RE: Directory name to variable (dired?)

[Drew Adams]

> Is there a function that returns a directory and full path
> so that it could be assigned to a variable?
> 
> Ideally, dired would be a great place to start, as the directory
> path is at the top of the screen.

In Dired, `M-0 w' invokes command `dired-copy-filename-as-kill'
with prefix arg 0, which copies the absolute name of the file
named on the current line.

Non-interactively, (dired-copy-filename-as-kill 0) does the
same thing.

Then (setq foo (current-kill 0)) sets variable `foo' to a string
with that absolute file name.