When Emacs is started, it normally loads a Lisp program from the file `.emacs' in your home directory. We call this file your init file because it specifies how to initialize Emacs for you. You can use the command line switches `-q' and `-u' to tell Emacs whether to load an init file, and which one (see Entering Emacs).
There can also be a default init file, which is the library named `default.el', found via the standard search path for libraries. The Emacs distribution contains no such library; your site may create one for local customizations. If this library exists, it is loaded whenever you start Emacs (except when you specify `-q'). But your init file, if any, is loaded first; if it sets inhibit-default-init non-nil , then `default' is not loaded.
Your site may also have a site startup file; this is named `site-start.el', if it exists. Emacs loads this library before it loads your init file. To inhibit loading of this library, use the option `-no-site-file'.
If you have a large amount of code in your `.emacs' file, you should move it into another file such as `~/something.el', byte-compile it, and make your `.emacs' file load it with (load "~/something") . See Byte Compilation, for more information about compiling Emacs Lisp programs.
| Init Syntax | Syntax of constants in Emacs Lisp. |
| Init Examples | How to do some things with an init file. |
| Terminal Init | Each terminal type can have an init file. |
| Find Init | How Emacs finds the init file. |