Customizing Emacs using a .emacs file

To customize Emacs, you need to write some Lisp code. It's not really that difficult. The code should be put in a file named '.emacs' in your home directory. Every time Emacs starts up, it automatically reads any Lisp code you have put into your '.emacs' file.

• To define a key binding, use an expression of this form:

  	(define-key key-map keystrokes function)
  

• To set an Emacs variable, use an expression of this form:

  	(setq variable value)
  

• The section below gives some typical customizations you might perform in your '.emacs' file. Note that comments in are preceded by semicolon ';' characters.

  (global-set-key "\M-g" 'goto-line)		; Esc-G runs the goto-line
  						; function.
  
  (global-set-key "\C-xt" 'transpose-lines)	; Ctrl-x t runs the
  						; transpose-lines function.
  
  (setq default-major-mode 'text-mode)		; Default mode is text-mode.
  
  (setq text-mode-hook				; Enable auto-fill-mode
   '(lambda () (auto-fill-mode 1)))		; whenever using text-mode.
  
  (setq delete-auto-save-files t)			; Delete unnecessary
  						; auto-save files.
  
  (display-time)					; Display current time and
  						; load average on mode line.