--- /home/arthur/dired.c	2020-10-13 13:06:07.517648492 +0200
+++ src/dired.c	2020-10-14 16:18:03.750214680 +0200
@@ -20,6 +20,7 @@
 
 #include <config.h>
 
+#include <stddef.h>
 #include <sys/stat.h>
 
 #ifdef HAVE_PWD_H
@@ -165,7 +166,7 @@
 Lisp_Object
 directory_files_internal (Lisp_Object directory, Lisp_Object full,
 			  Lisp_Object match, Lisp_Object nosort, bool attrs,
-			  Lisp_Object id_format)
+			  Lisp_Object id_format, Lisp_Object count_to_return)
 {
   if (!NILP (match))
     CHECK_STRING (match);
@@ -224,6 +225,18 @@
   case_table = BVAR (&buffer_defaults, case_canon_table);
 #endif
 
+  bool only_length = false;
+  ptrdiff_t ind = 0, last = 0;
+  if(!NILP(count_to_return) && FIXNATP(count_to_return))
+    {
+      last = XFIXNAT(count_to_return);
+  
+      if(!last){
+        last = 1;
+        only_length = true;
+      }
+    }
+
   /* Read directory entries and accumulate them into LIST.  */
   Lisp_Object list = Qnil;
   for (struct dirent *dp; (dp = read_dirent (d, directory)); )
@@ -267,7 +280,22 @@
       else
 	finalname = name;
 
-      list = Fcons (attrs ? Fcons (finalname, fileattrs) : finalname, list);
+      if (only_length)
+        {
+          ind++;
+        }
+      else
+        {
+          if (!NILP(count_to_return) && FIXNATP(count_to_return))
+            {
+              if (ind == last)
+                break;
+              ind ++;
+            }
+      
+          list = Fcons (attrs ? Fcons (finalname, fileattrs) :
+                        finalname, list);
+        }
     }
 
   closedir (d);
@@ -279,16 +307,19 @@
   /* Discard the unwind protect.  */
   specpdl_ptr = specpdl + count;
 
+  if (only_length)
+    return make_fixnum(ind);
+
   if (NILP (nosort))
     list = Fsort (Fnreverse (list),
 		  attrs ? Qfile_attributes_lessp : Qstring_lessp);
-
+  
   (void) directory_volatile;
   return list;
 }
 
 
-DEFUN ("directory-files", Fdirectory_files, Sdirectory_files, 1, 4, 0,
+DEFUN ("directory-files", Fdirectory_files, Sdirectory_files, 1, 5, 0,
        doc: /* Return a list of names of files in DIRECTORY.
 There are three optional arguments:
 If FULL is non-nil, return absolute file names.  Otherwise return names
@@ -296,9 +327,14 @@
 If MATCH is non-nil, mention only file names that match the regexp MATCH.
 If NOSORT is non-nil, the list is not sorted--its order is unpredictable.
  Otherwise, the list returned is sorted with `string-lessp'.
- NOSORT is useful if you plan to sort the result yourself.  */)
+ NOSORT is useful if you plan to sort the result yourself. 
+If COUNT is  non-nil, the function will return max (COUNT,length)
+ files, where length means number of files in directory. Order
+ in which files are returned is not guaranteed and is file system and
+ OS dependent. COUNT has to be an integral number in interval
+ [1,COUNT]. */) 
   (Lisp_Object directory, Lisp_Object full, Lisp_Object match,
-   Lisp_Object nosort)
+   Lisp_Object nosort, Lisp_Object count)
 {
   directory = Fexpand_file_name (directory, Qnil);
 
@@ -306,14 +342,15 @@
      call the corresponding file name handler.  */
   Lisp_Object handler = Ffind_file_name_handler (directory, Qdirectory_files);
   if (!NILP (handler))
-    return call5 (handler, Qdirectory_files, directory,
-                  full, match, nosort);
+    return call6 (handler, Qdirectory_files, directory,
+                  full, match, nosort, count);
 
-  return directory_files_internal (directory, full, match, nosort, false, Qnil);
+  return directory_files_internal (directory, full, match, nosort,
+                                   false, Qnil, count);
 }
 
 DEFUN ("directory-files-and-attributes", Fdirectory_files_and_attributes,
-       Sdirectory_files_and_attributes, 1, 5, 0,
+       Sdirectory_files_and_attributes, 1, 6, 0,
        doc: /* Return a list of names of files and their attributes in DIRECTORY.
 Value is a list of the form:
 
@@ -331,9 +368,14 @@
 ID-FORMAT specifies the preferred format of attributes uid and gid, see
 `file-attributes' for further documentation.
 On MS-Windows, performance depends on `w32-get-true-file-attributes',
-which see.  */)
-  (Lisp_Object directory, Lisp_Object full, Lisp_Object match,
-   Lisp_Object nosort, Lisp_Object id_format)
+which see. 
+If COUNT is  non-nil, the function will return max (COUNT,length)
+ files, where length means number of files in directory. Order
+ in which files are returned is not guaranteed and is file system and
+ OS dependent. COUNT has to be an integral number in interval
+ [1,COUNT]. */)
+(Lisp_Object directory, Lisp_Object full, Lisp_Object match,
+   Lisp_Object nosort, Lisp_Object id_format, Lisp_Object count)
 {
   directory = Fexpand_file_name (directory, Qnil);
 
@@ -342,11 +384,11 @@
   Lisp_Object handler
     = Ffind_file_name_handler (directory, Qdirectory_files_and_attributes);
   if (!NILP (handler))
-    return call6 (handler, Qdirectory_files_and_attributes,
-                  directory, full, match, nosort, id_format);
+    return call7 (handler, Qdirectory_files_and_attributes,
+                  directory, full, match, nosort, id_format, count);
 
   return directory_files_internal (directory, full, match, nosort,
-				   true, id_format);
+				   true, id_format, count);
 }
 
 
@@ -929,7 +971,7 @@
   struct stat s;
 
   /* An array to hold the mode string generated by filemodestring,
-     including its terminating space and null byte.  */
+     including its terminating space and NUL byte.  */
   char modes[sizeof "-rwxr-xr-x "];
 
   char *uname = NULL, *gname = NULL;