Re: Replacing custom-set-variables

[Nikolaj Schumacher <me@nschum.de>]

Tim X <timx@nospam.dev.null> wrote:

> Giorgos Keramidas <keramida@ceid.upatras.gr> writes:
>
> Be careful using setq-default in .emacs. The difference between setq and
> setq-default is that if the variable is already bound to a value,
> setq-default does nothing.

I think that is not quite correct.  `setq-default' never does
"nothing".  It only leaves values untouched for buffers that have a
local value for the variable.

> This is not to say that setq-default should not be used. To a large
> extent its a matter of taste/style. I just wanted to emphasise the
> differences between the two.

The difference is important mostly for variables that become
buffer-local automatically, like `tab-width'.  There's only two ways to
set them in your .emacs:  Either with hooks or with `setq-default'.

For all other variables, `setq' and `setq-default' are identical.


regards,
Nikolaj Schumacher