dired backward/forward function

Question

I'm looking for a package the browser's "back" button for dired. i.e. some way to go back to a previously visited directory.

The usecase I have in mind is to traverse deeper into a directory tree after invoking ^ to to to a parent folder.

Answer 1

Use q to just close the current window, and the last visited one will be here.

Answer 2

I use a to drill down into directories, then rebind ^ to this to go back up:

(defun my-dired-up-dir ()
  "Go up a directory."
  (interactive)
  (let ((current-dir (dired-current-directory)))
    (find-alternate-file "..")
    (dired-goto-file current-dir)))

It goes up a directory and puts point on the directory you just came from (so you can a back down if you want). Perhaps not exactly what you want since it only works on one level, but might still be useful.