_subdirs= and you really going to end
up in the directory =there_is_a_file=.

In case I need to visit any (almost empty) directory within this
cascade, I can do so by going back via "cd .." which does not skip
empty directories, thus avoiding an endless loop and non-visitable
directories.

Well, I was not able to come up with a solution on my own. Reddit-user
[[https://www.reddit.com/user/seanliao96][seanliao96]] did [[https://www.reddit.com/r/zsh/comments/6omtk9/cd_skipping_directories_that_contain_only_a/][provide a perfectly working solution]]:

#+BEGIN_SRC
function chpwd() {
    files=$(ls -A | wc -l)
    if [[ $files = "1" ]]; then
        zmodload zsh/parameter
        if [[ "cd .." != $history[$HISTCMD] ]]; then
            f=$(ls -A)
            if [[ -d "$f" ]]; then
                cd "$f"
            fi
        fi
    fi
}
#+END_SRC

Simply paste this code in your zsh or add it to your =~/.zshrc.local=
and enjoy the higher usability in your shell.