Re: where is .emacs configuration file

Re: where is .emacs configuration file

[Uday Reddy]

ccc31807 wrote:
> Hello,
> 
> Brand new to emacs, but a long gime vi user. Just installed
> GNU Emacs 23.2.1 (i386-mingw-nt5.1.2600) of 2010-05-08 on G41R2F1
> Using Windows XP, SP3.
> 
> Two questions:
> (1) Where is the emacs configuration file? I have several, and suspect
> that it at C:\Documents and Settings\username\.emacs, but the changes
> I have made in that particular file don't seem to affect the behavior
> of the emacs program.

See FAQ 3.5 here:
http://www.gnu.org/software/emacs/windows/Installing-Emacs.html#Installing-Emacs

> (2) What simple change can I make in the configuration file as a test
> to see if the changes take effect? I tried (print "Hello") but that
> doesn't result in any message when I start emacs.

Put

(setq user "... your name here... ")

in your .emacs.  After starting Emacs, go to *scratch* buffer, and type
user^j.

Cheers,
Uday

Re: where is .emacs configuration file

[rustom]

On Oct 1, 10:26 pm, Marc Tfardy <mtfa...@googlemail.com> wrote:
> On 1 Okt., 18:46, ccc31807 <carte...@gmail.com> wrote:
> > (2) What simple change can I make in the configuration file as a test
> > to see if the changes take effect? I tried (print "Hello") but that
> > doesn't result in any message when I start emacs.
>
> Try (message "Hello")
> Alternatively you can put some junk (like rrpowepo§$%§$TKERKERT) to
> the file. When emacs can start it was a wrong file :) When it failed
> on start it was the right file.

Yes this is my preferred method: I make a file consisting only of a
single unmatched open paren ie just
(

You should get an error on starting emacs if emacs reads the file

Re: where is .emacs configuration file

[Andreas Politz]

ccc31807 <cartercc@gmail.com> writes:

>
> Two questions:
> (1) Where is the emacs configuration file?

M-: user-init-file RET

> (2) What simple change can I make in the configuration file as a test
> to see if the changes take effect? I tried (print "Hello") but that
> doesn't result in any message when I start emacs.
>

The print statement should have left a trace in the *Messages* buffer.
(Usually the `message' function is preferred for this.)

> Thanks, CC.

-ap

Re: where is .emacs configuration file

[rustom]

On Oct 1, 11:48 pm, ccc31807 <carte...@gmail.com> wrote:
> On Oct 1, 1:23 pm, Uday Reddy <uDOTsDOTre...@cs.bham.ac.uk> wrote:
>
> > See FAQ 3.5 here:http://www.gnu.org/software/emacs/windows/Installing-Emacs.html#Insta...
>
> Okay, following the hint in section '3.5 Where do I put my init
> file?' ["Within Emacs, <~> at the beginning of a file name is expanded
> to your HOME directory, so you can always find your .emacs file with C-
> x C-f ~/.emacs. "] I discovered that my init file was in c:\lisp. It
> wasn't in any of the places mentioned in 1 through 5 listed in that
> section.
>
> I'm sort of wondering how that happened, but I realize that it's
> probably a Windows thing and the work required to scratch that itch
> wouldn't justify the pleasure I would experience by having the answer.
>
> Thanks for pointing this out to me.
>
> > (setq user "... your name here... ")
> > in your .emacs.  After starting Emacs, go to *scratch* buffer, and type
> > user^j.
>
> This worked. However, I created a cheat sheet several days ago (using
> 'Ctl-h k') and found that Ctl-j was bound to Newline. Now, when do
> 'Ctl-h k' I find that Ctl-j is bound to  eval-print-last-sexp. I've
> been playing with Lisp the last several days (which is what prompted
> me to start learning Emacs) and I'm wondering if I inadvertently
> messed up the standard configuration settings.
>
> Anyway, it works now, so I'm happy, and thanks again,
> CC.

Probably the first was when you were in text mode or a programming
mode
The second when in *scratch* whose mode is lisp interaction

Re: where is .emacs configuration file

[TheFlyingDutchman]

> Okay, following the hint in section '3.5 Where do I put my init
> file?' ["Within Emacs, <~> at the beginning of a file name is expanded
> to your HOME directory, so you can always find your .emacs file with C-
> x C-f ~/.emacs. "] I discovered that my init file was in c:\lisp. It
> wasn't in any of the places mentioned in 1 through 5 listed in that
> section.
>
> I'm sort of wondering how that happened, but I realize that it's
> probably a Windows thing and the work required to scratch that itch
> wouldn't justify the pleasure I would experience by having the answer.

For me on Windows XP, the default for "home directory" starts out as
you originally listed - c:\Documents and Settings\<username>

But you can change that to another directory by defining a user
environmental variable "HOME" in the Windows Control Panel. There may
another way to do it, like adding something to the Windows Registry.

If you have an environmental variable HOME and it points to c:\lisp
and you didn't do it, my guess would be that some installer for a Lisp
product did it.