If desktop previously saved, then switch from *scratch* to last viewed file - emacs

Could someone please give me a hand switching to the last viewed file from the desktop save when opening Emacs, taking into consideration that my *scratch* buffer is also an existing file?
The *scratch* buffer always trumps the desktop save in terms of the initial buffer choice.
(setq initial-scratch-message nil)
;; (setq initial-buffer-choice "~/.0.data/.0.emacs/*scratch*")
(defun kill-default-scratch ()
"Avoid having a buffer named `*scratch*<2>` when Emacs loads
my preferred *scratch* file from a specified location -- however,
yield to the last viewed file if it exists from desktop-save."
(kill-buffer "*scratch*")
(find-file "~/.0.data/.0.emacs/*scratch*") )
(add-hook 'after-init-hook 'kill-default-scratch)
(require 'saveplace)
(setq-default save-place t)
(setq save-place-file "~/.0.data/.0.emacs/.saved-places")
(desktop-save-mode 1)
(setq desktop-dirname "~/.0.data/.0.emacs/"
desktop-base-file-name ".emacs.desktop"
desktop-base-lock-name ".lock"
desktop-path (list desktop-dirname)
desktop-save t
desktop-files-not-to-save "[*]bbdb[*]\\|[*]BBDB[*]\\|[*]TODO[*]" ;; "^$" reload tramp paths
desktop-load-locked-desktop nil )
(setq desktop-buffers-not-to-save
(concat "\\("
"^nn\\.a[0-9]+\\|\\.log\\|(ftp)\\|^tags\\|^TAGS"
"\\|\\.emacs.*\\|\\.diary\\|\\.newsrc-dribble"
"\\)$"))
(add-to-list 'desktop-modes-not-to-save 'dired-mode)
(add-to-list 'desktop-modes-not-to-save 'Info-mode)
(add-to-list 'desktop-modes-not-to-save 'info-lookup-mode)
(add-to-list 'desktop-modes-not-to-save 'fundamental-mode)
EDIT: Based upon the answer provided by #juanleon, I decided to just let nature run its course and deal with it using the emacs-startup-hook (which loads subsequent to the after-init-hook). The scratch buffer wants to trump desktop.el, so let it and then bury it. To deal with the situation when there is no last viewed file saved by desktop.el (i.e., because they were all closed before exiting), I bury the *Messages* buffer (if it has focus) so the result is that the custom *scratch* buffer has focus again. To remove the custom *scratch* file from the desktop.el save feature, I added [*]scratch[*] to the list of desktop-files-not-to-save. I am using auto-save-buffers-enhanced to automatically save my custom *scratch* file (set to occur 1 second after every modification) and that utility lets me exclude user-defined file types with (setq auto-save-buffers-enhanced-exclude-regexps . . .): https://github.com/kentaro/auto-save-buffers-enhanced/blob/master/auto-save-buffers-enhanced.el [NOTE: The reference to flet therein would need to be changed to cl-flet if using a recent version of Emacs.]
(setq initial-scratch-message nil)
(setq initial-buffer-choice t)
(require 'auto-save-buffers-enhanced)
(auto-save-buffers-enhanced t)
(setq auto-save-buffers-enhanced-save-scratch-buffer-to-file-p 1)
(setq auto-save-buffers-enhanced-exclude-regexps '("^not-save-file" "\\.ignore$" "\\.txt" "[*]TODO[*]" "\\.yasnippet" "\\.tex" "\\user_pref" "\\.org_archive" "\\.org" "\\.ppet"))
(require 'saveplace)
(setq-default save-place t)
(setq save-place-file "~/.0.data/.0.emacs/.saved-places")
(desktop-save-mode 1) ;; uses the after-init-hook
(setq desktop-dirname "~/.0.data/.0.emacs/"
desktop-base-file-name ".emacs.desktop"
desktop-base-lock-name ".lock"
desktop-path (list desktop-dirname)
desktop-save t
desktop-files-not-to-save "[*]scratch[*]\\|[*]bbdb[*]\\|[*]BBDB[*]\\|[*]TODO[*]" ;; "^$" reload tramp paths
desktop-load-locked-desktop nil )
(setq desktop-buffers-not-to-save
(concat "\\("
"^nn\\.a[0-9]+\\|\\.log\\|(ftp)\\|^tags\\|^TAGS"
"\\|\\.emacs.*\\|\\.diary\\|\\.newsrc-dribble"
"\\)$"))
(add-to-list 'desktop-modes-not-to-save 'dired-mode)
(add-to-list 'desktop-modes-not-to-save 'Info-mode)
(add-to-list 'desktop-modes-not-to-save 'info-lookup-mode)
(add-to-list 'desktop-modes-not-to-save 'fundamental-mode)
(defun custom-scratch-setup ()
"Avoid having a buffer named `*scratch*<2>` when Emacs loads
my preferred *scratch* file from a specified location -- however,
yield to the last viewed file if it exists from desktop-save."
(kill-buffer "*scratch*")
(message "The default `*scratch*` buffer has been killed.")
(find-file "~/.0.data/.0.emacs/*scratch*")
(message "Finished loading the custom `*scratch*` file.")
(bury-buffer)
(message "The buffer *scratch* has been buried.")
(if (eq (current-buffer)
(get-buffer "*Messages*") )
(progn (bury-buffer)
(message "The buffer *Messages* has been buried."))) )
(add-hook 'emacs-startup-hook 'custom-scratch-setup)

My guess would be that after-init-hook runs after desktop has finished loading its stuff (desktop uses that hook)
So, the find-file will run at the end of everything, and find-file happens to "unbury" the buffer of a file, if already loaded. You may add a (bury-buffer) at the end of your kill-default-scratch if you don't want it to taking over initial buffer choice, nor being the initial buffer choice.
Another option would be to swap the order the hooks in after-init-hook are run. You can do that by playing with the moment desktop.el is "required" and/or using the arg APPEND of add-hook. If your function is run before desktop's function, (desktop-read) will take precedence over your find-file

Related

(define-error (quote gv-invalid-place) "%S is not a valid place expression")

When I load emacs, it gives me this error using --debug-init after adding cl-lib.el:
Debugger entered--Lisp error: (void-function gv-define-simple-setter)
(gv-define-simple-setter buffer-file-name set-visited-file-name t)
eval-buffer(#<buffer *load*<2>> nil "d:/Tools/Emacs-24.3/cl-lib/cl-lib.el" nil t) ; Reading at buffer position 23391
load-with-code-conversion("d:/Tools/Emacs-24.3/cl-lib/cl-lib.el" "d:/Tools/Emacs-24.3/cl-lib/cl-lib.el" nil nil)
load("d:/Tools/Emacs-24.3/cl-lib/cl-lib.el")
mapc(load ("d:/Tools/Emacs-24.3/cl-lib/cl-lib.el"))
eval-buffer(#<buffer *load*> nil "c:/Users/Psalm3_3/.emacs" nil t) ; Reading at buffer position 76
load-with-code-conversion("c:/Users/Psalm3_3/.emacs" "c:/Users/Psalm3_3/.emacs" t t)
load("~/.emacs" t t)
#[0 "\205\262
This is the gv.el file I am using:
https://github.com/emacs-mirror/emacs/blob/master/lisp/emacs-lisp/gv.el
Does anyone have any suggestions? TIA.
UPDATE:
Here is the original error I was getting:
Debugger entered--Lisp error: (file-error "Cannot open load file" "cl-lib")
require(cl-lib)
eval-buffer(#<buffer *load*<2>> nil "d:/Tools/emacs-24.3/site-lisp/desktop.el" nil t) ; Reading at buffer position 5870
load-with-code-conversion("d:/Tools/emacs-24.3/site-lisp/desktop.el" "d:/Tools/emacs-24.3/site-lisp/desktop.el" nil nil)
load("d:/Tools/emacs-24.3/site-lisp/desktop.el")
mapc(load ("d:/Tools/emacs-24.3/site-lisp/desktop.el"))
eval-buffer(#<buffer *load*> nil "c:/Users/Psalm3_3/.emacs" nil t) ; Reading at buffer position 549
load-with-code-conversion("c:/Users/Psalm3_3/.emacs" "c:/Users/Psalm3_3/.emacs" t t)
load("~/.emacs" t t)
#[0 "\205\262
Here is my .emacs file:
(mapc 'load (file-expand-wildcards "D:/Tools/Emacs-24.3/cl-lib/cl-lib.el"))
;; Require Common Lisp. (cl in <=24.2, cl-lib in >=24.3.)
(if (require 'cl-lib nil t)
(progn
(defalias 'cl-block-wrapper 'identity)
(defalias 'member* 'cl-member)
(defalias 'adjoin 'cl-adjoin))
;; Else we're on an older version so require cl.
(require 'cl))
;; Load lisp files on start
(mapc 'load (file-expand-wildcards "D:/Tools/emacs-24.3/site-lisp/flymake.el"))
(mapc 'load (file-expand-wildcards "D:/Tools/emacs-24.3/site-lisp/csharp-mode.el"))
(mapc 'load (file-expand-wildcards "D:/Tools/emacs-24.3/site-lisp/desktop.el"))
(mapc 'load (file-expand-wildcards "D:/Tools/emacs-24.3/site-lisp/session.el"))
;; setup load-path
(add-to-list 'load-path "D:/Tools/emacs-24.3/site-lisp")
;; TABS for C
(setq-default c-indent-tabs-mode t ; Pressing TAB should cause indentation
c-indent-level 4 ; A TAB is equivilent to four spaces
c-argdecl-indent 0 ; Do not indent argument decl's extra
c-tab-always-indent t
backward-delete-function nil) ; DO NOT expand tabs when deleting
(c-add-style "my-c-style" '((c-continued-statement-offset 4))) ; If a statement continues on the next line, indent the continuation by 4
(defun my-c-mode-hook ()
(c-set-style "my-c-style")
(c-set-offset 'substatement-open '0) ; brackets should be at same indentation level as the statements they open
(c-set-offset 'inline-open '+)
(c-set-offset 'block-open '+)
(c-set-offset 'brace-list-open '+) ; all "opens" should be indented by the c-indent-level
(c-set-offset 'case-label '+)) ; indent case labels by c-indent-level, too
(require 'csharp-mode)
(setq auto-mode-alist
(append '(("\\.cs$" . csharp-mode)) auto-mode-alist))
(defun my-csharp-mode-fn ()
"function that runs when csharp-mode is initialized for a buffer."
(setq default-tab-width 4)
; Set indentation level to 4 spaces (instead of 2)
(setq c-basic-offset 4)
; Set the extra indentation before a substatement (e.g. the opening brace in
; the consequent block of an if statement) to 0 (instead of '+)
(c-set-offset 'substatement-open 0)
(setq-default c-basic-offset 4)
)
(add-hook 'csharp-mode-hook 'my-csharp-mode-fn t)
(add-hook 'c-mode-hook 'my-c-mode-hook)
(add-hook 'c++-mode-hook 'my-c-mode-hook)
(global-set-key "\C-cg" 'goto-line)
(global-set-key "\C-cy" '(lambda ()
(interactive)
(popup-menu 'yank-menu)))
(put 'upcase-region 'disabled nil)
;; Always use spaces instead of tabs
(setq-default indent-tabs-mode nil)
(defun FindNextDbl ()
"move to next doubled word, ignoring <...> tags" (interactive)
(re-search-forward "\\<\\([z-z]+\\)\\([\\n \\t]\\|<[^>]+>\\)+\\1\\?"))
(define-key global-map "\C-x\C-d" 'FindNextDbl)
;; Search all open buffers
(defun my-multi-occur-in-matching-buffers (regexp &optional allbufs)
"Show all lines matching REGEXP in all buffers."
(interactive (occur-read-primary-args))
(multi-occur-in-matching-buffers ".*" regexp))
(global-set-key (kbd "M-s /") 'my-multi-occur-in-matching-buffers)
(setq x-select-enable-clipboard t)
;; Copy list of all open buffers to clipboard: see http://stackoverflow.com/questions/10537265/emacs-save-current-buffer-list-to-a-text-file
(defun copy-open-files ()
"Add paths to all open files to kill ring"
(interactive)
(kill-new (mapconcat 'identity
(delq nil (mapcar 'buffer-file-name (buffer-list)))
"\n"))
(message "List of files copied to kill ring"))
;; save my desktop
(desktop-save-mode 1)
;; auto-reload modified files
(global-auto-revert-mode t)
;; put save files in back dir (see http://www.emacswiki.org/emacs/BackupDirectory)
(setq
backup-by-copying t ; don't clobber symlinks
backup-directory-alist
'(("." . "~/.saves")) ; don't litter my fs tree
delete-old-versions t
kept-new-versions 6
kept-old-versions 2
version-control t) ; use versioned backups
;; move to window based on arrow keys
(global-set-key (kbd "C-x <up>") 'windmove-up)
(global-set-key (kbd "C-x <down>") 'windmove-down)
(global-set-key (kbd "C-x <right>") 'windmove-right)
(global-set-key (kbd "C-x <left>") 'windmove-left)
;; incremental completion
(require 'helm-config)
(helm-mode 1)
;; http://stackoverflow.com/questions/275842/is-there-a-repeat-last-command-in-emacs
(defun describe-last-function()
(interactive)
(describe-function last-command))
;; get path of present buffer, see http://stackoverflow.com/questions/3669511/the-function-to-show-current-files-full-path-in-mini-buffer
(defun show-file-name ()
"Show the full path file name in the minibuffer."
(interactive)
(message (buffer-file-name)))
(global-set-key [C-f1] 'show-file-name) ; Or any other key you want
;; generate guids
(require 'guid)
UPDATE 2:
Thank you for the excellent post, #Thomas. This is what I've updated the start of my .emacs file to:
;; setup load-path
(add-to-list 'load-path "C:/Tools/emacs-24.3/site-lisp/gv.el")
(require 'gv)
(add-to-list 'load-path "D:/Tools/Emacs-24.3/cl-lib")
(add-to-list 'load-path "C:/Tools/emacs-24.3/site-lisp")
;; Load lisp files on start
(mapc 'load (file-expand-wildcards "C:/Tools/emacs-24.3/site-lisp/flymake.el"))
(mapc 'load (file-expand-wildcards "C:/Tools/emacs-24.3/site-lisp/csharp-mode.el"))
(mapc 'load (file-expand-wildcards "C:/Tools/emacs-24.3/site-lisp/desktop.el"))
(mapc 'load (file-expand-wildcards "C:/Tools/emacs-24.3/site-lisp/session.el"))
Now this is the error I'm getting:
Debugger entered--Lisp error: (void-variable defun-declarations-alist)
(assq (quote gv-expander) defun-declarations-alist)
(or (assq (quote gv-expander) defun-declarations-alist) (let ((x (\` (gv-expander (\, (apply-partially ... ...)))))) (push x macro-declarations-alist) (push x defun-declarations-alist)))
eval-buffer(#<buffer *load*<2>> nil "d:/Tools/Emacs-24.3/site-lisp/gv.el" nil t) ; Reading at buffer position 8332
load-with-code-conversion("d:/Tools/Emacs-24.3/site-lisp/gv.el" "d:/Tools/Emacs-24.3/site-lisp/gv.el" nil t)
require(gv)
eval-buffer(#<buffer *load*> nil "c:/Users/Psalm3_3/.emacs" nil t) ; Reading at buffer position 96
load-with-code-conversion("c:/Users/Psalm3_3/.emacs" "c:/Users/Psalm3_3/.emacs" t t)
load("~/.emacs" t t)
#[0 "\205\262
Sorry, I'm pretty new at LISP.
The code you have for cl-lib looks very weird. If you have Emacs≥24.3 then you already have cl-lib builtin. And if you have something older then you can't use Emacs-24.3's cl-lib (you have to use GNU ELPA's cl-lib instead, but if it's sufficiently older you won't have GNU ELPA support builtin either, so all in all you're better up upgrading your Emacs to 24.3 or more recent).
If your Emacs is 24,1 or 24.2, then I recommend you just install cl-lib via M-x package-install RET and then add
(package-initialize)
at the beginning of your ~/.emacs which will properly setup autoloads for those packages you install via package.el (such as cl-lib above).
The block that starts with (if (require 'cl-lib ...) ...) looks like an ugly hack to work around a problem you mis-understood. Just remove it.
Also, remove flymake.el and desktop.el from your site-lisp, the version that comes with Emacs is probably more up-to-date.
The error stems from Emacs not being able to load the right files. You're trying to load a bunch of single files manually here. However, this is not the way the underlying packages are supposed to be loaded.
Usually, packages come with installation instructions that typically require you to add some lines to your init file: amending the load-path, setting up conditions for when to load the package, and adding a command how to load the package. Hardly ever does any of this ever involve a direct call of the load function which is quite low-level.
If you look at your original error, the stack trace tells you that it's thrown by (require cl-lib). require is one of the mechanisms by which Emacs loads files when necessary. For it to work, you don't need to load the file in question directly. All you have to do is set up your load-path so that Emacs can find the file that is referred to.
For instance, for your cl-lib.el file, you could do this like so:
(add-to-list 'load-path "D:/Tools/Emacs-24.3/cl-lib")
You add this line to your init file (and of course at a point before Emacs tries to load cl-lib).
The counter-part to require is provide. If you look at source code for gv.el and scroll all the way to the bottom, you'll find as the last line:
(provide 'gv)
This means that his file provides the "feature" gv, and whenever you write (require 'gv) you're telling Emacs that you need that feature. If Emacs already knows about it, all is fine and dandy; if not, Emacs will try to load that feature. So, to load the contents of the gv.el file, all you have to do is add the following to your init file:
(add-to-list 'load-path "/path/to/directory/containing/gv.el")
(require 'gv)
See the Emacs Manual for more information on require and provide.
But let me reiterate one point from above: usually, packages come with specific installation instructions, often somewhat "hidden" in a long comment-section at the top of the source code file. So, make sure to check for such instructions whenever you want to manually add a package to your setup.
On a side note:
(mapc 'load <something>)
only really makes sense if <something> expands into a list of files. If, like in your case, <something> is just a single file, you might as well just write:
(load <something>)
But again, load is a low-level function that you hardly ever need as an end-user.

Emacs - Can't get buffer-offer-save working

I would like to have Emacs ask me whether I want to save a modified buffer, when that buffer is not associated with a file. To open a new buffer (not visiting a file) I have the following function in my .emacs file:
;; Creates a new empty buffer
(defun new-empty-buffer ()
"Opens a new empty buffer."
(interactive)
(let ((buf (generate-new-buffer "untitled")))
(switch-to-buffer buf)
(funcall (and default-major-mode))
(setq buffer-offer-save t)))
I thought setting "buffer-offer-save" to something not nil would made the trick. But whenever I kill the buffer with "kill-this-buffer", it gets instantly killed without asking anything.
This happens on GNU Emacs 23.1.1
Any ideas?
Thanks,
W
Edited to add use of buffers-offer-save. Note: the variable buffer-offer-save is only used upon exiting Emacs.
You can start with this code and customize it to what you want:
(add-to-list 'kill-buffer-query-functions 'ask-me-first)
(defun ask-me-first ()
"prompt when killing a buffer"
(if (or buffer-offer-save
(eq this-command 'kill-this-buffer)
(and (buffer-modified-p) (not (buffer-file-name))))
(y-or-n-p (format "Do you want to kill %s without saving? " (buffer-name)))
t))
Upon further reflection, that is a bit heavy-handed because you get prompted for all buffers that get killed, and there are often lots of temporary buffers that Emacs uses. If you just want to be prompted when you try to interactively kill a buffer (that isn't associated with a file).
You can use this advice which only prompts you when you're interactively trying to kill a buffer:
(defadvice kill-buffer (around kill-buffer-ask-first activate)
"if called interactively, prompt before killing"
(if (and (or buffer-offer-save (interactive-p))
(buffer-modified-p)
(not (buffer-file-name)))
(let ((answ (completing-read
(format "Buffer '%s' modified and not associated with a file, what do you want to do? (k)ill (s)ave (a)bort? " (buffer-name))
'("k" "s" "a")
nil
t)))
(when (cond ((string-match answ "k")
;; kill
t)
((string-match answ "s")
;; write then kill
(call-interactively 'write-file)
t)
(nil))
ad-do-it)
t)
;; not prompting, just do it
ad-do-it))
Modifying 'new-empty-buffer seems to make it work as I intended with Trey's defadvice.
;; Creates a new empty buffer
(defun new-empty-buffer ()
"Opens a new empty buffer."
(interactive)
(let ((buf (generate-new-buffer "untitled")))
(switch-to-buffer buf)
(funcall (and default-major-mode))
(put 'buffer-offer-save 'permanent-local t)
(setq buffer-offer-save t)))
This makes buffer-offer-save permanent local in our new buffer, so it won't get killed with the rest of the local variables when switching major modes.
buffer-offer-save asking on exiting Emacs but not on closing a buffer manually doesn't make sense, so why not “enlarge” its responsibilities?
(defadvice kill-buffer (around kill-buffer-ask activate)
"If `buffer-offer-save' is non-nil and a buffer is modified,
prompt before closing."
(if (and buffer-offer-save (buffer-modified-p))
(when (yes-or-no-p "The document isn't saved. Quit? ")
ad-do-it)
ad-do-it))
It will not prompt if untitled buffer is newly created. It will not prompt if you use kill-buffer from Elisp. It will not prompt on Emacs system buffers like *Messages*. But it will prompt if you created an empty buffer and wrote something in it.
See also my answer on creating an empty buffer.

Emacs: Tab completion of file name appends an extra i:\cygwin

I am facing some strange behavior with file-name completion in emacs. C-x C-f to find file opens up the minibuffer with i:/cygwin/home/rrajagop/StockScreener/working_copy/master_repo/stock_screener/. Hitting a TAB makes it i:/cygwini:/cygwin/home/rrajagop/StockScreener/working_copy/master_repo/stock_screener/. A couple of interesting things I've noticed:
When the minibuffer opens up, i:/cygwin is greyed out and the path seems to start from /home. A C-a (go to begining of line) takes me to /home and not to i:/cygwin. So it looks like something in emacs is parsing the path to start from /home and not from i:/cygwin.
I checked that TAB runs minibuffer-complete from minibuffer.el (by doing a describe-key for TAB), so it looks like minibuffer-complete is doing some translation for cygwin and appending the extra i:/cygwin.
How would I go about figuring this out/fixing it?
EDIT: Extra Information
I tried opening up emacs with -Q and this problem doesn't happen. So this is something I'm loading in my .emacs. This is what I have in my .emacs
(require 'cl)
; Needed to see how fast Emacs loads. Loading time is printed at the
; and of the execution of .emacs file.
(defvar *emacs-load-start* (current-time))
; I really like this font. I also tried Monaco which you can
; see on lot of Railscasts but I couldn't find the one which
; supports Serbian Cyrillic and Latin letters.
(set-default-font "-outline-Courier New-normal-r-normal-normal-19-142-96-96-c-*-iso8859-1")
;; Don't show that splash screen
(setq inhibit-startup-message t)
; This should allegedly speed up Emacs starting by preventing
; some requests from the window manager back to the Emacs. Frankly
; speaking I didn't notice some speed up but I still keep it:(
(modify-frame-parameters nil '((wait-for-wm . nil)))
;Allows syntax highlighting to work, among other things
(global-font-lock-mode 1)
; Sets initial window position
(set-frame-position (selected-frame) 0 0)
; Sets initial window size to 85 columns and 47 rows
(set-frame-size (selected-frame) 88 32)
; Makes last line ends in carriage return
(setq requre-final-newline t)
; Sets Ctrl-x / key combination for easy commenting
; out of selected lines.
(global-set-key "\C-x/" 'comment-or-uncomment-region)
; Allow resizing of the mini-buffer when necessary
(setq resize-minibuffer-mode t)
; Auto magically read compressed files
(auto-compression-mode 1)
; Set standard indent to 2 rather then 4
(setq standard-indent 2)
; This tells Emacs to create backup files.
(setq make-backup-files t)
; And this will enable versioning with default values.
(setq version-control t)
; Remove annoying message about deleting excess backup of .recentf
; which is list of recent files used
(setq delete-old-versions t)
; Finally do not spread backups all over the disk.
; Just save all backup files in this directory.
(setq backup-directory-alist (quote ((".*" . "~/.emacs_backups/"))))
;; Directory to put various el files.
(add-to-list 'load-path "~/.emacs.d/includes")
(require 'ascii-table)
;; Loading collection of generic modes for different languages
(require 'generic-x)
;; Recent files
(require 'recentf)
(recentf-mode 1)
;; Loads ruby mode when a ruby file is opened.
(autoload 'ruby-mode "ruby-mode" "Major mode for editing ruby scripts." t)
(setq auto-mode-alist (cons '(".rb$" . ruby-mode) auto-mode-alist))
(setq auto-mode-alist (cons '(".rhtml$" . html-mode) auto-mode-alist))
(setq auto-mode-alist (cons '(".html.erb$" . html-mode) auto-mode-alist))
;; Turn on ruby electric (auto completion of parenthesis, etc.)
(add-hook 'ruby-mode-hook
(lambda()
(add-hook 'local-write-file-hooks
'(lambda()
(save-excursion
(untabify (point-min) (point-max))
(delete-trailing-whitespace) )))
(set (make-local-variable 'indent-tabs-mode) 'nil)
(set (make-local-variable 'tab-width) 2)
(imenu-add-to-menubar "IMENU")
(define-key ruby-mode-map "\C-m" 'newline-and-indent)
(require 'ruby-electric)
(ruby-electric-mode t) ))
;; Ruby debugging.
(add-to-list 'load-path "~/.emacs.d/plugins/rdebug")
(autoload 'rdebug "rdebug" "Ruby debugging support." t)
(global-set-key [f9] 'gud-step)
(global-set-key [f10] 'gud-next)
(global-set-key [f11] 'gud-cont)
(global-set-key "\C-c\C-d" 'rdebug)
;; set compile command based on current major mode
(autoload 'mode-compile "mode-compile"
"Command to compile current buffer file based on the major mode" t)
(global-set-key "\C-cc" 'mode-compile)
(autoload 'mode-compile-kill "mode-compile"
"Command to kill a compilation launched by `mode-compile'" t)
(global-set-key "\C-ck" 'mode-compile-kill)
;; yasnippet - adding code snippet insertion
(add-to-list 'load-path "~/.emacs.d/plugins/yasnippet")
(require 'yasnippet) ;; not yasnippet-bundle
(yas/initialize)
(yas/load-directory "~/.emacs.d/plugins/yasnippet/snippets")
;; Use CYGWIN bash
(require 'setup-cygwin)
;; Subversion integration via psvn - not gonna use svn anymore
;; (require 'psvn)
;; add some elisp tutorials to the info directory
(let ((info-root (concat usb-drive-letter "cygwin/usr/local/bin/emacs/info/")))
(setq Info-directory-list (list info-root
(concat info-root "elisp-tutorial-2.04/")
(concat info-root "emacs-lisp-intro-2.14")) )
)
;; Load time for .emacs - this should be the last line in .emacs for accurate load time
(message "ido and org-install took: %ds"
(destructuring-bind (hi lo ms) (current-time)
(- (+ hi lo) (+ (first *emacs-load-start*) (second *emacs-load-start*)) )))
I think my answer to your previous question on finding the package loading tramp will help you out here.
you can control tramp by changing the variable tramp-mode.
Side note, you would probably find it useful to use customize to customize emacs.
I did a customize-apropos with tramp and it found the tramp group. Clicking there showed all the ways to configure tramp, including turning it off.
File-name-shadow-mode greys out the c: in the file name..... so when cygwin-mount-substitute-longest-mount-name runs it does no see the c: and adds another
M-x find-file
c:/home/
> a
c:/home/a ; but the c: is greyed
> TAB
c:c:/home/anything

Re-open *scratch* buffer in Emacs?

If I accidentally closed the scratch buffer in Emacs, how do I create a new scratch buffer?
GNU Emacs default bindings:
C-xb *scratch* RET
or, more verbosely
M-x switch-to-buffer *scratch* RET
The *scratch* buffer is the buffer selected upon startup, and has the major mode Lisp Interaction. Note: the mode for the *scratch* buffer is controlled by the variable initial-major-mode.
In general you can create as many "scratch" buffers as you want, and name them however you choose.
C-xb NAME RET
switches to a buffer NAME, creating it if it doesn't exist. A new buffer is not associated with a file on disk until you use C-xC-w (or M-x write-file RET) to choose a file where it should be saved.
M-x text-mode RET
changes the current buffer's major mode to Text mode. To find all the modes available (that is, without requiring any new packages), you can get a list by typing:
M-x apropos-command -mode$ RET
I add following in my .emacs:
;; bury *scratch* buffer instead of kill it
(defadvice kill-buffer (around kill-buffer-around-advice activate)
(let ((buffer-to-kill (ad-get-arg 0)))
(if (equal buffer-to-kill "*scratch*")
(bury-buffer)
ad-do-it)))
If I don't want to see scratch buffer I press C-x C-k , but it doesn't kill it, just place in the end of buffer list, so then I need it next time I don't have to create new one.
There are a whole bunch of tips on this EmacsWiki page.
Here's the first one:
A very simple function to recreate the scratch buffer:
(defun create-scratch-buffer nil
"create a scratch buffer"
(interactive)
(switch-to-buffer (get-buffer-create "*scratch*"))
(lisp-interaction-mode))
C-x b *scratch* RET y RET with iswitchb-mode enabled.
Just C-x b *scratch* RET otherwise.
I found this years ago when I first started using emacs; I have no idea where now but it has always had a home in my personal .el files. It does pop up in google searches.
;;; Prevent killing the *scratch* buffer -- source forgotten
;;;----------------------------------------------------------------------
;;; Make the *scratch* buffer behave like "The thing your aunt gave you,
;;; which you don't know what is."
(save-excursion
(set-buffer (get-buffer-create "*scratch*"))
(make-local-variable 'kill-buffer-query-functions)
(add-hook 'kill-buffer-query-functions 'kill-scratch-buffer))
(defun kill-scratch-buffer ()
;; The next line is just in case someone calls this manually
(set-buffer (get-buffer-create "*scratch*"))
;; Kill the current (*scratch*) buffer
(remove-hook 'kill-buffer-query-functions 'kill-scratch-buffer)
(kill-buffer (current-buffer))
;; Make a brand new *scratch* buffer
(set-buffer (get-buffer-create "*scratch*"))
(lisp-interaction-mode)
(make-local-variable 'kill-buffer-query-functions)
(add-hook 'kill-buffer-query-functions 'kill-scratch-buffer)
;; Since we killed it, don't let caller do that.
nil)
;;;----------------------------------------------------------------------
Like the docstring says, this function will:
Switch to the scratch buffer. If the buffer doesn't exist create it and write the initial message into it."
This will bring a new scratch buffer up which looks like the initial scratch buffer.
(defun switch-buffer-scratch ()
"Switch to the scratch buffer. If the buffer doesn't exist,
create it and write the initial message into it."
(interactive)
(let* ((scratch-buffer-name "*scratch*")
(scratch-buffer (get-buffer scratch-buffer-name)))
(unless scratch-buffer
(setq scratch-buffer (get-buffer-create scratch-buffer-name))
(with-current-buffer scratch-buffer
(lisp-interaction-mode)
(insert initial-scratch-message)))
(switch-to-buffer scratch-buffer)))
(global-set-key "\C-cbs" 'switch-buffer-scratch)
I used to use dwj's solution, and I was quite happy about it, until the day I realized that it failed when you actually rename the scratch buffer (for example by saving it).
Then I adopted this, which works well for me :
(run-with-idle-timer 1 t
'(lambda () (get-buffer-create "*scratch*")))
I have scratch as an interactive command for opening a new scratch buffer (I like to have several):
(defun scratch ()
"create a new scratch buffer to work in. (could be *scratch* - *scratchX*)"
(interactive)
(let ((n 0)
bufname)
(while (progn
(setq bufname (concat "*scratch"
(if (= n 0) "" (int-to-string n))
"*"))
(setq n (1+ n))
(get-buffer bufname)))
(switch-to-buffer (get-buffer-create bufname))
(if (= n 1) initial-major-mode))) ; 1, because n was incremented
adopted from: http://everything2.com/index.pl?node_id=1038451
(global-set-key (kbd "C-x M-z")
'(lambda ()
(interactive)
(switch-to-buffer "*scratch*")))
This will not only quickly switch to *scratch* buffer(since I do this frequently), but recreate a *scratch* buffer and enable lisp-interaction-mode automatically if you kill it accidentally. Change the binding as you like.
Just to note emacs package unkillable-scratch in MELPA will do this. There is also scratch-persist that will automatically save and restore the buffer between sessions.
This is what I use - I have this bound to a convenient keystroke. It sends you to the *scratch* buffer, regardless of whether or not it already exists, and sets it to be in lisp-interaction-mode
(defun eme-goto-scratch ()
"this sends you to the scratch buffer"
(interactive)
(let ((eme-scratch-buffer (get-buffer-create "*scratch*")))
(switch-to-buffer eme-scratch-buffer)
(lisp-interaction-mode)))
I prefer to have my scratch buffer be an actual file that is automatically saved, and reopening it is as simple as opening a file. On startup, I kill the default and find my own like this.
(add-hook 'emacs-startup-hook
(lambda ()
(kill-buffer "*scratch*")
(find-file "/Users/HOME/Desktop/.scratch")))
I have a custom kill-buffer function that does essentially the same thing -- reopens my personal scratch saved file and kills the default scratch if I killed the last visible buffer.
I customized a few of the desktop.el functions to load after (kill-buffer "*scratch*") and (find-file "/Users/HOME/Desktop/.scratch") so that the file last visible on exiting Emacs doesn't get buried by the default scratch or buried by my custom scratch when launching Emacs.
I enjoy using auto-save-buffers-enhanced, which automatically saves any file extension that is not specifically excluded:
https://github.com/kentaro/auto-save-buffers-enhanced/blob/master/auto-save-buffers-enhanced.el
(require 'auto-save-buffers-enhanced)
(auto-save-buffers-enhanced t)
(setq auto-save-buffers-enhanced-save-scratch-buffer-to-file-p 1)
(setq auto-save-buffers-enhanced-exclude-regexps '("\\.txt" "\\.el" "\\.tex"))
I use a slight variation of the function by #paprika when I want to create a no-file visiting buffer:
(defun lawlist-new-buffer ()
"Create a new buffer -- \*lawlist\*"
(interactive)
(let* (
(n 0)
bufname)
(catch 'done
(while t
(setq bufname (concat "*lawlist"
(if (= n 0) "" (int-to-string n))
"*"))
(setq n (1+ n))
(if (not (get-buffer bufname))
(throw 'done nil)) ))
(switch-to-buffer (get-buffer-create bufname))
(text-mode) ))
I have combined the solutions posted so far into one function:
(defun --scratch-buffer(&optional reset)
"Get the *scratch* buffer object.
Make new scratch buffer unless it exists.
If RESET is non-nil arrange it that it can't be killed."
(let ((R (get-buffer "*scratch*")))
(unless R
(message "Creating new *scratch* buffer")
(setq R (get-buffer-create "*scratch*") reset t))
(when reset
(save-excursion
(set-buffer R)
(lisp-interaction-mode)
(make-local-variable 'kill-buffer-query-functions)
(add-hook 'kill-buffer-query-functions '(lambda()(bury-buffer) nil)
)))
R))
To apply this function in your .emacs use:
(--scratch-buffer t)
(run-with-idle-timer 3 t '--scratch-buffer)
This will make the scratch buffer indestructible in the first place, and if saved it will be recreated. Additionally we can use a shortcut function scratch to bring up the buffer quickly:
(defun scratch()
"Switch to *scratch*. With prefix-arg delete its contents."
(interactive)
(switch-to-buffer (--scratch-buffer))
(if current-prefix-arg
(delete-region (point-min) (point-max))
(goto-char (point-max))))
In the past it has proven useful to know the original startup-directory from which Emacs was started. This is either the value of desktop-dirname or the default-directory local variable of the scratch-buffer:
(defvar --scratch-directory
(save-excursion (set-buffer "*scratch*") default-directory)
"The `default-directory' local variable of the *scratch* buffer.")
(defconst --no-desktop (member "--no-desktop" command-line-args)
"True when no desktop file is loaded (--no-desktop command-line switch set).")
(defun --startup-directory ()
"Return directory from which Emacs was started: `desktop-dirname' or the `--scratch-directory'.
Note also `default-minibuffer-frame'."
(if (and (not --no-desktop) desktop-dirname)
desktop-dirname
--scratch-directory))
So --startup-directory will always return the base directory of your makefile, TODO-file etc. In case there is no desktop (--no-desktop commandline-switch or no desktop-file) the --scratch-directory variable will hold directory Emacs was once started under.
find answer in EmacsWiki: http://www.emacswiki.org/emacs/RecreateScratchBuffer
(defun create-scratch-buffer nil
"create a scratch buffer"
(interactive)
(switch-to-buffer (get-buffer-create "*scratch*"))
(lisp-interaction-mode))
To add to the accepted answer, if you have ILO mode on (and it is autocompleting after C-x b, thus not letting you write *scratch*), then try:
C-xb C-b*scratch* RET
C-x b C-b *scratch* RET
C-xb and then type *scratch* ↩︎
to create a new buffer which is in lisp interaction mode also.

What's in your .emacs?

Locked. This question and its answers are locked because the question is off-topic but has historical significance. It is not currently accepting new answers or interactions.
I've switched computers a few times recently, and somewhere along the way I lost my .emacs. I'm trying to build it up again, but while I'm at it, I thought I'd pick up other good configurations that other people use.
So, if you use Emacs, what's in your .emacs?
Mine is pretty barren right now, containing only:
Global font-lock-mode! (global-font-lock-mode 1)
My personal preferences with respect to indentation, tabs, and spaces.
Use cperl-mode instead of perl-mode.
A shortcut for compilation.
What do you think is useful?
Use the ultimate dotfiles site. Add your '.emacs' here. Read the '.emacs' of others.
My favorite snippet. The ultimate in Emacs eye candy:
;; real lisp hackers use the lambda character
;; courtesy of stefan monnier on c.l.l
(defun sm-lambda-mode-hook ()
(font-lock-add-keywords
nil `(("\\<lambda\\>"
(0 (progn (compose-region (match-beginning 0) (match-end 0)
,(make-char 'greek-iso8859-7 107))
nil))))))
(add-hook 'emacs-lisp-mode-hook 'sm-lambda-mode-hook)
(add-hook 'lisp-interactive-mode-hook 'sm-lamba-mode-hook)
(add-hook 'scheme-mode-hook 'sm-lambda-mode-hook)
So you see i.e. the following when editing lisp/scheme:
(global-set-key "^Cr" '(λ () (interactive) (revert-buffer t t nil)))
I have this to change yes or no prompt to y or n prompts:
(fset 'yes-or-no-p 'y-or-n-p)
I have these to start Emacs without so much "fanfare" which I got from this question.
(setq inhibit-startup-echo-area-message t)
(setq inhibit-startup-message t)
And Steve Yegge's function to rename a file that you're editing along with its corresponding buffer:
(defun rename-file-and-buffer (new-name)
"Renames both current buffer and file it's visiting to NEW-NAME."
(interactive "sNew name: ")
(let ((name (buffer-name))
(filename (buffer-file-name)))
(if (not filename)
(message "Buffer '%s' is not visiting a file!" name)
(if (get-buffer new-name)
(message "A buffer named '%s' already exists!" new-name)
(progn
(rename-file name new-name 1)
(rename-buffer new-name)
(set-visited-file-name new-name)
(set-buffer-modified-p nil))))))
One thing that can prove very useful: Before it gets too big, try to split it into multiple files for various tasks: My .emacs just sets my load-path and the loads a bunch of files - I've got all my mode-specific settings in mode-configs.el, keybindings in keys.el, et cetera
My .emacs is only 127 lines, here are the most useful little snippets:
;; keep backup files neatly out of the way in .~/
(setq backup-directory-alist '(("." . ".~")))
This makes the *~ files which I find clutter up the directory go into a special directory, in this case .~
;; uniquify changes conflicting buffer names from file<2> etc
(require 'uniquify)
(setq uniquify-buffer-name-style 'reverse)
(setq uniquify-separator "/")
(setq uniquify-after-kill-buffer-p t) ; rename after killing uniquified
(setq uniquify-ignore-buffers-re "^\\*") ; don't muck with special buffers
This sets up uniquify which changes those ugly file<2> etc. buffer names you get when multiple files have the same name into a much neater unambiguous name using as much of the whole path of the file as it has to.
That's about it... the rest is pretty standard stuff that I'm sure everyone knows about.
This is not the whole kit and kaboodle, but it is some of the more useful snippets I've gathered:
(defadvice show-paren-function (after show-matching-paren-offscreen
activate)
"If the matching paren is offscreen, show the matching line in the
echo area. Has no effect if the character before point is not of
the syntax class ')'."
(interactive)
(let ((matching-text nil))
;; Only call `blink-matching-open' if the character before point
;; is a close parentheses type character. Otherwise, there's not
;; really any point, and `blink-matching-open' would just echo
;; "Mismatched parentheses", which gets really annoying.
(if (char-equal (char-syntax (char-before (point))) ?\))
(setq matching-text (blink-matching-open)))
(if (not (null matching-text))
(message matching-text))))
;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;
;; UTF-8
;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;
;; set up unicode
(prefer-coding-system 'utf-8)
(set-default-coding-systems 'utf-8)
(set-terminal-coding-system 'utf-8)
(set-keyboard-coding-system 'utf-8)
;; This from a japanese individual. I hope it works.
(setq default-buffer-file-coding-system 'utf-8)
;; From Emacs wiki
(setq x-select-request-type '(UTF8_STRING COMPOUND_TEXT TEXT STRING))
;; Wwindows clipboard is UTF-16LE
(set-clipboard-coding-system 'utf-16le-dos)
(defun jonnay-timestamp ()
"Spit out the current time"
(interactive)
(insert (format-time-string "%Y-%m-%d")))
(defun jonnay-sign ()
"spit out my name, email and the current time"
(interactive)
(insert "-- Jonathan Arkell (jonathana#criticalmass.com)")
(jonnay-timestamp))
;; Cygwin requires some seriosu setting up to work the way i likes it
(message "Setting up Cygwin...")
(let* ((cygwin-root "c:")
(cygwin-bin (concat cygwin-root "/bin"))
(gambit-bin "/usr/local/Gambit-C/4.0b22/bin/")
(snow-bin "/usr/local/snow/current/bin")
(mysql-bin "/wamp/bin/mysql/mysql5.0.51a/bin/"))
(setenv "PATH" (concat cygwin-bin ";" ;
snow-bin ";"
gambit-bin ";"
mysql-bin ";"
".;")
(getenv "PATH"))
(setq exec-path (cons cygwin-bin exec-path)))
(setq shell-file-name "bash")
(setq explicit-shell-file-name "bash")
(require 'cygwin-mount)
(cygwin-mount-activate)
(message "Setting up Cygwin...Done")
; Completion isn't perfect, but close
(defun my-shell-setup ()
"For Cygwin bash under Emacs 20+"
(setq comint-scroll-show-maximum-output 'this)
(setq comint-completion-addsuffix t)
(setq comint-eol-on-send t)
(setq w32-quote-process-args ?\")
(make-variable-buffer-local 'comint-completion-addsuffix))
(setq shell-mode-hook 'my-shell-setup)
(add-hook 'emacs-startup-hook 'cygwin-shell)
; Change how home key works
(global-set-key [home] 'beginning-or-indentation)
(substitute-key-definition 'beginning-of-line 'beginning-or-indentation global-map)
(defun yank-and-down ()
"Yank the text and go down a line."
(interactive)
(yank)
(exchange-point-and-mark)
(next-line))
(defun kill-syntax (&optional arg)
"Kill ARG sets of syntax characters after point."
(interactive "p")
(let ((arg (or arg 1))
(inc (if (and arg (< arg 0)) 1 -1))
(opoint (point)))
(while (not (= arg 0))
(if (> arg 0)
(skip-syntax-forward (string (char-syntax (char-after))))
(skip-syntax-backward (string (char-syntax (char-before)))))
(setq arg (+ arg inc)))
(kill-region opoint (point))))
(defun kill-syntax-backward (&optional arg)
"Kill ARG sets of syntax characters preceding point."
(interactive "p")
(kill-syntax (- 0 (or arg 1))))
(global-set-key [(control shift y)] 'yank-and-down)
(global-set-key [(shift backspace)] 'kill-syntax-backward)
(global-set-key [(shift delete)] 'kill-syntax)
(defun insert-file-name (arg filename)
"Insert name of file FILENAME into buffer after point.
Set mark after the inserted text.
Prefixed with \\[universal-argument], expand the file name to
its fully canocalized path.
See `expand-file-name'."
;; Based on insert-file in Emacs -- ashawley 2008-09-26
(interactive "*P\nfInsert file name: ")
(if arg
(insert (expand-file-name filename))
(insert filename)))
(defun kill-ring-save-filename ()
"Copy the current filename to the kill ring"
(interactive)
(kill-new (buffer-file-name)))
(defun insert-file-name ()
"Insert the name of the current file."
(interactive)
(insert (buffer-file-name)))
(defun insert-directory-name ()
"Insert the name of the current directory"
(interactive)
(insert (file-name-directory (buffer-file-name))))
(defun jonnay-toggle-debug ()
"Toggle debugging by toggling icicles, and debug on error"
(interactive)
(toggle-debug-on-error)
(icicle-mode))
(defvar programming-modes
'(emacs-lisp-mode scheme-mode lisp-mode c-mode c++-mode
objc-mode latex-mode plain-tex-mode java-mode
php-mode css-mode js2-mode nxml-mode nxhtml-mode)
"List of modes related to programming")
; Text-mate style indenting
(defadvice yank (after indent-region activate)
(if (member major-mode programming-modes)
(indent-region (region-beginning) (region-end) nil)))
I have a lot of others that have already been mentioned, but these are absolutely necessary in my opinion:
(transient-mark-mode 1) ; makes the region visible
(line-number-mode 1) ; makes the line number show up
(column-number-mode 1) ; makes the column number show up
You can look here: http://www.dotemacs.de/
And my .emacs is pretty long to put it here as well, so it will make the answer not too readable. Anyway, if you wish I can sent it to you.
Also I would recomend you to read this: http://steve.yegge.googlepages.com/my-dot-emacs-file
Here are some key mappings that I've become dependent upon:
(global-set-key [(control \,)] 'goto-line)
(global-set-key [(control \.)] 'call-last-kbd-macro)
(global-set-key [(control tab)] 'indent-region)
(global-set-key [(control j)] 'join-line)
(global-set-key [f1] 'man)
(global-set-key [f2] 'igrep-find)
(global-set-key [f3] 'isearch-forward)
(global-set-key [f4] 'next-error)
(global-set-key [f5] 'gdb)
(global-set-key [f6] 'compile)
(global-set-key [f7] 'recompile)
(global-set-key [f8] 'shell)
(global-set-key [f9] 'find-next-matching-tag)
(global-set-key [f11] 'list-buffers)
(global-set-key [f12] 'shell)
Some other miscellaneous stuff, mostly for C++ development:
;; Use C++ mode for .h files (instead of plain-old C mode)
(setq auto-mode-alist (cons '("\\.h$" . c++-mode) auto-mode-alist))
;; Use python-mode for SCons files
(setq auto-mode-alist (cons '("SConstruct" . python-mode) auto-mode-alist))
(setq auto-mode-alist (cons '("SConscript" . python-mode) auto-mode-alist))
;; Parse CppUnit failure reports in compilation-mode
(require 'compile)
(setq compilation-error-regexp-alist
(cons '("\\(!!!FAILURES!!!\nTest Results:\nRun:[^\n]*\n\n\n\\)?\\([0-9]+\\)) test: \\([^(]+\\)(F) line: \\([0-9]+\\) \\([^ \n]+\\)" 5 4)
compilation-error-regexp-alist))
;; Enable cmake-mode from http://www.cmake.org/Wiki/CMake_Emacs_mode_patch_for_comment_formatting
(require 'cmake-mode)
(setq auto-mode-alist
(append '(("CMakeLists\\.txt\\'" . cmake-mode)
("\\.cmake\\'" . cmake-mode))
auto-mode-alist))
;; "M-x reload-buffer" will revert-buffer without requiring confirmation
(defun reload-buffer ()
"revert-buffer without confirmation"
(interactive)
(revert-buffer t t))
To refresh the webpage you're editing from within Emacs
(defun moz-connect()
(interactive)
(make-comint "moz-buffer" (cons "127.0.0.1" "4242"))
(global-set-key "\C-x\C-g" '(lambda ()
(interactive)
(save-buffer)
(comint-send-string "*moz-buffer*" "this.BrowserReload()\n"))))
Used in combination with http://hyperstruct.net/projects/mozlab
You can find my configuration (both in html & in tar'ed archive) on my site. It contains lot of settings for different modes
This block is the most important for me:
(setq locale-coding-system 'utf-8)
(set-terminal-coding-system 'utf-8)
(set-keyboard-coding-system 'utf-8)
(set-selection-coding-system 'utf-8)
(prefer-coding-system 'utf-8)
I've never been clear on the difference between those, though. Cargo cult, I guess...
I try to keep my .emacs organized. The configuration will always be a work in progress, but I'm starting to be satisfied with the overall structure.
All stuff is under ~/.elisp, a directory that is under version control (I use git, if that's of interest). ~/.emacs simply points to ~/.elisp/dotemacs which itself just loads ~/.elisp/cfg/init. That file in turn imports various configuration files via require. This means that the configuration files need to behave like modes: they import stuff they depend on and they provide themselves at the end of the file, e.g. (provide 'my-ibuffer-cfg). I prefix all identifiers that are defined in my configuration with my-.
I organize the configuration in respect to modes/subjects/tasks, not by their technical implications, e.g. I don't have a separate config file in which all keybindings or faces are defined.
My init.el defines the following hook to make sure that Emacs recompiles configuration files whenever saved (compiled Elisp loads a lot faster but I don't want to do this step manually):
;; byte compile config file if changed
(add-hook 'after-save-hook
'(lambda ()
(when (string-match
(concat (expand-file-name "~/.elisp/cfg/") ".*\.el$")
buffer-file-name)
(byte-compile-file buffer-file-name))))
This is the directory structure for ~/.elisp:
~/.elisp/todo.org: Org-mode file in which I keep track of stuff that still needs to be done (+ wish list items).
~/.elisp/dotemacs: Symlink target for ~/.emacs, loads ~/.elisp/cfg/init.
~/.elisp/cfg: My own configuration files.
~/.elisp/modes: Modes that consist only of a single file.
~/.elisp/packages: Sophisticated modes with lisp, documentation and probably resource files.
I use GNU Emacs, that version does not have real support for packages. Therefore I organize them manually, usually like this:
~/.elisp/packages/foobar-0.1.3 is the root directory for the package. Subdirectory lisp holds all the lisp files and info is where the documentation goes. ~/.elisp/packages/foobar is a symlink that points to the currently used version of the package so that I don't need to change my configuration files when I update something. For some packages I keep an ~/.elisp/packages/foobar.installation file around in which I keep notes about the installation process. For performance reasons I compile all elisp files in newly installed packages, should this not be the case by default.
Here's a couple of my own stuff:
Inserts date in ISO 8601 format:
(defun insertdate ()
(interactive)
(insert (format-time-string "%Y-%m-%d")))
(global-set-key [(f5)] 'insertdate)
For C++ programmers, creates a class skeleton (class's name will be the same as the file name without extension):
(defun createclass ()
(interactive)
(setq classname (file-name-sans-extension (file-name-nondirectory buffer-file-name)))
(insert
"/**
* " classname".h
*
* Author: Your Mom
* Modified: " (format-time-string "%Y-%m-%d") "
* Licence: GNU GPL
*/
#ifndef "(upcase classname)"
#define "(upcase classname)"
class " classname "
{
public:
"classname"();
~"classname"();
private:
};
#endif
"))
Automatically create closing parentheses:
(setq skeleton-pair t)
(setq skeleton-pair-on-word t)
(global-set-key (kbd "[") 'skeleton-pair-insert-maybe)
(global-set-key (kbd "(") 'skeleton-pair-insert-maybe)
(global-set-key (kbd "{") 'skeleton-pair-insert-maybe)
(global-set-key (kbd "<") 'skeleton-pair-insert-maybe)
i use paredit for easy (e)lisp handling and ido-mode minibuffer completions.
It's hard to answer this question, because everyone uses Emacs for very different purposes.
Further more, a better practice may be to KISS your dotemacs. Since the Easy Customization Interface is widely supported amongst Emacs' modes, you should store all your customization in your custom-file (which may be a separate place in your dotemacs), and for the dotemacs, put in it only load path settings, package requires, hooks, and key bindings. Once you start using Emacs Starter Kit, a whole useful bunch of settings may removed from your dotemacs, too.
See EmacsWiki's DotEmacs category. It provides lots of links to pages addressing this question.
(put 'erase-buffer 'disabled nil)
(put 'downcase-region 'disabled nil)
(set-variable 'visible-bell t)
(set-variable 'tool-bar-mode nil)
(set-variable 'menu-bar-mode nil)
(setq load-path (cons (expand-file-name "/usr/share/doc/git-core/contrib/emacs") load-path))
(require 'vc-git)
(when (featurep 'vc-git) (add-to-list 'vc-handled-backends 'git))
(require 'git)
(autoload 'git-blame-mode "git-blame"
"Minor mode for incremental blame for Git." t)
I set up some handy shortcuts to web pages and searches using webjump
(require 'webjump)
(global-set-key [f2] 'webjump)
(setq webjump-sites
(append '(
("Reddit Search" .
[simple-query "www.reddit.com" "http://www.reddit.com/search?q=" ""])
("Google Image Search" .
[simple-query "images.google.com" "images.google.com/images?hl=en&q=" ""])
("Flickr Search" .
[simple-query "www.flickr.com" "flickr.com/search/?q=" ""])
("Astar algorithm" .
"http://www.heyes-jones.com/astar")
)
webjump-sample-sites))
Blog post about how this works here
http://justinsboringpage.blogspot.com/2009/02/search-reddit-flickr-and-google-from.html
Also I recommend these:
(setq visible-bell t) ; no beeping
(setq transient-mark-mode t) ; visually show region
(setq line-number-mode t) ; show line numbers
(setq global-font-lock-mode 1) ; everything should use fonts
(setq font-lock-maximum-decoration t)
Also I get rid of some of the superfluous gui stuff
(if (fboundp 'scroll-bar-mode) (scroll-bar-mode -1))
(if (fboundp 'tool-bar-mode) (tool-bar-mode -1))
(if (fboundp 'menu-bar-mode) (menu-bar-mode -1)))
One line to amend the load path
One line to load my init library
One line to load my emacs init files
Of course, the "emacs init files" are quite numerous, one per specific thing, loaded in a deterministic order.
emacs-starter-kit as a base, then I've added.. vimpulse.el, whitespace.el, yasnippet, textmate.el and newsticker.el.
In my ~/.emacs.d/$USERNAME.el (dbr.el) file:
(add-to-list 'load-path (concat dotfiles-dir "/vendor/"))
;; Snippets
(add-to-list 'load-path "~/.emacs.d/vendor/yasnippet/")
(require 'yasnippet)
(yas/initialize)
(yas/load-directory "~/.emacs.d/vendor/yasnippet/snippets")
;; TextMate module
(require 'textmate)
(textmate-mode 'on)
;; Whitespace module
(require 'whitespace)
(add-hook 'ruby-mode-hook 'whitespace-mode)
(add-hook 'python-mode-hook 'whitespace-mode)
;; Misc
(flyspell-mode 'on)
(setq viper-mode t)
(require 'viper)
(require 'vimpulse)
;; IM
(eval-after-load 'rcirc '(require 'rcirc-color))
(setq rcirc-default-nick "_dbr")
(setq rcirc-default-user-name "_dbr")
(setq rcirc-default-user-full-name "_dbr")
(require 'jabber)
;;; Google Talk account
(custom-set-variables
'(jabber-connection-type (quote ssl))
'(jabber-network-server "talk.google.com")
'(jabber-port 5223)
'(jabber-server "mysite.tld")
'(jabber-username "myusername"))
;; Theme
(color-theme-zenburn)
;; Key bindings
(global-set-key (kbd "M-z") 'undo)
(global-set-key (kbd "M-s") 'save-buffer)
(global-set-key (kbd "M-S-z") 'redo)
Always save my config in svn http://my-trac.assembla.com/ez-conf/browser/emacs.d
After reading this, I figured it would be good to have a simple site just for the best .emacs modifications. Feel free to post and vote on them here:
http://dotemacs.slinkset.com/
https://b7j0c.org/stuff/dotemacs.html
I'm new to emacs, in my .emacs file there are
indentation configuration
color theme
php mode, coffee mode and js2 mode
ido mode
FWIW, my .emacs is here:
http://svn.red-bean.com/repos/kfogel/trunk/.emacs
lots of stuff: https://github.com/tavisrudd/emacs.d
el-get has made managing it and dependencies a lot easier: https://github.com/tavisrudd/emacs.d/blob/master/dss-init-el-get.el
For Scala coders
;; Load the ensime lisp code... http://github.com/aemoncannon/ensime
(add-to-list 'load-path "ENSIME_ROOT/elisp/")
(require 'ensime)
;; This step causes the ensime-mode to be started whenever ;; scala-mode is started for a buffer. You may have to customize this step ;; if you're not using the standard scala mode.
(add-hook 'scala-mode-hook 'ensime-scala-mode-hook)
;; MINI HOWTO: ;; Open .scala file. M-x ensime (once per project)
My emacs configuration has grown up pretty big over the years and I have lot of useful stuff for me there but if I have two functions it probably would have been those ones.
Define C-x UP and C-x DOWN to move the current line or down keeping the cursor at the right place :
;Down/UP the current line
(global-set-key '[(control x) (up)] 'my-up-line)
(global-set-key '[(control x) (down)] 'my-down-line)
(defun my-down-line()
(interactive)
(let ((col (current-column)))
(forward-line 1)
(transpose-lines 1)
(forward-line -1)
(forward-char col)
)
)
(defun my-up-line()
(interactive)
(let ((col (current-column)))
(transpose-lines 1)
(forward-line -2)
(forward-char col)
)
)