How do I set up a .emacs initialization file? [migrated]

Posted by Harry Weston on Programmers See other posts from Programmers or by Harry Weston
Published on 2012-04-09T22:15:22Z Indexed on 2012/04/09 23:47 UTC
Read the original article Hit count: 279

Filed under:

linux

|

emacs

|

initialization

I am using Linux Fedora 13 (Constantine) and emacs 23.1.1. I am trying to set up a .emacs file for initialization, by using emacs itself to edit and save a file .emacs in my home directory. However, although the file is there, emacs does not seem to recognize it. What might I be doing wrong, and is there a simple text for .emacs that will show me if it is being used, one that will display a message on emacs start up?

© Programmers or respective owner

Related posts about linux

apt-get install and update fail

as seen on Ask Ubuntu - Search for 'Ask Ubuntu'
I've got a problem with apt-get update and apt-get install ... commands . every time update or installing fails and errors are : Get:1 http://dl.google.com stable Release.gpg [198B] Ign http://dl.google.com/linux/chrome/deb/ stable/main Translation-en_US Get:2 http://dl… >>> More
kernel module compiling error

as seen on Ask Ubuntu - Search for 'Ask Ubuntu'
sh@ubuntu:/home/ccpp/helloworld$ make gcc-4.6 -O2 -DMODULE -D_KERNEL_ -W -Wall -Wstrict-prototypes -Wmissing-prototypes -isystem /lib/modules/`uname -r`/build/include -c -o hello-1.o hello-1.c hello-1.c:4:0: warning: "MODULE" redefined [enabled by default] <command-line>:0:0: note: this is… >>> More
Build-Essentials installation failing

as seen on Ask Ubuntu - Search for 'Ask Ubuntu'
I am having trouble accessing the several critical header files that show to be a part of the build process. The "Ubuntu Software Center" shows "Build Essentials" as installed: Next I did the following two commands, which did not improve the problem: ~$ sudo apt-get install build-essential [sudo]… >>> More
Updating Debian kernel

as seen on Super User - Search for 'Super User'
I'm trying to update my Debian machine to 2.6.32-46 (which is the new stable). However, after doing apt-get update my apt-cache search linux-image shows me: linux-headers-2.6.32-5-486 - Header files for Linux 2.6.32-5-486 linux-headers-2.6.32-5-686-bigmem - Header files for Linux 2.6.32-5-686-bigmem linux-headers-2… >>> More
Serial connection over a single USB cable (Windows to linux, or linux to linux)

as seen on Server Fault - Search for 'Server Fault'
I'm helping out with a project for an embedded device that only has USB and no serial. This device is running Linux. These days, when we need to connect to a serial port on a device we typically use a USB to serial adapter (on something like a phone system or a load balancing device, etc). I would… >>> More

Related posts about emacs

Error while installing emacs23 from Software Center

as seen on Ask Ubuntu - Search for 'Ask Ubuntu'
Trying to install emacs in Software Center Ubuntu 12.04 got this error. installArchives() failed: Selecting previously unselected package emacs23. (Reading database ... (Reading database ... 5% (Reading database ... 10% (Reading database ... 15% (Reading database ... 20% (Reading database ... 25% (Reading… >>> More
Shorten Emacs timeout of ~/.emacs read

as seen on Server Fault - Search for 'Server Fault'
My ~/.emacs start-up file is stored in my AFS home directory. Often when I login to a linux machine I will forget to renew my AFS credentials before attempting to edit a local (non-AFS) file with Emacs. When this happens Emacs will attempt to load ~./emacs but cannot because it is in AFS space where… >>> More
Running emacs in GNU Screen overrides .emacs settings for [home] key binding in FreeBSD 8.2

as seen on Super User - Search for 'Super User'
If I use the following .emacs file, I am able to go to the beginning/end of the current line using the home/end keys as I would expect. (keyboard-translate ?\C-h ?\C-?) (add-to-list 'load-path "/home/sam/programs/go/go/misc/emacs/" t) (require 'go-mode-load) (global-set-key [kp-home] 'beginning-of-line)… >>> More
Emacs 23.1 make error 139 in Mac OS X 10.6.3

as seen on Stack Overflow - Search for 'Stack Overflow'
When I try to compile GNU Emacs 23.1 on my machine with Mac OS X 10.6.3 I repeatedly get the following ending: Directories: /src/emacs-23.1/lisp/. /src/emacs-23.1/lisp/./calc /src/emacs-23.1/lisp/./calendar /src/emacs-23.1/lisp/./emacs-lisp /src/emacs-23.1/lisp/./emulation /src/emacs-23.1/lisp/./erc… >>> More
portable emacs? (emacs server not working)

as seen on Stack Overflow - Search for 'Stack Overflow'
I have seen a few suggestions on making emacs portable (on Windows). I have this in my site-start.el: (defvar program-dir (substring data-directory 0 -4)) (setq inhibit-startup-message t) (setenv "HOME" program-dir) I changed the HOME variable so that not only my .emacs init files (and other init… >>> More