12 ms·

Ask HN Emacs Users: What's in your .emacs file?

131 points by grizzydot 16y ago

Are there any key bindings or modes that have been especially useful for you? If so, what are they? Cheers.

tjpick 16y ago
org-mode.
zck 16y ago
My .emacs, which is commented, is located at http://github.com/zck/emacs/blob/master/.emacs http://github.com/zck/emacs/blob/master/.emacs . I need to update it and move it over to bitbucket, though. Specifically, my favorite things are show-paren-mode, ido-mode, and rebinding C-, and C-. to move back and forward between windows.
jcsalterego 16y ago
I went .emacs bankrupt this summer. gist.el, powershell-mode, yaml-mode, org-mode are a few I've taken out for brevity. Otherwise, a few of these are emacs23 specific: ;; syntax highlighting (global-font-lock-mode 1) ;; add .emacs.d to load path (setq load-path (cons "~/.emacs.d" load-path)) ;; nethack (add-hook 'nethack-mode-hook (lambda () (linum-mode 'nil))) (setq load-path (cons "~/.emacs.d/nethack" load-path)) (autoload 'nethack "nethack" "Play Nethack." t) (setq nethack-program "/opt/local/bin/nethack") ;; 4 spaces in objective-c (add-hook 'objc-mode-hook (lambda () (setq tab-width nil) (setq c-basic-offset 4))) ;; straight to *scratch* buffer please (setq inhibit-splash-screen t) ;; use old navigation for line movement (setq line-move-visual nil) ;; linum mode (require 'linum) (global-linum-mode 1) (add-hook 'linum-before-numbering-hook (lambda () (setq linum-format "%d ")))
kirubakaran 16y ago
http://github.com/ki/my-dot-emacs/raw/master/dot-emacs.txt http://github.com/ki/my-dot-emacs/raw/master/dot-emacs.txt plus http://lisp.pastebin.com/raw.php?i=MRbccMG4 http://lisp.pastebin.com/raw.php?i=MRbccMG4
lg 16y ago
for anyone who uses erc on emacs 23 and gets the weird "selecting deleted buffer" error, adding (setq Buffer-menu-use-frame-buffer-list nil) makes it work.
access_denied 16y ago
making org-mode the standard mode for a new buffer/file. a custom word-count util, another one for switching frame-dimensions. color-themes, session management, a few custom key-bindings.
drbaskin 16y ago
I use emacs mostly for LaTeX editing, so most of my .emacs sets up macros to make it easy to insert greek letters with a keystroke. (For some reason, I really hate using LaTeX macros to write shortcuts for these.)
- jedbrown 16y ago
  You don't like LaTeX-math-mode (bound to C-c ~)?
deleted 16y ago
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daemianmack 16y ago
Funny, about an hour ago I finally broke down and remapped Ctrl+w to backward-kill-word[1] after re-reading Yegge's Effective Emacs, and you've just reminded me to push the commit to my fork of emacs-starter-kit, which is a great way to get a core set of functionality. Works best if you're tyrannical about keeping it up to date, which I mostly am. http://github.com/daemianmack/emacs-starter-kit/ http://github.com/daemianmack/emacs-starter-kit/ Favorite two most recent additions: pyflakes/pylint for Python, and rainbow-mode for CSS. [1] Having backward-kill-word a two-finger-stroke, instead of the two-handed alt+Backspace, is great! On the other hand, it turns out I kill-region a lot more than I thought I did, so that's a little weird.
- pttr 16y ago
  I too made the switch after reading Yegge's good stuff, but missed kill-region so badly I had to come up with this: (defun backward-kill-word-or-kill-region (&optional arg) (interactive "p") (if (region-active-p) (kill-region (region-beginning) (region-end)) (backward-kill-word arg))) (global-set-key (kbd "C-w") 'backward-kill-word-or-kill-region) This gets me kill-region for an active (transient-mark-mode) region but backward-kill-word otherwise.
  - daemianmack 16y ago
    Excellent idea; thanks!
  - deleted 16y ago
    [deleted]
deleted 16y ago
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drhodes 16y ago
;; don't sleep emacs accidentally (global-set-key [(control z)] nil) ;; shortcut buffer navigation (global-set-key [f5] 'previous-buffer) (global-set-key [f8] 'next-buffer) ;; show columns by default (column-number-mode) ;; stop the blinking (blink-cursor-mode nil) and reams of macros
jakevoytko 16y ago
I try to keep it simple. I set my color theme, switch the font to Consolas, register some major modes (CMake, SLIME, haskell, org, etc), enable some of the disabled-by-default commands, and have some useful key bindings: ; I type this by mistake 80% of the time (global-unset-key (kbd "C-x C-c")) ; One of my favorite commands (global-set-key "\C-x\C-j" 'join-line) ; I haven't seen a keyboard with "copy" and "paste" buttons since 2008 ; Honestly, Emacs' defaults, WTF (global-set-key (kbd "<f2>") 'clipboard-kill-ring-save) (global-set-key (kbd "<f3>") 'clipboard-yank)
brodie 16y ago
Here's some stuff I find useful when editing Python: (setq-default show-trailing-whitespace t) (setq longlines-show-hard-newlines t) ; displays "\" at the end of lines that wrap past the window's edge ; camel case word navigation (when (boundp 'subword-mode) (add-hook 'after-change-major-mode-hook '(lambda () (subword-mode 1)))) ; Bindings (defun delete-backward-indent (&optional arg) "Erase a level of indentation, or 1 character" (interactive "*P") (if (= (current-column) 0) (delete-backward-char 1) (let ((n (mod (current-column) standard-indent))) (if (looking-back (concat "^\s*" (make-string n 32))) (if (= n 0) (delete-backward-char standard-indent) (delete-backward-char n)) (delete-backward-char 1))))) (defun newline-maybe-indent () "Like newline-and-indent, but doesn't indent if the previous line is blank" (interactive "*") (if (= (line-beginning-position) (line-end-position)) (newline) (newline-and-indent))) (add-hook 'python-mode-hook '(lambda () (hs-minor-mode 1) ; code folding (define-key python-mode-map (kbd "RET") 'newline-maybe-indent) (define-key python-mode-map (kbd "DEL") 'delete-backward-indent) (define-key python-mode-map (kbd "M-RET") 'hs-toggle-hiding))) ; On-the-fly spell checking (add-hook 'python-mode-hook '(lambda () (flyspell-prog-mode))) ; On-the-fly pyflakes checking (require 'flymake-point) ; shows errors in the minibuffer when highlighted (http://bitbucket.org/brodie/dotfiles/src/tip/.emacs.d/plugins/flymake-point.el) (setq python-check-command "pyflakes") (when (load "flymake" t) (defun flymake-pyflakes-init () (let* ((temp-file (flymake-init-create-temp-buffer-copy 'flymake-create-temp-inplace)) (local-file (file-relative-name temp-file (file-name-directory buffer-file-name)))) (list "pyflakes" (list local-file)))) (add-to-list 'flymake-allowed-file-name-masks '("\\.py\\'" flymake-pyflakes-init))) (add-hook 'python-mode-hook '(lambda () (flymake-mode 1))) I have a feeling there's probably a better way to do that delete-backward-indent thing. Maybe I should just switch to hungry delete mode. My entire .emacs is here: http://bitbucket.org/brodie/dotfiles/src/tip/.emacs http://bitbucket.org/brodie/dotfiles/src/tip/.emacs
- jcsalterego 16y ago
  Oh boy, nethack_el does not play well with `longlines-show-hard-newlines`.
silentbicycle 16y ago
These are pretty minor, but I use them constantly, and they're pretty self-contained. (global-set-key (kbd "C-=") 'switch-to-previous-buffer) (defun switch-to-previous-buffer () (interactive) (switch-to-buffer (other-buffer))) (global-set-key (kbd "C-z") 'shell) (defun my-shell-mode-hook () (local-set-key (kbd "C-z") 'bury-buffer)) (add-hook 'shell-mode-hook 'my-shell-mode-hook)
al3x 16y ago
http://github.com/al3x/emacs http://github.com/al3x/emacs
xtacy 16y ago
I use color-theme.el to manage, well, colour themes and use the twilight theme: http://github.com/crafterm/twilight-emacs/blob/master/color-theme-twilight.el http://github.com/crafterm/twilight-emacs/blob/master/color-... To mimic some of TextMate's functionality, I use: 1. autopair.el: http://www.emacswiki.org/emacs/AutoPairs http://www.emacswiki.org/emacs/AutoPairs. 2. yasnippet.el: http://code.google.com/p/yasnippet/ http://code.google.com/p/yasnippet/ The latest version of Emacs for the MacOSX has an awesome fullscreen capability. I followed the instructions here: http://www.sanityinc.com/full-screen-support-for-cocoa-emacs-on-osx http://www.sanityinc.com/full-screen-support-for-cocoa-emacs... iswitchb-mode has awesome minibuffer completion capabilities. http://www.emacswiki.org/emacs/IswitchBuffers http://www.emacswiki.org/emacs/IswitchBuffers
jsulak 16y ago
* Smex. This adds IDO completion to M-x. Can't live without it. http://github.com/nonsequitur/smex/ http://github.com/nonsequitur/smex/ * Undo-tree. (http://www.emacswiki.org/emacs/UndoTree http://www.emacswiki.org/emacs/UndoTree) Makes emacs undo useful. This has been one of the most useful functions I've added to my .emacs: (defun xsteve-ido-choose-from-recentf () "Use ido to select a recently opened file from the `recentf-list'" (interactive) (let ((home (expand-file-name (getenv "HOME")))) (find-file (ido-completing-read "Recentf open: " (mapcar (lambda (path) (replace-regexp-in-string home "~" path)) recentf-list) nil t)))) (global-set-key [(meta f11)] 'xsteve-ido-choose-from-recentf) From: http://www.xsteve.at/prg/emacs/power-user-tips.html http://www.xsteve.at/prg/emacs/power-user-tips.html, which has a bunch of good tips/key bindings
Keyframe 16y ago
several syntax highlighting stuff apart from standard ones, of course. This is super useful to me: (global-set-key [f6] 'linum-mode) (global-set-key [f7] 'next-buffer) (global-set-key [f8] 'previous-buffer) I also have yasnippet, but I don't really use it at all (I should). Also, recentf http://www.emacswiki.org/cgi-bin/wiki/recentf-buffer.el http://www.emacswiki.org/cgi-bin/wiki/recentf-buffer.el for a recently opened stuff (like dired, but for recent stuff). And most importantly, I setup my font to monaco, tango color scheme and I prefer full screen emacs, so i have a bit of an involved process where I have basically this: (global-set-key [f11] 'ds-darkroom) (global-set-key [f12] 'menu-bar-mode) where F11 puts me in and out of full screen mode and f12 toggles menu bar. F11 uses a small utility written in C# for windows to make this happen. clean darkroom - http://i.imgur.com/LloOY.png http://i.imgur.com/LloOY.png with menu - http://i.imgur.com/yTeUz.png http://i.imgur.com/yTeUz.png I'm trying for years to force myself not to move my right hand to arrows and instead use C-p C-n and C-b C-f, but I can't (well sometimes I do, but not all the time). And various tweaks here and there, I might have forgotten something though.
nprincigalli 16y ago
;; move along, nothing to see here :P ;; the beef is in ~/.vimrc and under ~/.vim/ ;)
jbr 16y ago
http://gist.github.com/561519 http://gist.github.com/561519 textmate.el is pretty awesome, as is ide-skel.
avar 16y ago
My .emacs is on GitHub: http://github.com/avar/dotemacs/blob/master/.emacs http://github.com/avar/dotemacs/blob/master/.emacs along with the elisp library I use http://github.com/avar/elisp http://github.com/avar/elisp Some noteworthy things: It's a ~1200 line file (and expanding) this is how I navigate it: (defun show-dot-emacs-structure () "Show the outline-mode structure of ~/.emacs" (interactive) (occur "^;;;;+")) Which shows the outline of the file, e.g.: 74 matches for "^;;;;+" in buffer: .emacs 57:;;;; Debugging 67:;;;; Load paths 112:;;;; Emacs' interface 229:;;;; User info 236:;;;; Encoding 253:;;;; Indenting 273:;;;;; Per-project indentation settings 275:;;;;;; Git A quiet startup: ;; Don't display the 'Welcome to GNU Emacs' buffer on startup (setq inhibit-startup-message t) ;; Display this instead of "For information about GNU Emacs and the ;; GNU system, type C-h C-a.". This has been made intentionally hard ;; to customize in GNU Emacs so I have to resort to hackery. (defun display-startup-echo-area-message () "If it wasn't for this you'd be GNU/Spammed by now" (message "")) ;; Don't insert instructions in the *scratch* buffer (setq initial-scratch-message nil) Core UI settings: ;; Display the line and column number in the modeline (setq line-number-mode t) (setq column-number-mode t) (line-number-mode t) (column-number-mode t) ;; syntax highlight everywhere (global-font-lock-mode t) ;; Show matching parens (mixed style) (show-paren-mode t) (setq show-paren-delay 0.0) ;; 'mixed highligts the whole sexp making it unreadable, maybe tweak ;; color display? (setq show-paren-style 'parenthesis) ;; Highlight selection (transient-mark-mode t) ;; make all "yes or no" prompts show "y or n" instead (fset 'yes-or-no-p 'y-or-n-p) Changing the switching is worth it, but I really need to find something that allows me to <TAB> between different possibilities once completion is exhausted, e.g. if I say "foo.c" and have both "foo.c" and "foo.c.txt": ;; Switching (iswitchb-mode 1) (icomplete-mode 1) I wish I could also turn off the annoying #-files, but they're hardcoded in Emacs's C code: ;; I use version control, don't annoy me with backup files everywhere (setq make-backup-files nil) (setq auto-save-default nil) Better file selection: ;;; Electric minibuffer! ;;; When selecting a file to visit, // will mean / and ;;; ~ will mean $HOME regardless of preceding text. (setq file-name-shadow-tty-properties '(invisible t)) (file-name-shadow-mode 1) I didn't write this, but it's very useful. It emulates vim's sofftab feature. So indenting with spaces doesn't suck anymore. (defun backward-delete-whitespace-to-column () "delete back to the previous column of whitespace, or just one char if that's not possible. This emulates vim's softtabs feature." (interactive) (if indent-tabs-mode (call-interactively 'backward-delete-char-untabify) ;; let's get to work (let ((movement (% (current-column) tab-width)) (p (point))) ;; brain freeze, should be easier to calculate goal (when (= movement 0) (setq movement tab-width)) (if (save-excursion (backward-char movement) (string-match "^\\s-+$" (buffer-substring-no-properties (point) p))) (delete-region (- p movement) p) (call-interactively 'backward-delete-char-untabify))))) (global-set-key (kbd "<DEL>") 'backward-delete-whitespace-to-column) I really wish I could find something for Emacs which automatically detects the style of the code I'm editing and switches the coding style to that. For libraries I use (eval-after-load) for everything and (autoload). It really speeds up startup. ack is a much better M-x grep (needs ack.el): ;;;;; ack (defalias 'grep 'ack) I have something to make swank work with clojure and sbcl, but it's too large to include here. clojure-mode et al make it really hard to do this, unfortunately (upstream isn't really interested in this use case): (defun run-clojure () "Starts clojure in Slime" (interactive) (pre-slime) (slime 'clojure)) (defun run-sbcl () "Starts SBCL in Slime" (interactive) (pre-slime) (slime 'sbcl)) You should use nopaste.el (shameless plug): http://github.com/avar/nopaste http://github.com/avar/nopaste ;;;;; nopaste.el (autoload 'nopaste "nopaste" nil t) (eval-after-load "nopaste" '(progn (setq nopaste-nickname "avar") (setq nopaste-channel nil) (setq nopaste-description nil))) (global-set-key (kbd "C-c n p") 'nopaste) (global-set-key (kbd "C-c n y") 'nopaste-yank-url) Here's how I still tolerate GMail and other web apps. I can click on any text field in Chrome and edit it in Emacs: ;;;;; Emacs Chrome edit server - http://wiki.github.com/stsquad/emacs_chrome/ (when (getenv "DISPLAY") (require 'edit-server) (setq edit-server-new-frame nil) (add-hook 'edit-server-done-hook 'on-edit-server-done-do-backup) (edit-server-start)) And this has saved my many a time from losing web form content (I should really make this use Git): (defun on-edit-server-done-do-backup () "Run when text is sent to Google Chrome. Do a backup of the stuff sent there in case something goes wrong, e.g. Chrome crashes." (let* ((backup-dir "~/._emacs_chrome-backup") (backup-file (format "%s.txt" (float-time))) (backup-path (concat backup-dir "/" backup-file))) (unless (file-directory-p backup-dir) (make-directory backup-dir)) (write-region (point-min) (point-max) backup-path))) Install browse-kill-ring.el now: (global-set-key (kbd "C-c k") 'browse-kill-ring) That's about it for the really interesting stuff. But there's a lot of other mundane stuff in there.
rayvega 16y ago
Between and during Emacs sessions, being able to view a list of my recently opened files via C-x C-r and then select and re-open them as needed. ;; recent files (require 'recentf) (recentf-mode 1) (setq recentf-max-menu-items 25) (global-set-key "\C-x\ \C-r" 'recentf-open-files) http://www.joegrossberg.com/archives/000182.html http://www.joegrossberg.com/archives/000182.html
michaelfairley 16y ago
Previously: http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=855963 http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=855963
msg 16y ago
I have my own preferred color scheme, won't bore you. At bottom, it's GhostWhite on black. I don't like tabs! ;; destroy all tabs (setq-default indent-tabs-mode nil) (defun untab-writable-non-makefiles-and-csv () (if (and (not buffer-read-only) (not (loop for re in '("[Mm]akefile" "\\.mk" "\\.csv" "\\.txt") if (string-match re buffer-file-name) do (return t) finally (return nil)))) (untabify (point-min) (point-max)))) (add-hook 'find-file-hook 'untab-writable-non-makefiles-and-csv) Emacsclient is a real must. ;; use this to start server for emacsclient (if (not (boundp 'server-process)) (server-start)) All my shells run inside of Emacs. So they're named, I get completions, and so on. That includes remote shells, using tramp and ssh-mode. ;; tramp mode... (setq load-path (cons "~/emacs/tramp" load-path)) (require 'tramp) (setq tramp-default-method "ssh") ;; remote shell! Hooray! (require 'ssh) (add-hook 'ssh-mode-hook 'ssh-directory-tracking-mode) Here's what I use for session. ;; back to emacswiki.org/emacs/DeskTop (setq *foo-desktop-dir* (expand-file-name "~/emacs/desktop")) (setq desktop-dir *foo-desktop-dir*) (setq desktop-path (list *foo-desktop-dir*)) (desktop-save-mode 1) ;; Switch on desktop.el (setq *foo-desktop-file* (concatenate 'string desktop-dir "/" desktop-base-file-name)) (setq *foo-desktop-lock* (concatenate 'string desktop-dir "/" desktop-base-lock-name)) (defun desktop-in-use-p () (and (file-exists-p *foo-desktop-file*) (file-exists-p *foo-desktop-lock*))) (defun autosave-desktop () (if (desktop-in-use-p) (desktop-save-in-desktop-dir))) (add-hook 'auto-save-hook 'autosave-desktop)
vmmenon 16y ago
(setq make-backup-files nil) (setq slime-lisp-implementations '((ccl ("/usr/local/ccl/dx86cl64")) (sbcl ("/usr/local/bin/sbcl")))) (add-to-list 'load-path "/usr/local/slime/") (require 'slime) (slime-setup '(slime-repl slime-banner))
ruediger 16y ago
Some tricks from my .emacs: (server-start) ;; no Tabs (setq-default indent-tabs-mode nil) (setq-default tabs-width 2) ;; List more buffers in the buffer menu (setq-default buffers-menu-max-size 30) ;; Prevent startup message and switch to empty *scratch* (setq inhibit-startup-message t) (setq initial-scratch-message nil) ;; Fix C&P (setq x-select-enable-clipboard t) ;; Make Caps Lock LED blink instead of audio bell (setq visible-bell 1) (setq ring-bell-function (lambda () (when (getenv "DISPLAY") (call-process-shell-command "xset led named \"Scoll Lock\"; xset -led named \"Scroll Lock\"" nil 0 nil)))) (show-paren-mode 1) (column-number-mode 1) ;; Keep the custom stuff separate (setq custom-file "~/.emacs.d/custom.el") (load custom-file) ;; I know what downcase-region does. Me no noob anymore ;). So undisable it. (put 'downcase-region 'disabled nil) ;; This can be a life saver! (push '("." . "~/.emacs.d/backups") backup-directory-alist) ;; Create better buffer names. foo.c++:src, foo.c++:extra instead of foo.c++ and foo.c++<2> ;; This should really be the default behaviour for Emacs! (require 'uniquify) (setq uniquify-buffer-name-style 'reverse uniquify-separator ":") ;; c-mode hook to set better default compile-command if no Makefile exists and activate flyspell-prog-mode ;; I have similar hooks for c-mode and fortran-mode (add-hook 'c++-mode-hook (lambda () (flyspell-prog-mode) (unless (or (file-exists-p "Makefile") (local-variable-p 'compile-command) (not buffer-file-name)) (set (make-local-variable 'compile-command) (format "%s %s %s" (or (getenv "CXX") "g++") (or (getenv "CXXFLAGS") "-pipe -std=c++0x -pedantic-errors -Wall -Wextra -Weffc++ -g3") (file-name-nondirectory buffer-file-name)))))) ;; Set f9 to compiler and f8 to make clean (global-set-key '[f9] 'compile) (global-set-key '[f8] '(lambda () (interactive) (when (file-exists-p "Makefile") (compile "make clean")))) The rest is just some specific mode setup and minor key bindings stuff.
zaphar 16y ago
my .emacs is on bitbucket: https://bitbucket.org/zaphar/dotfiles/src/tip/.emacs.d/ https://bitbucket.org/zaphar/dotfiles/src/tip/.emacs.d/ Some notable items: ;;; allow seperating out the config stuff to ;;; into different files (defvar jaw:config-dir (expand-file-name "~/.emacs.d/conf.d") "My config parts directory location.") (defun jaw:load-confs () "Load Jeremy's config file parts" (let ((files (sort (directory-files jaw:config-dir) 'string<))) (while files (setq file (car files) files (cdr files)) (cond ((string-match ".*\.#[^/]+\.el$" file) nil) ((string-match ".*\.elc?$" file) (load-file (concat jaw:config-dir "/" file))))))) (jaw:load-confs) Automatically installing elpa packages to bootstrap a new emacs system: https://bitbucket.org/zaphar/dotfiles/src/tip/.emacs.d/conf.d/001-my-packages.el https://bitbucket.org/zaphar/dotfiles/src/tip/.emacs.d/conf....
drblast 16y ago
Viper mode gives you the best of both worlds, although I'm probably considered a heretic in both religions. (setq viper-mode t) (require 'viper) (custom-set-variables '(column-number-mode t) '(inhibit-startup-screen t) '(show-paren-mode t) '(tool-bar-mode nil) '(menu-bar-mode nil)) I used to have slime config stuff in there, but now Ubuntu does it all for me. Thanks Ubuntu!
- jemfinch 16y ago
  So you're the other viper-mode user! We should have coffee sometime :)
  - drblast 16y ago
    Or coffee and tea mixed. My favorite.
  - zaphar 16y ago
    He's not the only one. viper + vimpulse here.
    - DrStrngeluv 16y ago
      Another Viper mode heretic here. 10 years of everyday vi (I started with elvis!) and then switching to emacs will do that. I use gtags and doxymacs pretty extensively too.
  - swah 16y ago
    Viper is too mainstream for me: http://jjfoerch.com/modal-mode/ http://jjfoerch.com/modal-mode/
pyronicide 16y ago
Check out: http://github.com/technomancy/emacs-starter-kit http://github.com/technomancy/emacs-starter-kit I've modified it slightly, but overall it set emacs up better than I new was possible (and introduced me to some add ons I didn't know existed).
cycojesus 16y ago
a lot of things, 1376 lines @ http://github.com/cycojesus/emacs http://github.com/cycojesus/emacs It uses org-babel to keep it organized and readable so really there's a short wrapper init.el that then calls babel-init.org External packages are installed system-wide using my own .SlackBuild generated packages (@ http://github.com/cycojesus/slackbuilds/tree/master/e/ http://github.com/cycojesus/slackbuilds/tree/master/e/ ) Of course I run Slackware.
mark_h 16y ago
Mine's on github too: http://github.com/markhepburn/dotemacs http://github.com/markhepburn/dotemacs It's quite large, and includes a lot of third-party stuff, much of it as submodules. It's relocatable (with additional platform and/or machine-specific loads) which might be semi-interesting: http://everythingtastesbetterwithchilli.com/initialisation-file-portability-tweaks http://everythingtastesbetterwithchilli.com/initialisation-f... Little things off the top of my head that I find useful: * wind-move -- use shift-arrow keys for window navigation * (fset 'yes-or-no-p 'y-or-n-p) * browse-kill-ring * mic-paren-mode * rename-file-and-buffer from Yegge * unscroll (undo inadvertent C-v) from Glickstein's book * lots of little tweaks like using C-,/. for smooth scrolling up/down * uniquify to keep buffer names unique * find-file-at-point Lots of autloads for more efficient initialisation (although that's less of an issue now that I'm using --daemon at startup) I do the usual UI tweaks like turning off the menu and tool bar, using ido mode (with smex -- ido for commands), etc. There's not a lot of keys that I rebind, but I do change backward-kill-word to C-w (consistent with shell usage), and kill-region to C-xC-k. Both those suggestions were from Yegge's effective emacs article which is worth a browse; I've ignored his advice to also change M-x to C-xC-m though.
dcreemer 16y ago
Thanks for this post and everyone's links. I'm just considering a return to Emacs after a run-in with RSI and several years wandering in the TextMate forest. This is very helpful.
apgwoz 16y ago
My kit is on github: http://github.com/apgwoz/emacs-config http://github.com/apgwoz/emacs-config My favorite new thing is my thumb-through: http://github.com/apgwoz/thumb-through http://github.com/apgwoz/thumb-through, which allows me to easily read articles from irc (i use rcirc) without leaving emacs, or loading up w3m-mode.
leif 16y ago
can't go wrong with paredit or the emacs client/server (google them)
travisbhartwell 16y ago
I actually did a huge re-organization of my .emacs file (including moving it to .emacs.d/init.el) a few months ago, dividing it into topic specific configuration files (general, files and buffers, programming, python-config, etc) and have support for loading different configurations depending on which machine I'm on. http://github.com/Nafai77/config/tree/master/HOME/_emacs.d/ http://github.com/Nafai77/config/tree/master/HOME/_emacs.d/ One of the next things I'm going to do is explore using el-get. It's always a pain moving to a new machine and having to download and checkout all of the third-party libraries I use.
technomancy 16y ago
Paredit, slime, magit, org-mode, eshell, and erc. The boring stuff is all in the Starter Kit: http://github.com/technomancy/emacs-starter-kit http://github.com/technomancy/emacs-starter-kit
- dirceut 16y ago
  Emacs Starter Kit allowed me to finally switch to Emacs last year. Thanks a lot technomancy! I keep my customizations here: http://github.com/dirceu/emacs-starter-kit http://github.com/dirceu/emacs-starter-kit
someisaac 16y ago
any .emacs for php/Mysql/html/css/js ?
- papaf 16y ago
  (require 'zencoding-mode) (add-hook 'sgml-mode-hook 'zencoding-mode) http://www.emacswiki.org/emacs/ZenCoding http://www.emacswiki.org/emacs/ZenCoding
hober 16y ago
My .emacs: http://edward.oconnor.cx/config/.emacs http://edward.oconnor.cx/config/.emacs If you use Viper, this is the single nicest tip I have: http://edward.oconnor.cx/2009/08/viper-tweaks http://edward.oconnor.cx/2009/08/viper-tweaks Some tips on running a dedicated Emacs instance for Gnus: http://edward.oconnor.cx/2010/08/standalone-gnus http://edward.oconnor.cx/2010/08/standalone-gnus
deleted 16y ago
[deleted]
Kototama 16y ago
A few things I found useful: ;; fonts (if (eq window-system 'x) (set-default-font "Inconsolata-12")) ;; no tabs, spaces instead! (setq-default indent-tabs-mode nil) ;; Changes all yes/no questions to y/n type (fset 'yes-or-no-p 'y-or-n-p) ;; default modes (iswitchb-mode t) (icomplete-mo) (column-number-mode) (ido-mode) (tabbar-mode) (winner-mode) ;; ido-mode ;; do not confirm file creation (setq confirm-nonexistent-file-or-buffer nil) ;; integrate copy/paste with X (setq x-select-enable-clipboard t) (setq interprogram-paste-function 'x-cut-buffer-or-selection-value) ;; scroll (setq scroll-step 1) ;; save backup files in this directory (setq backup-directory-alist (quote ((".*" . "~/.emacs.d/backups/")))) ;; global bindings (global-set-key [C-tab] 'other-window) (global-set-key "\r" 'newline-and-indent) (global-set-key (kbd "C-;") 'comment-region) (global-set-key (kbd "<f8>") '(lambda () (interactive) (split-window-vertically 25) (other-window 1) (slime))) ; switch buffer with last previous buffer (global-set-key (kbd "<C-return>") '(lambda () (interactive) (switch-to-buffer nil))) (global-set-key (kbd "C-p") 'backward-char) (global-set-key (kbd "C-S-p") 'previous-line) (global-set-key (kbd "C-S-j") 'join-line) (global-set-key (kbd "C-<prior>") 'tabbar-forward) (global-set-key (kbd "C-<next>") 'tabbar-backward) ;; fullscreen on F11 (defun toggle-fullscreen (&optional f) (interactive) (let ((current-value (frame-parameter nil 'fullscreen))) (set-frame-parameter nil 'fullscreen (if (equal 'fullboth current-value) (if (boundp 'old-fullscreen) old-fullscreen nil) (progn (setq old-fullscreen current-value) 'fullboth))))) (global-set-key [f11] 'toggle-fullscreen) http://github.com/kototama/unixconf/blob/master/.emacs http://github.com/kototama/unixconf/blob/master/.emacs
troels 16y ago
I have a lot of stuff in there. Most notably, I use tabbar and my own custom textpad-mode, which makes the cursor move around in the same way that textpad (A windows text editor) does it. Linky: http://github.com/troelskn/troelskn-emacs http://github.com/troelskn/troelskn-emacs
almost 16y ago
Very little, my .emacs just loads a whole load of other .el files. There's quite a lot in them though :) Here's a very very useful few lines if you're on X Windows: ; Fix copy-paste between emacs and other x programs (setq x-select-enable-clipboard t) (if (functionp 'x-cut-buffer-or-selection-value) (setq interprogram-paste-function 'x-cut-buffer-or-selection-value)) All your problems with cut and paste between Emacs and other programs? Gone! The if statement stops it failing when you use it on other platforms. EDIT: I also really really like this bit which I've not seen in other peoples lists: (defun eshell-goto-current-dir (&optional arg) (interactive "P") (let ((dir default-directory)) (eshell arg) (eshell/cd dir))) (global-set-key "\C-cs" 'eshell) (global-set-key "\C-cS" 'eshell-goto-current-dir) That means I can switch to eshell with C-cs or a can switch to eshell and change the current directory to be the same as the file I was viewing with C-cS. It also passes through the argument so I can have multiple shells open and use the numeric argument (M-1, M-2 etc) to select them.
ohyes 16y ago
I used to have more, but I have since streamlined... My entire .emacs file: (defun sbcl () (show-paren-mode) (setq inferior-lisp-program "sbcl") (add-to-list 'load-path "~/emacs/slime") (require 'slime) (slime-setup)) (sbcl)
tspiteri 16y ago
From my customizations, these are the most I use: Pressing Return starts a new line at column 0, pressing Control j starts a new indented line. I prefer them the other way round, so I rebind: (global-set-key "\r" 'newline-and-indent) (global-set-key "\C-j" 'newline) Also, very often I need to start a new line above or below the current line. So instead of Control e, Return to start a new indented line below the current line I use Control Return. (defun next-newline-and-indent () (interactive) (end-of-line) (newline-and-indent)) (global-set-key [C-return] 'next-newline-and-indent) And to start a new indented line above the current line, instead of Control a, Control o, Control i, I use Control Shift Return. (defun prev-newline-and-indent () (interactive) (beginning-of-line) (open-line 1) (indent-according-to-mode)) (global-set-key [C-S-return] 'prev-newline-and-indent)
nileshk 16y ago
I have my Emacs config here: http://github.com/nileshk/emacs http://github.com/nileshk/emacs startup.el is the main starting point (I load that from my .emacs). Can't say it's the cleanest set of config files, but you might find something of use in it. Some of the things I've configured: - Detect whether Emacs is running in OS X, Linux, Windows (native), or Cygwin; and I do platform-specific configuration when necessary - For OS X, I use fixpath.el to load my path by executing bash (I've tried various methods of doing this, and this was the most reliable) - For Windows, I have Powershell configured - I'm using guess-style ( http://nschum.de/src/emacs/guess-style/ http://nschum.de/src/emacs/guess-style/ ): auto-detects indentation style. - I had a Clojure setup that was working nicely, but it's been a while since I used it and I need to update it for Clojure 1.2 - ido-mode is great. I have some specific settings for that. For example, enabling ido-enable-flex-matching makes it easier to quickly match files - Backups go to ~/.emacs.d/backup instead of littering ~ files everywhere. The backup folder is created if necessary. - YASnippets. I've created some snippets of my own, such as for wikipedia-mode - I had problems using markdown-mode with YASnippets (both want to use the tab key), but was able to fix this. See my "eval-after-load 'markdown-mode" for this. If you use YASnippet, I've taken Jeff Wheeler's Textmate-to-YASnippet conversion script and improved it here: http://github.com/nileshk/snippet-copier http://github.com/nileshk/snippet-copier That also contains a Eclipse template to YASnippet convertor script I started on which kinda works, though not perfectly.
uros643 16y ago
Custom key bindings ;; Makes editing without Paredit more convenient... ;; But if you're on linux, first prevent it from logging you out! (global-set-key [C-M-delete] 'backward-kill-sexp) (global-set-key [C-M-backspace] 'backward-kill-sexp) ;; Command key meta forever. (labels ((normal-mac-mods (&rest _) (setq ns-alternate-modifier 'none ns-command-modifier 'meta))) (add-hook 'after-make-frame-functions #'normal-mac-mods) (normal-mac-mods)) Aesthetics (setq-default ... ;; Make the default buffer a little shinier... also, put ;; (message "Ready") ;; at the end of the file initial-major-mode 'text-mode initial-scratch-message (concat " ···" "--—===== Welcome to Emacs" " =====—--···\n===---···" " " "···---================---···" " ···---===\n\n")
lvillani 16y ago
I can't live without: - IDO - Smex - (Enhanced) project-root.el ( http://piranha.org.ua/project-root/ http://piranha.org.ua/project-root/ ) and its project-root-find-file function. (and my modular configuration is here: http://github.com/lvillani/.emacs.d http://github.com/lvillani/.emacs.d)
joecomotion 16y ago
Handy if you're viewing a live log file and want to see what's been appended since the last time you've opened it: (defun force-revert-buffer () (interactive) (revert-buffer t t)) (define-key global-map "\C-cr" 'force-revert-buffer)

131 points by grizzydot 16y ago

Are there any key bindings or modes that have been especially useful for you? If so, what are they? Cheers.

tjpick 16y ago

org-mode.

zck 16y ago

My .emacs, which is commented, is located at http://github.com/zck/emacs/blob/master/.emacs http://github.com/zck/emacs/blob/master/.emacs . I need to update it and move it over to bitbucket, though. Specifically, my favorite things are show-paren-mode, ido-mode, and rebinding C-, and C-. to move back and forward between windows.

jcsalterego 16y ago

I went .emacs bankrupt this summer. gist.el, powershell-mode, yaml-mode, org-mode are a few I've taken out for brevity. Otherwise, a few of these are emacs23 specific: ;; syntax highlighting (global-font-lock-mode 1) ;; add .emacs.d to load path (setq load-path (cons "~/.emacs.d" load-path)) ;; nethack (add-hook 'nethack-mode-hook (lambda () (linum-mode 'nil))) (setq load-path (cons "~/.emacs.d/nethack" load-path)) (autoload 'nethack "nethack" "Play Nethack." t) (setq nethack-program "/opt/local/bin/nethack") ;; 4 spaces in objective-c (add-hook 'objc-mode-hook (lambda () (setq tab-width nil) (setq c-basic-offset 4))) ;; straight to *scratch* buffer please (setq inhibit-splash-screen t) ;; use old navigation for line movement (setq line-move-visual nil) ;; linum mode (require 'linum) (global-linum-mode 1) (add-hook 'linum-before-numbering-hook (lambda () (setq linum-format "%d ")))

kirubakaran 16y ago

http://github.com/ki/my-dot-emacs/raw/master/dot-emacs.txt http://github.com/ki/my-dot-emacs/raw/master/dot-emacs.txt plus http://lisp.pastebin.com/raw.php?i=MRbccMG4 http://lisp.pastebin.com/raw.php?i=MRbccMG4

lg 16y ago

for anyone who uses erc on emacs 23 and gets the weird "selecting deleted buffer" error, adding (setq Buffer-menu-use-frame-buffer-list nil) makes it work.

access_denied 16y ago

making org-mode the standard mode for a new buffer/file. a custom word-count util, another one for switching frame-dimensions. color-themes, session management, a few custom key-bindings.

drbaskin 16y ago

I use emacs mostly for LaTeX editing, so most of my .emacs sets up macros to make it easy to insert greek letters with a keystroke. (For some reason, I really hate using LaTeX macros to write shortcuts for these.)

jedbrown 16y ago
You don't like LaTeX-math-mode (bound to C-c ~)?

deleted 16y ago

[deleted]

daemianmack 16y ago

Funny, about an hour ago I finally broke down and remapped Ctrl+w to backward-kill-word[1] after re-reading Yegge's Effective Emacs, and you've just reminded me to push the commit to my fork of emacs-starter-kit, which is a great way to get a core set of functionality. Works best if you're tyrannical about keeping it up to date, which I mostly am. http://github.com/daemianmack/emacs-starter-kit/ http://github.com/daemianmack/emacs-starter-kit/ Favorite two most recent additions: pyflakes/pylint for Python, and rainbow-mode for CSS. [1] Having backward-kill-word a two-finger-stroke, instead of the two-handed alt+Backspace, is great! On the other hand, it turns out I kill-region a lot more than I thought I did, so that's a little weird.

pttr 16y ago
I too made the switch after reading Yegge's good stuff, but missed kill-region so badly I had to come up with this: (defun backward-kill-word-or-kill-region (&optional arg) (interactive "p") (if (region-active-p) (kill-region (region-beginning) (region-end)) (backward-kill-word arg))) (global-set-key (kbd "C-w") 'backward-kill-word-or-kill-region) This gets me kill-region for an active (transient-mark-mode) region but backward-kill-word otherwise.
- daemianmack 16y ago
  Excellent idea; thanks!
- deleted 16y ago
  [deleted]

deleted 16y ago

[deleted]

drhodes 16y ago

;; don't sleep emacs accidentally (global-set-key [(control z)] nil) ;; shortcut buffer navigation (global-set-key [f5] 'previous-buffer) (global-set-key [f8] 'next-buffer) ;; show columns by default (column-number-mode) ;; stop the blinking (blink-cursor-mode nil) and reams of macros

jakevoytko 16y ago

I try to keep it simple. I set my color theme, switch the font to Consolas, register some major modes (CMake, SLIME, haskell, org, etc), enable some of the disabled-by-default commands, and have some useful key bindings: ; I type this by mistake 80% of the time (global-unset-key (kbd "C-x C-c")) ; One of my favorite commands (global-set-key "\C-x\C-j" 'join-line) ; I haven't seen a keyboard with "copy" and "paste" buttons since 2008 ; Honestly, Emacs' defaults, WTF (global-set-key (kbd "<f2>") 'clipboard-kill-ring-save) (global-set-key (kbd "<f3>") 'clipboard-yank)

brodie 16y ago

Here's some stuff I find useful when editing Python: (setq-default show-trailing-whitespace t) (setq longlines-show-hard-newlines t) ; displays "\" at the end of lines that wrap past the window's edge ; camel case word navigation (when (boundp 'subword-mode) (add-hook 'after-change-major-mode-hook '(lambda () (subword-mode 1)))) ; Bindings (defun delete-backward-indent (&optional arg) "Erase a level of indentation, or 1 character" (interactive "*P") (if (= (current-column) 0) (delete-backward-char 1) (let ((n (mod (current-column) standard-indent))) (if (looking-back (concat "^\s*" (make-string n 32))) (if (= n 0) (delete-backward-char standard-indent) (delete-backward-char n)) (delete-backward-char 1))))) (defun newline-maybe-indent () "Like newline-and-indent, but doesn't indent if the previous line is blank" (interactive "*") (if (= (line-beginning-position) (line-end-position)) (newline) (newline-and-indent))) (add-hook 'python-mode-hook '(lambda () (hs-minor-mode 1) ; code folding (define-key python-mode-map (kbd "RET") 'newline-maybe-indent) (define-key python-mode-map (kbd "DEL") 'delete-backward-indent) (define-key python-mode-map (kbd "M-RET") 'hs-toggle-hiding))) ; On-the-fly spell checking (add-hook 'python-mode-hook '(lambda () (flyspell-prog-mode))) ; On-the-fly pyflakes checking (require 'flymake-point) ; shows errors in the minibuffer when highlighted (http://bitbucket.org/brodie/dotfiles/src/tip/.emacs.d/plugins/flymake-point.el) (setq python-check-command "pyflakes") (when (load "flymake" t) (defun flymake-pyflakes-init () (let* ((temp-file (flymake-init-create-temp-buffer-copy 'flymake-create-temp-inplace)) (local-file (file-relative-name temp-file (file-name-directory buffer-file-name)))) (list "pyflakes" (list local-file)))) (add-to-list 'flymake-allowed-file-name-masks '("\\.py\\'" flymake-pyflakes-init))) (add-hook 'python-mode-hook '(lambda () (flymake-mode 1))) I have a feeling there's probably a better way to do that delete-backward-indent thing. Maybe I should just switch to hungry delete mode. My entire .emacs is here: http://bitbucket.org/brodie/dotfiles/src/tip/.emacs http://bitbucket.org/brodie/dotfiles/src/tip/.emacs

jcsalterego 16y ago
Oh boy, nethack_el does not play well with `longlines-show-hard-newlines`.

silentbicycle 16y ago

These are pretty minor, but I use them constantly, and they're pretty self-contained. (global-set-key (kbd "C-=") 'switch-to-previous-buffer) (defun switch-to-previous-buffer () (interactive) (switch-to-buffer (other-buffer))) (global-set-key (kbd "C-z") 'shell) (defun my-shell-mode-hook () (local-set-key (kbd "C-z") 'bury-buffer)) (add-hook 'shell-mode-hook 'my-shell-mode-hook)

al3x 16y ago

http://github.com/al3x/emacs http://github.com/al3x/emacs

xtacy 16y ago

I use color-theme.el to manage, well, colour themes and use the twilight theme: http://github.com/crafterm/twilight-emacs/blob/master/color-theme-twilight.el http://github.com/crafterm/twilight-emacs/blob/master/color-... To mimic some of TextMate's functionality, I use: 1. autopair.el: http://www.emacswiki.org/emacs/AutoPairs http://www.emacswiki.org/emacs/AutoPairs. 2. yasnippet.el: http://code.google.com/p/yasnippet/ http://code.google.com/p/yasnippet/ The latest version of Emacs for the MacOSX has an awesome fullscreen capability. I followed the instructions here: http://www.sanityinc.com/full-screen-support-for-cocoa-emacs-on-osx http://www.sanityinc.com/full-screen-support-for-cocoa-emacs... iswitchb-mode has awesome minibuffer completion capabilities. http://www.emacswiki.org/emacs/IswitchBuffers http://www.emacswiki.org/emacs/IswitchBuffers

jsulak 16y ago

* Smex. This adds IDO completion to M-x. Can't live without it. http://github.com/nonsequitur/smex/ http://github.com/nonsequitur/smex/ * Undo-tree. (http://www.emacswiki.org/emacs/UndoTree http://www.emacswiki.org/emacs/UndoTree) Makes emacs undo useful. This has been one of the most useful functions I've added to my .emacs: (defun xsteve-ido-choose-from-recentf () "Use ido to select a recently opened file from the `recentf-list'" (interactive) (let ((home (expand-file-name (getenv "HOME")))) (find-file (ido-completing-read "Recentf open: " (mapcar (lambda (path) (replace-regexp-in-string home "~" path)) recentf-list) nil t)))) (global-set-key [(meta f11)] 'xsteve-ido-choose-from-recentf) From: http://www.xsteve.at/prg/emacs/power-user-tips.html http://www.xsteve.at/prg/emacs/power-user-tips.html, which has a bunch of good tips/key bindings

Keyframe 16y ago

several syntax highlighting stuff apart from standard ones, of course. This is super useful to me: (global-set-key [f6] 'linum-mode) (global-set-key [f7] 'next-buffer) (global-set-key [f8] 'previous-buffer) I also have yasnippet, but I don't really use it at all (I should). Also, recentf http://www.emacswiki.org/cgi-bin/wiki/recentf-buffer.el http://www.emacswiki.org/cgi-bin/wiki/recentf-buffer.el for a recently opened stuff (like dired, but for recent stuff). And most importantly, I setup my font to monaco, tango color scheme and I prefer full screen emacs, so i have a bit of an involved process where I have basically this: (global-set-key [f11] 'ds-darkroom) (global-set-key [f12] 'menu-bar-mode) where F11 puts me in and out of full screen mode and f12 toggles menu bar. F11 uses a small utility written in C# for windows to make this happen. clean darkroom - http://i.imgur.com/LloOY.png http://i.imgur.com/LloOY.png with menu - http://i.imgur.com/yTeUz.png http://i.imgur.com/yTeUz.png I'm trying for years to force myself not to move my right hand to arrows and instead use C-p C-n and C-b C-f, but I can't (well sometimes I do, but not all the time). And various tweaks here and there, I might have forgotten something though.

nprincigalli 16y ago

;; move along, nothing to see here :P ;; the beef is in ~/.vimrc and under ~/.vim/ ;)

jbr 16y ago

http://gist.github.com/561519 http://gist.github.com/561519 textmate.el is pretty awesome, as is ide-skel.

avar 16y ago

My .emacs is on GitHub: http://github.com/avar/dotemacs/blob/master/.emacs http://github.com/avar/dotemacs/blob/master/.emacs along with the elisp library I use http://github.com/avar/elisp http://github.com/avar/elisp Some noteworthy things: It's a ~1200 line file (and expanding) this is how I navigate it: (defun show-dot-emacs-structure () "Show the outline-mode structure of ~/.emacs" (interactive) (occur "^;;;;+")) Which shows the outline of the file, e.g.: 74 matches for "^;;;;+" in buffer: .emacs 57:;;;; Debugging 67:;;;; Load paths 112:;;;; Emacs' interface 229:;;;; User info 236:;;;; Encoding 253:;;;; Indenting 273:;;;;; Per-project indentation settings 275:;;;;;; Git A quiet startup: ;; Don't display the 'Welcome to GNU Emacs' buffer on startup (setq inhibit-startup-message t) ;; Display this instead of "For information about GNU Emacs and the ;; GNU system, type C-h C-a.". This has been made intentionally hard ;; to customize in GNU Emacs so I have to resort to hackery. (defun display-startup-echo-area-message () "If it wasn't for this you'd be GNU/Spammed by now" (message "")) ;; Don't insert instructions in the *scratch* buffer (setq initial-scratch-message nil) Core UI settings: ;; Display the line and column number in the modeline (setq line-number-mode t) (setq column-number-mode t) (line-number-mode t) (column-number-mode t) ;; syntax highlight everywhere (global-font-lock-mode t) ;; Show matching parens (mixed style) (show-paren-mode t) (setq show-paren-delay 0.0) ;; 'mixed highligts the whole sexp making it unreadable, maybe tweak ;; color display? (setq show-paren-style 'parenthesis) ;; Highlight selection (transient-mark-mode t) ;; make all "yes or no" prompts show "y or n" instead (fset 'yes-or-no-p 'y-or-n-p) Changing the switching is worth it, but I really need to find something that allows me to <TAB> between different possibilities once completion is exhausted, e.g. if I say "foo.c" and have both "foo.c" and "foo.c.txt": ;; Switching (iswitchb-mode 1) (icomplete-mode 1) I wish I could also turn off the annoying #-files, but they're hardcoded in Emacs's C code: ;; I use version control, don't annoy me with backup files everywhere (setq make-backup-files nil) (setq auto-save-default nil) Better file selection: ;;; Electric minibuffer! ;;; When selecting a file to visit, // will mean / and ;;; ~ will mean $HOME regardless of preceding text. (setq file-name-shadow-tty-properties '(invisible t)) (file-name-shadow-mode 1) I didn't write this, but it's very useful. It emulates vim's sofftab feature. So indenting with spaces doesn't suck anymore. (defun backward-delete-whitespace-to-column () "delete back to the previous column of whitespace, or just one char if that's not possible. This emulates vim's softtabs feature." (interactive) (if indent-tabs-mode (call-interactively 'backward-delete-char-untabify) ;; let's get to work (let ((movement (% (current-column) tab-width)) (p (point))) ;; brain freeze, should be easier to calculate goal (when (= movement 0) (setq movement tab-width)) (if (save-excursion (backward-char movement) (string-match "^\\s-+$" (buffer-substring-no-properties (point) p))) (delete-region (- p movement) p) (call-interactively 'backward-delete-char-untabify))))) (global-set-key (kbd "<DEL>") 'backward-delete-whitespace-to-column) I really wish I could find something for Emacs which automatically detects the style of the code I'm editing and switches the coding style to that. For libraries I use (eval-after-load) for everything and (autoload). It really speeds up startup. ack is a much better M-x grep (needs ack.el): ;;;;; ack (defalias 'grep 'ack) I have something to make swank work with clojure and sbcl, but it's too large to include here. clojure-mode et al make it really hard to do this, unfortunately (upstream isn't really interested in this use case): (defun run-clojure () "Starts clojure in Slime" (interactive) (pre-slime) (slime 'clojure)) (defun run-sbcl () "Starts SBCL in Slime" (interactive) (pre-slime) (slime 'sbcl)) You should use nopaste.el (shameless plug): http://github.com/avar/nopaste http://github.com/avar/nopaste ;;;;; nopaste.el (autoload 'nopaste "nopaste" nil t) (eval-after-load "nopaste" '(progn (setq nopaste-nickname "avar") (setq nopaste-channel nil) (setq nopaste-description nil))) (global-set-key (kbd "C-c n p") 'nopaste) (global-set-key (kbd "C-c n y") 'nopaste-yank-url) Here's how I still tolerate GMail and other web apps. I can click on any text field in Chrome and edit it in Emacs: ;;;;; Emacs Chrome edit server - http://wiki.github.com/stsquad/emacs_chrome/ (when (getenv "DISPLAY") (require 'edit-server) (setq edit-server-new-frame nil) (add-hook 'edit-server-done-hook 'on-edit-server-done-do-backup) (edit-server-start)) And this has saved my many a time from losing web form content (I should really make this use Git): (defun on-edit-server-done-do-backup () "Run when text is sent to Google Chrome. Do a backup of the stuff sent there in case something goes wrong, e.g. Chrome crashes." (let* ((backup-dir "~/._emacs_chrome-backup") (backup-file (format "%s.txt" (float-time))) (backup-path (concat backup-dir "/" backup-file))) (unless (file-directory-p backup-dir) (make-directory backup-dir)) (write-region (point-min) (point-max) backup-path))) Install browse-kill-ring.el now: (global-set-key (kbd "C-c k") 'browse-kill-ring) That's about it for the really interesting stuff. But there's a lot of other mundane stuff in there.

rayvega 16y ago

Between and during Emacs sessions, being able to view a list of my recently opened files via C-x C-r and then select and re-open them as needed. ;; recent files (require 'recentf) (recentf-mode 1) (setq recentf-max-menu-items 25) (global-set-key "\C-x\ \C-r" 'recentf-open-files) http://www.joegrossberg.com/archives/000182.html http://www.joegrossberg.com/archives/000182.html

michaelfairley 16y ago

Previously: http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=855963 http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=855963

msg 16y ago

I have my own preferred color scheme, won't bore you. At bottom, it's GhostWhite on black. I don't like tabs! ;; destroy all tabs (setq-default indent-tabs-mode nil) (defun untab-writable-non-makefiles-and-csv () (if (and (not buffer-read-only) (not (loop for re in '("[Mm]akefile" "\\.mk" "\\.csv" "\\.txt") if (string-match re buffer-file-name) do (return t) finally (return nil)))) (untabify (point-min) (point-max)))) (add-hook 'find-file-hook 'untab-writable-non-makefiles-and-csv) Emacsclient is a real must. ;; use this to start server for emacsclient (if (not (boundp 'server-process)) (server-start)) All my shells run inside of Emacs. So they're named, I get completions, and so on. That includes remote shells, using tramp and ssh-mode. ;; tramp mode... (setq load-path (cons "~/emacs/tramp" load-path)) (require 'tramp) (setq tramp-default-method "ssh") ;; remote shell! Hooray! (require 'ssh) (add-hook 'ssh-mode-hook 'ssh-directory-tracking-mode) Here's what I use for session. ;; back to emacswiki.org/emacs/DeskTop (setq *foo-desktop-dir* (expand-file-name "~/emacs/desktop")) (setq desktop-dir *foo-desktop-dir*) (setq desktop-path (list *foo-desktop-dir*)) (desktop-save-mode 1) ;; Switch on desktop.el (setq *foo-desktop-file* (concatenate 'string desktop-dir "/" desktop-base-file-name)) (setq *foo-desktop-lock* (concatenate 'string desktop-dir "/" desktop-base-lock-name)) (defun desktop-in-use-p () (and (file-exists-p *foo-desktop-file*) (file-exists-p *foo-desktop-lock*))) (defun autosave-desktop () (if (desktop-in-use-p) (desktop-save-in-desktop-dir))) (add-hook 'auto-save-hook 'autosave-desktop)

vmmenon 16y ago

(setq make-backup-files nil) (setq slime-lisp-implementations '((ccl ("/usr/local/ccl/dx86cl64")) (sbcl ("/usr/local/bin/sbcl")))) (add-to-list 'load-path "/usr/local/slime/") (require 'slime) (slime-setup '(slime-repl slime-banner))

ruediger 16y ago

Some tricks from my .emacs: (server-start) ;; no Tabs (setq-default indent-tabs-mode nil) (setq-default tabs-width 2) ;; List more buffers in the buffer menu (setq-default buffers-menu-max-size 30) ;; Prevent startup message and switch to empty *scratch* (setq inhibit-startup-message t) (setq initial-scratch-message nil) ;; Fix C&P (setq x-select-enable-clipboard t) ;; Make Caps Lock LED blink instead of audio bell (setq visible-bell 1) (setq ring-bell-function (lambda () (when (getenv "DISPLAY") (call-process-shell-command "xset led named \"Scoll Lock\"; xset -led named \"Scroll Lock\"" nil 0 nil)))) (show-paren-mode 1) (column-number-mode 1) ;; Keep the custom stuff separate (setq custom-file "~/.emacs.d/custom.el") (load custom-file) ;; I know what downcase-region does. Me no noob anymore ;). So undisable it. (put 'downcase-region 'disabled nil) ;; This can be a life saver! (push '("." . "~/.emacs.d/backups") backup-directory-alist) ;; Create better buffer names. foo.c++:src, foo.c++:extra instead of foo.c++ and foo.c++<2> ;; This should really be the default behaviour for Emacs! (require 'uniquify) (setq uniquify-buffer-name-style 'reverse uniquify-separator ":") ;; c-mode hook to set better default compile-command if no Makefile exists and activate flyspell-prog-mode ;; I have similar hooks for c-mode and fortran-mode (add-hook 'c++-mode-hook (lambda () (flyspell-prog-mode) (unless (or (file-exists-p "Makefile") (local-variable-p 'compile-command) (not buffer-file-name)) (set (make-local-variable 'compile-command) (format "%s %s %s" (or (getenv "CXX") "g++") (or (getenv "CXXFLAGS") "-pipe -std=c++0x -pedantic-errors -Wall -Wextra -Weffc++ -g3") (file-name-nondirectory buffer-file-name)))))) ;; Set f9 to compiler and f8 to make clean (global-set-key '[f9] 'compile) (global-set-key '[f8] '(lambda () (interactive) (when (file-exists-p "Makefile") (compile "make clean")))) The rest is just some specific mode setup and minor key bindings stuff.

zaphar 16y ago

my .emacs is on bitbucket: https://bitbucket.org/zaphar/dotfiles/src/tip/.emacs.d/ https://bitbucket.org/zaphar/dotfiles/src/tip/.emacs.d/ Some notable items: ;;; allow seperating out the config stuff to ;;; into different files (defvar jaw:config-dir (expand-file-name "~/.emacs.d/conf.d") "My config parts directory location.") (defun jaw:load-confs () "Load Jeremy's config file parts" (let ((files (sort (directory-files jaw:config-dir) 'string<))) (while files (setq file (car files) files (cdr files)) (cond ((string-match ".*\.#[^/]+\.el$" file) nil) ((string-match ".*\.elc?$" file) (load-file (concat jaw:config-dir "/" file))))))) (jaw:load-confs) Automatically installing elpa packages to bootstrap a new emacs system: https://bitbucket.org/zaphar/dotfiles/src/tip/.emacs.d/conf.d/001-my-packages.el https://bitbucket.org/zaphar/dotfiles/src/tip/.emacs.d/conf....

drblast 16y ago

Viper mode gives you the best of both worlds, although I'm probably considered a heretic in both religions. (setq viper-mode t) (require 'viper) (custom-set-variables '(column-number-mode t) '(inhibit-startup-screen t) '(show-paren-mode t) '(tool-bar-mode nil) '(menu-bar-mode nil)) I used to have slime config stuff in there, but now Ubuntu does it all for me. Thanks Ubuntu!

jemfinch 16y ago
So you're the other viper-mode user! We should have coffee sometime :)
- drblast 16y ago
  Or coffee and tea mixed. My favorite.
- zaphar 16y ago
  He's not the only one. viper + vimpulse here.
  - DrStrngeluv 16y ago
    Another Viper mode heretic here. 10 years of everyday vi (I started with elvis!) and then switching to emacs will do that. I use gtags and doxymacs pretty extensively too.
- swah 16y ago
  Viper is too mainstream for me: http://jjfoerch.com/modal-mode/ http://jjfoerch.com/modal-mode/

pyronicide 16y ago

Check out: http://github.com/technomancy/emacs-starter-kit http://github.com/technomancy/emacs-starter-kit I've modified it slightly, but overall it set emacs up better than I new was possible (and introduced me to some add ons I didn't know existed).

cycojesus 16y ago

a lot of things, 1376 lines @ http://github.com/cycojesus/emacs http://github.com/cycojesus/emacs It uses org-babel to keep it organized and readable so really there's a short wrapper init.el that then calls babel-init.org External packages are installed system-wide using my own .SlackBuild generated packages (@ http://github.com/cycojesus/slackbuilds/tree/master/e/ http://github.com/cycojesus/slackbuilds/tree/master/e/ ) Of course I run Slackware.

mark_h 16y ago

Mine's on github too: http://github.com/markhepburn/dotemacs http://github.com/markhepburn/dotemacs It's quite large, and includes a lot of third-party stuff, much of it as submodules. It's relocatable (with additional platform and/or machine-specific loads) which might be semi-interesting: http://everythingtastesbetterwithchilli.com/initialisation-file-portability-tweaks http://everythingtastesbetterwithchilli.com/initialisation-f... Little things off the top of my head that I find useful: * wind-move -- use shift-arrow keys for window navigation * (fset 'yes-or-no-p 'y-or-n-p) * browse-kill-ring * mic-paren-mode * rename-file-and-buffer from Yegge * unscroll (undo inadvertent C-v) from Glickstein's book * lots of little tweaks like using C-,/. for smooth scrolling up/down * uniquify to keep buffer names unique * find-file-at-point Lots of autloads for more efficient initialisation (although that's less of an issue now that I'm using --daemon at startup) I do the usual UI tweaks like turning off the menu and tool bar, using ido mode (with smex -- ido for commands), etc. There's not a lot of keys that I rebind, but I do change backward-kill-word to C-w (consistent with shell usage), and kill-region to C-xC-k. Both those suggestions were from Yegge's effective emacs article which is worth a browse; I've ignored his advice to also change M-x to C-xC-m though.

dcreemer 16y ago

Thanks for this post and everyone's links. I'm just considering a return to Emacs after a run-in with RSI and several years wandering in the TextMate forest. This is very helpful.

apgwoz 16y ago

My kit is on github: http://github.com/apgwoz/emacs-config http://github.com/apgwoz/emacs-config My favorite new thing is my thumb-through: http://github.com/apgwoz/thumb-through http://github.com/apgwoz/thumb-through, which allows me to easily read articles from irc (i use rcirc) without leaving emacs, or loading up w3m-mode.

leif 16y ago

can't go wrong with paredit or the emacs client/server (google them)

travisbhartwell 16y ago

I actually did a huge re-organization of my .emacs file (including moving it to .emacs.d/init.el) a few months ago, dividing it into topic specific configuration files (general, files and buffers, programming, python-config, etc) and have support for loading different configurations depending on which machine I'm on. http://github.com/Nafai77/config/tree/master/HOME/_emacs.d/ http://github.com/Nafai77/config/tree/master/HOME/_emacs.d/ One of the next things I'm going to do is explore using el-get. It's always a pain moving to a new machine and having to download and checkout all of the third-party libraries I use.

technomancy 16y ago

Paredit, slime, magit, org-mode, eshell, and erc. The boring stuff is all in the Starter Kit: http://github.com/technomancy/emacs-starter-kit http://github.com/technomancy/emacs-starter-kit

dirceut 16y ago
Emacs Starter Kit allowed me to finally switch to Emacs last year. Thanks a lot technomancy! I keep my customizations here: http://github.com/dirceu/emacs-starter-kit http://github.com/dirceu/emacs-starter-kit

someisaac 16y ago

any .emacs for php/Mysql/html/css/js ?

papaf 16y ago
(require 'zencoding-mode) (add-hook 'sgml-mode-hook 'zencoding-mode) http://www.emacswiki.org/emacs/ZenCoding http://www.emacswiki.org/emacs/ZenCoding

hober 16y ago

My .emacs: http://edward.oconnor.cx/config/.emacs http://edward.oconnor.cx/config/.emacs If you use Viper, this is the single nicest tip I have: http://edward.oconnor.cx/2009/08/viper-tweaks http://edward.oconnor.cx/2009/08/viper-tweaks Some tips on running a dedicated Emacs instance for Gnus: http://edward.oconnor.cx/2010/08/standalone-gnus http://edward.oconnor.cx/2010/08/standalone-gnus

deleted 16y ago

[deleted]

Kototama 16y ago

A few things I found useful: ;; fonts (if (eq window-system 'x) (set-default-font "Inconsolata-12")) ;; no tabs, spaces instead! (setq-default indent-tabs-mode nil) ;; Changes all yes/no questions to y/n type (fset 'yes-or-no-p 'y-or-n-p) ;; default modes (iswitchb-mode t) (icomplete-mo) (column-number-mode) (ido-mode) (tabbar-mode) (winner-mode) ;; ido-mode ;; do not confirm file creation (setq confirm-nonexistent-file-or-buffer nil) ;; integrate copy/paste with X (setq x-select-enable-clipboard t) (setq interprogram-paste-function 'x-cut-buffer-or-selection-value) ;; scroll (setq scroll-step 1) ;; save backup files in this directory (setq backup-directory-alist (quote ((".*" . "~/.emacs.d/backups/")))) ;; global bindings (global-set-key [C-tab] 'other-window) (global-set-key "\r" 'newline-and-indent) (global-set-key (kbd "C-;") 'comment-region) (global-set-key (kbd "<f8>") '(lambda () (interactive) (split-window-vertically 25) (other-window 1) (slime))) ; switch buffer with last previous buffer (global-set-key (kbd "<C-return>") '(lambda () (interactive) (switch-to-buffer nil))) (global-set-key (kbd "C-p") 'backward-char) (global-set-key (kbd "C-S-p") 'previous-line) (global-set-key (kbd "C-S-j") 'join-line) (global-set-key (kbd "C-<prior>") 'tabbar-forward) (global-set-key (kbd "C-<next>") 'tabbar-backward) ;; fullscreen on F11 (defun toggle-fullscreen (&optional f) (interactive) (let ((current-value (frame-parameter nil 'fullscreen))) (set-frame-parameter nil 'fullscreen (if (equal 'fullboth current-value) (if (boundp 'old-fullscreen) old-fullscreen nil) (progn (setq old-fullscreen current-value) 'fullboth))))) (global-set-key [f11] 'toggle-fullscreen) http://github.com/kototama/unixconf/blob/master/.emacs http://github.com/kototama/unixconf/blob/master/.emacs

troels 16y ago

I have a lot of stuff in there. Most notably, I use tabbar and my own custom textpad-mode, which makes the cursor move around in the same way that textpad (A windows text editor) does it. Linky: http://github.com/troelskn/troelskn-emacs http://github.com/troelskn/troelskn-emacs

almost 16y ago

Very little, my .emacs just loads a whole load of other .el files. There's quite a lot in them though :) Here's a very very useful few lines if you're on X Windows: ; Fix copy-paste between emacs and other x programs (setq x-select-enable-clipboard t) (if (functionp 'x-cut-buffer-or-selection-value) (setq interprogram-paste-function 'x-cut-buffer-or-selection-value)) All your problems with cut and paste between Emacs and other programs? Gone! The if statement stops it failing when you use it on other platforms. EDIT: I also really really like this bit which I've not seen in other peoples lists: (defun eshell-goto-current-dir (&optional arg) (interactive "P") (let ((dir default-directory)) (eshell arg) (eshell/cd dir))) (global-set-key "\C-cs" 'eshell) (global-set-key "\C-cS" 'eshell-goto-current-dir) That means I can switch to eshell with C-cs or a can switch to eshell and change the current directory to be the same as the file I was viewing with C-cS. It also passes through the argument so I can have multiple shells open and use the numeric argument (M-1, M-2 etc) to select them.

ohyes 16y ago

I used to have more, but I have since streamlined... My entire .emacs file: (defun sbcl () (show-paren-mode) (setq inferior-lisp-program "sbcl") (add-to-list 'load-path "~/emacs/slime") (require 'slime) (slime-setup)) (sbcl)

tspiteri 16y ago

From my customizations, these are the most I use: Pressing Return starts a new line at column 0, pressing Control j starts a new indented line. I prefer them the other way round, so I rebind: (global-set-key "\r" 'newline-and-indent) (global-set-key "\C-j" 'newline) Also, very often I need to start a new line above or below the current line. So instead of Control e, Return to start a new indented line below the current line I use Control Return. (defun next-newline-and-indent () (interactive) (end-of-line) (newline-and-indent)) (global-set-key [C-return] 'next-newline-and-indent) And to start a new indented line above the current line, instead of Control a, Control o, Control i, I use Control Shift Return. (defun prev-newline-and-indent () (interactive) (beginning-of-line) (open-line 1) (indent-according-to-mode)) (global-set-key [C-S-return] 'prev-newline-and-indent)

nileshk 16y ago

I have my Emacs config here: http://github.com/nileshk/emacs http://github.com/nileshk/emacs startup.el is the main starting point (I load that from my .emacs). Can't say it's the cleanest set of config files, but you might find something of use in it. Some of the things I've configured: - Detect whether Emacs is running in OS X, Linux, Windows (native), or Cygwin; and I do platform-specific configuration when necessary - For OS X, I use fixpath.el to load my path by executing bash (I've tried various methods of doing this, and this was the most reliable) - For Windows, I have Powershell configured - I'm using guess-style ( http://nschum.de/src/emacs/guess-style/ http://nschum.de/src/emacs/guess-style/ ): auto-detects indentation style. - I had a Clojure setup that was working nicely, but it's been a while since I used it and I need to update it for Clojure 1.2 - ido-mode is great. I have some specific settings for that. For example, enabling ido-enable-flex-matching makes it easier to quickly match files - Backups go to ~/.emacs.d/backup instead of littering ~ files everywhere. The backup folder is created if necessary. - YASnippets. I've created some snippets of my own, such as for wikipedia-mode - I had problems using markdown-mode with YASnippets (both want to use the tab key), but was able to fix this. See my "eval-after-load 'markdown-mode" for this. If you use YASnippet, I've taken Jeff Wheeler's Textmate-to-YASnippet conversion script and improved it here: http://github.com/nileshk/snippet-copier http://github.com/nileshk/snippet-copier That also contains a Eclipse template to YASnippet convertor script I started on which kinda works, though not perfectly.

uros643 16y ago

Custom key bindings ;; Makes editing without Paredit more convenient... ;; But if you're on linux, first prevent it from logging you out! (global-set-key [C-M-delete] 'backward-kill-sexp) (global-set-key [C-M-backspace] 'backward-kill-sexp) ;; Command key meta forever. (labels ((normal-mac-mods (&rest _) (setq ns-alternate-modifier 'none ns-command-modifier 'meta))) (add-hook 'after-make-frame-functions #'normal-mac-mods) (normal-mac-mods)) Aesthetics (setq-default ... ;; Make the default buffer a little shinier... also, put ;; (message "Ready") ;; at the end of the file initial-major-mode 'text-mode initial-scratch-message (concat " ···" "--—===== Welcome to Emacs" " =====—--···\n===---···" " " "···---================---···" " ···---===\n\n")

lvillani 16y ago

I can't live without: - IDO - Smex - (Enhanced) project-root.el ( http://piranha.org.ua/project-root/ http://piranha.org.ua/project-root/ ) and its project-root-find-file function. (and my modular configuration is here: http://github.com/lvillani/.emacs.d http://github.com/lvillani/.emacs.d)

joecomotion 16y ago

Handy if you're viewing a live log file and want to see what's been appended since the last time you've opened it: (defun force-revert-buffer () (interactive) (revert-buffer t t)) (define-key global-map "\C-cr" 'force-revert-buffer)