RE: buffer for unopened file?

[Drew Adams]

> > I'd like to be able to give emacs a big list of filenames
> > and have each file appear as if it has been visited with
> > respect to having it appear in my buffer list.  But only
> > when changing to that buffer do I want it to actually open
> > the file.  Is that possible?  It takes a minute or so to open
> > all of the files and wastes memory to open them all.  But
> > I like to have a menu of the files I might be needing.
>
> How about just creating a plain text file, such as:
>  ~/workspace/file1
>  ~/workspace/file2
...
>  ~/workspace/fileN
> and save it as ~/workspace/files-i-often-visit.txt
> Then add the following to your ~/.emacs:
>  (global-set-key "\C-cf" 'find-file-at-point)
>  (find-file "~/workspace/files-i-often-visit.txt")
> Then all you need to do is...

You don't need to do all that. Just use Dired. Put this in your .emacs:
(require 'dired-x)

Then, in Dired:

1. Mark each of the files you want to visit (without displaying).

2. C-u F

You will see the file buffers in the buffer list (C-x C-b), where you can
choose them individually or in groups. Use `C-h m' to see the possibilities.