I am not sure if my first message got to the mailing list and I am trying again. Apology in advance for duplication. Subject: Non hex digit used for Unicode escape Warning (initialization): An error occurred while loading `/home/frenzee/.emacs': error: Non-hex digit used for Unicode escape To ensure normal operation, you should investigate and remove the cause of the error in your initialization file. Start Emacs with the `--debug-init' option to view a complete error backtrace. I just upgraded my emacs to the latest version on unix and this is the error. I ran the --debug-init and went to each file point position and the main thing appears to be some double \\ How to automatically fix all my .emacs files and their entries ? I think there are some commands like The following post discusses the problem but gives no example of a good solution on what is the replacement : Hi! > It's the line (setq default-directory "C:\Users\Charles") thats > causing the problem. (cd "C:\Users\Charles") raised the same error > too. You have to escape backslashes in strings like this: (cd "C:\\Users\\Charles") See (info "(emacs) Init Syntax") for some more hints. Regards, Anselm -- Anselm Helbig mailto:anselm.helbig+news2...@googlemail.com