Chapter 32. Customization

Table of Contents
32.1. Minor Modes
32.2. Variables
32.2.1. Examining and Setting Variables
32.2.2. Easy Customization Interface
32.2.3. Hooks
32.2.4. Local Variables
32.2.5. Local Variables in Files
32.3. Keyboard Macros
32.3.1. Basic Use
32.3.2. Naming and Saving Keyboard Macros
32.3.3. Executing Macros with Variations
32.4. Customizing Key Bindings
32.4.1. Keymaps
32.4.2. Prefix Keymaps
32.4.3. Local Keymaps
32.4.4. Minibuffer Keymaps
32.4.5. Changing Key Bindings Interactively
32.4.6. Rebinding Keys in Your Init File
32.4.7. Rebinding Function Keys
32.4.8. Named ASCII Control Characters
32.4.9. Non-ASCII Characters on the Keyboard
32.4.10. Rebinding Mouse Buttons
32.4.11. Disabling Commands
32.5. Keyboard Translations
32.6. The Syntax Table
32.7. The Init File, ~/.emacs
32.7.1. Init File Syntax
32.7.2. Init File Examples
32.7.3. Terminal-specific Initialization
32.7.4. How Emacs Finds Your Init File
32.8. Quitting and Aborting
32.9. Dealing with Emacs Trouble
32.9.1. If DELFails to Delete
32.9.2. Recursive Editing Levels
32.9.3. Garbage on the Screen
32.9.4. Garbage in the Text
32.9.5. Spontaneous Entry to Incremental Search
32.9.6. Running out of Memory
32.9.7. Recovery After a Crash
32.9.8. Emergency Escape
32.9.9. Help for Total Frustration
32.10. Reporting Bugs
32.10.1. When Is There a Bug
32.10.2. Understanding Bug Reporting
32.10.3. Checklist for Bug Reports
32.10.4. Sending Patches for GNU Emacs
32.11. Contributing to Emacs Development
32.12. How To Get Help with GNU Emacs

This chapter talks about various topics relevant to adapting the behavior of Emacs in minor ways. See [The Emacs Lisp Reference Manual] for how to make more far-reaching changes.

All kinds of customization affect only the particular Emacs session that you do them in. They are completely lost when you kill the Emacs session, and have no effect on other Emacs sessions you may run at the same time or later. The only way an Emacs session can affect anything outside of it is by writing a file; in particular, the only way to make a customization "permanent" is to put something in your .emacs file or other appropriate file to do the customization in each session. Section 32.7.