What is a .emacs file?
FAQ (komplett)When Emacs starts up it attempts to load, and execute the contents of a file called ".emacs", or "_emacs". This file is where all the customizations are saved, and restored from when you restart Emacs. All of these settings are stored as Lisp expressions, for a general introduction to Lisp you could see : http://cons.org, more Emacs Specific information can be found in the Emacs Lisp Manual.
Related QuestionsWhere do I put my .emacs, (or _emacs), file?
GNU Emacs FAQ for WindowsYour startup file can be named either _emacs or .emacs, and should be placed in your "home" directory. If you have both files in your home directory, Emacs will load the .emacs file and ignore _emacs. Your home directory is where the HOME configuration variable tells Emacs it is.
Related QuestionsHow do I set up a .emacs file properly?
GNU Emacs FAQIn general, new Emacs users should not have .emacs files, because it causes confusing non-standard behavior. Then they send questions to help-gnu-emacs@gnu.org asking why Emacs isn't behaving as documented. Beginning with version 20.1, Emacs includes the new Customize facility (see Using Customize). This allows users who are unfamiliar with Emacs Lisp to modify their .emacs files in a relatively straightforward way, using menus rather than Lisp code.
Related QuestionsHow do I debug a .emacs file?
GNU Emacs FAQStart Emacs with the '-debug-init' command-line option. This enables the Emacs Lisp debugger before evaluating your .emacs file, and places you in the debugger if something goes wrong. The top line in the trace-back buffer will be the error message, and the second or third line of that buffer will display the Lisp code from your .emacs file that caused the problem. You can also evaluate an individual function or argument to a function in your .
Related QuestionsWhy does Emacs say 'Error in init file'?
GNU Emacs FAQerror occurred while loading either your .emacs file or the system-wide file lisp/default.el. Emacs 21.1 and later pops the *Messages* buffer, and puts there some additional information about the error, to provide some hints for debugging. It may be the case that you need to load some package first, or use a hook that will be evaluated after the package is loaded. A common case of this is explained in Terminal setup code works after Emacs has begun.
Related QuestionsWhy does Emacs take 20 seconds to visit a file?
GNU Emacs FAQOld versions of Emacs (i.e., versions before Emacs 20.x) often encountered this when the master lock file, !!!SuperLock!!!, has been left in the lock directory somehow. Delete it. Mark Meuer says that NeXT NFS has a bug where an exclusive create succeeds but returns an error status. This can cause the same problem. Since Emacs's file locking doesn't work over NFS anyway, the best solution is to recompile Emacs with CLASH_DETECTION undefined.
Related QuestionsBut what about Emacs?
Frequently asked questionsIn Emacs, you need to use the command M-x server-start before invoking the edit hook from the Factor end.
Related QuestionsGNU Emacs FAQThe complete text of the Emacs manual is available on-line via the Info hypertext reader. Type C-h r to display the manual in Info mode. Typing <h> immediately after entering Info will provide a short tutorial on how to use it. To quickly locate the section of the manual which discusses a certain issue, or describes a command or a variable, type C-h i m emacs <RET> i topic <RET>, where topic is the name of the topic, the command, or the variable which you are looking for.Related Questions
Why does Emacs ignore my X resources (my .Xdefaults file)?
GNU Emacs FAQof version 19, Emacs searches for X resources in the files specified by the following environment variables: XFILESEARCHPATH and XUSERFILESEARCHPATH should be a list of file names separated by colons. XAPPLRESDIR should be a list of directory names separated by colons. or if that is unset, in the file named ~/.
Related QuestionsIs there Emacs support for R?
R FAQThere is an Emacs package called ESS (“Emacs Speaks Statistics”) which provides a standard interface between statistical programs and statistical processes. It is intended to provide assistance for interactive statistical programming and data analysis. Languages supported include: S dialects (R, S 3/4, and S-Plus 3.x/4.x/5.x/6.x/7.x), LispStat dialects (XLispStat, ViSta), SAS, Stata, and BUGS. ESS grew out of the need for bug fixes and extensions to S-mode 4.
Related QuestionsShould I run R from within Emacs?
R FAQYes, definitely. Inferior R mode provides a readline/history mechanism, object name completion, and syntax-based highlighting of the interaction buffer using Font Lock mode, as well as a very convenient interface to the R help system. Of course, it also integrates nicely with the mechanisms for editing R source using Emacs. One can write code in one Emacs buffer and send whole or parts of it for execution to R; this is helpful for both data analysis and programming.
Related QuestionsWhy does zsh not work in an Emacs shell mode any more?
Z-Shell Frequently-Asked QuestionsEmacs 19.29 or thereabouts stopped using a terminal type of "emacs" in shell buffers, and instead sets it to "dumb". Zsh only kicks in its special I'm-inside-emacs initialization when the terminal type is "emacs". Probably the most reliable way of dealing with this is to look for the environment variable $EMACS, which is set to t in Emacs' shell mode. Putting [[ $EMACS = t ]] && unsetopt zle in your .zshrc should be sufficient.
Related QuestionsWhat is an experienced Emacs user?
Frequently Asked Questions: AppendicesYes, when you use Emacs, you are apt to use the control key, the shift key and the meta key a lot. This is very annoying to some people (notably vile users), and the rest of us just love the hell out of it. Just give up and submit. Emacs really does stand for "Escape-Meta-Alt-Control-Shift", and not "Editing Macros", as you may have heard from other disreputable sources (like the Emacs author).
Related QuestionsWhich version of Emacs do I need?
Frequently Asked Questions: AppendicesGnus 5.10 requires an Emacs version that is greater than or equal to Emacs 20.7 or XEmacs 21.1. The development versions of Gnus (aka No Gnus) requires Emacs 21 or XEmacs 21.4.
Related QuestionsIs there a GNU emacs editing mode for MATLAB?
MATLAB Frequently Asked QuestionsA GNU emacs 'matlab-mode' is available via anonymous ftp from csi.jpl.nasa.gov as pub/matlab/util/matlab-mode.el
Related QuestionsHow do I print from Emacs?
FAQ (komplett)Please read Andrew's note on how to print from Emacs in 20.4. What you need to do depends upon how you connect your printer to your machine. Tim Sherrill <sherritp@sagian.com> has a very informative page on 2-up (n-up) printing from Emacs. Holger Mueller <hmueller@bigfoot.com> has taken over maintaining print-NT.el [V 1.15, 6/29/98] (previously maintained by Brian Gorka <gorkab@cyberpass.net>). Theodore Jump <tjump@tertius.com> has also written w32-print.
Related QuestionsHow do I run Gnus on both Emacs and XEmacs?
Frequently Asked Questions: AppendicesYou can't use the same copy of Gnus in both as the Lisp files are byte-compiled to a format which is different depending on which Emacs did the compilation. Get one copy of Gnus for Emacs and one for XEmacs.
Related QuestionsHow to find information and help inside Emacs?
Frequently Asked Questions: AppendicesThe first stop should be the Gnus manual (Say 'C-h i d m Gnus RET' to start the Gnus manual, then walk through the menus or do a full-text search with 's'). Then there are the general Emacs help commands starting with C-h, type 'C-h ? ?' to get a list of all available help commands and their meaning. Finally 'M-x apropos-command' lets you search through all available functions and 'M-x apropos' searches the bound variables.
Related QuestionsDo I have to learn Emacs?
Common Lisp FAQNot necessarily. The simplest possible development Lisp environment consists of a text editor and an xterm.
Related QuestionsHow do I install Emacs?
GNU Emacs FAQThis answer is meant for users of Unix and Unix-like systems. Users of other operating systems should see the series of questions beginning with Emacs for MS-DOS, which describe where to get non-Unix source and binaries, and how to install Emacs on those systems. Emacs sources. See Current GNU distributions, for a list of ftp sites that make them available. On ftp.gnu.org, the main GNU distribution site, sources are available as The above will obviously change as new versions of Emacs come out.
Related QuestionsWhere can I get Emacs for my Amiga?
GNU Emacs FAQNext: Emacs for Apple computers, Previous: Emacs for the Amiga, Up: Finding Emacs and related packages
Related QuestionsWhere can I get Emacs for NeXTSTEP?
GNU Emacs FAQEmacs.app is a NeXTSTEP version of Emacs 19.34 which supports colors, menus, and multiple frames. You can get it from Next: Emacs for VMS and DECwindows, Previous: Emacs for NeXTSTEP, Up: Finding Emacs and related packages
Related QuestionsWhere can I get Emacs for my Apple computer?
GNU Emacs FAQBeginning with version 21.1, the Macintosh is supported in the official Emacs distribution; see the files mac/README and mac/INSTALL in the Emacs distribution for build instructions. Next: Modes for various languages, Previous: Emacs for Apple computers, Up: Finding Emacs and related packages
Related QuestionsHow do I customize Emacs?
GNU Emacs FAQ for WindowsAt its core Emacs contains a Lisp interpreter, this engine is used to implement most of the core functionality of Emacs. To customize Emacs mostly involves writing extra functions in Lisp, or changing variables that affect the behaviour which is already present. Emacs reads a file ".emacs" when it starts up, this is where it expects to find any customizations that you have made.
Related QuestionsHow do I uninstall Emacs?
GNU Emacs FAQ for WindowsThe only thing that Emacs changes in your system is the registry (if you used addpm to install it). Emacs does not, for example, install any files in your system directory. If you don't mind the registry settings remaining in the registry, then you don't need to do anything to uninstall Emacs. If you want to remove the registry settings, then you can use the regedt32 program to remove the Emacs registry keys.
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