--- src/dired.c	2020-10-15 07:43:02.633804624 +0200
+++ ../dired4.c	2020-10-15 07:42:01.358574645 +0200
@@ -17,7 +17,6 @@
 You should have received a copy of the GNU General Public License
 along with GNU Emacs.  If not, see <https://www.gnu.org/licenses/>.  */
 
-
 #include <config.h>
 
 #include <sys/stat.h>
@@ -165,8 +164,19 @@
 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 return_count)
 {
+  ptrdiff_t ind = 0, last = 0;
+
+  /* check count first for early exit */
+  if (FIXNATP(return_count))
+    {
+      last = XFIXNAT(return_count);
+  
+      if (!last)
+        return Qnil;
+    }
+
   if (!NILP (match))
     CHECK_STRING (match);
 
@@ -267,6 +277,13 @@
       else
 	finalname = name;
 
+      if (FIXNATP(return_count))
+        {
+          if (ind == last)
+            break;
+          ind ++;
+        }
+
       list = Fcons (attrs ? Fcons (finalname, fileattrs) : finalname, list);
     }
 
@@ -287,8 +304,7 @@
   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 +312,14 @@
 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 of COUNT and length
+ files, where length is number of files in the 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]. If 0 files are requested the function will return nil. */)
   (Lisp_Object directory, Lisp_Object full, Lisp_Object match,
-   Lisp_Object nosort)
+   Lisp_Object nosort, Lisp_Object count)
 {
   directory = Fexpand_file_name (directory, Qnil);
 
@@ -306,34 +327,40 @@
      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,
-       doc: /* Return a list of names of files and their attributes in DIRECTORY.
+       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:
 
-  ((FILE1 . FILE1-ATTRS) (FILE2 . FILE2-ATTRS) ...)
+((FILE1 . FILE1-ATTRS) (FILE2 . FILE2-ATTRS) ...)
 
 where each FILEn-ATTRS is the attributes of FILEn as returned
 by `file-attributes'.
 
 This function accepts four optional arguments:
 If FULL is non-nil, return absolute file names.  Otherwise return names
- that are relative to the specified directory.
+that are relative to the specified directory.
 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.
- NOSORT is useful if you plan to sort the result yourself.
+NOSORT is useful if you plan to sort the result yourself.
 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 of COUNT and length
+ files, where length is number of files in the 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]. If 0 files are requested the function will return nil. */)
+(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 +369,11 @@
   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);
 }