User's Initialization File
User's Initialization File or dotemacs or init file is a file to store your configurations/customizations for Emacs written in Emacs Lisp, located at either ${HOME}/.emacs.d/init.el or (archaically) at ${HOME}/.emacs or at %HOME%\_emacs on MS Windows.
The most reliable way to find our the place of the initialization file on your system is to check the value of the user-init-file variable.
Configuration Example
For a good example of an init file check out some of the starter kits, like Prelude.
Debugging the Init file
$ emacs --debug-init
Running the above command will enable the Emacs Lisp debugger for errors in the init file.
See Also
External links
- The Init File (`(info "(emacs) The Init File")')
- How Large is Your .emacs?