.emacs.d

My Emacs settings - updated 2025

Introduction

I inherited a set of brilliant Emacs settings from Magnar Sveen in 2019. That setup was geared towards Mac and Norwegian keyboard layout, and I tweaked parts of it towards US International keys and Linux.

In early 2025 the project with .emacs-d was rebooted when I decided I wanted to learn more about what goes into the configuration, and realise that I am most likely stuck with Emacs for life, due to Clojure being my main focus and Org-mode is my primary way of organizing myself.

This second time over I have also consulted and copied from Christian Johansen .emacs.d repo, according to what has been stated in the README.md

"I recommend starting with a blank emacs + Technomancy's better-defaults package, and then dig through this repo for useful nuggets, instead of forking it directly."

Feel free to clone or copy. Emacs is most recommendable, even though it can be very intrusive and dangerously addictive.

Setup

The first time you start emacs, it will install some additional packages that are best handled by the package manager.

• diminish
• dash
• datomic-snippets
• find-file-in-project
• browse-kill-ring
• expand-region
• jump-char
• smart-forward
• change-inner
• multifiles
• smex

In addition, make sure you have:

• cloned Technomancy's better-defaults
• Created a custom.el file

Install emacs on Linux

I have installed Emacs from source, using this guide Installing Emacs 29.1 on Ubuntu 22.04 LTS by Erik L. Arneson.

Using these emacs settings

• Quit emacs with C-x r q, mnemonic Really Quit is easier that Googling how to quit Vim.

• Find file in project with C-x o, in dir with C-x C-f, recent with C-x f

• Add your user- and project-specific stuff in .emacs.d/users/[machine name]/*.el

• C-h is rebound to backspace, like in the shell. Get help on F1 instead.

• Autocomplete with C-. (autocomplete entire lines with C-:)

• expand-region: Find its bound key by doing F1 f er/expand-region

• Undo with C-_ and redo with M-_. Watch the undo-tree with C-x u

• Quickly jump anywhere in the buffer with C-ø then the starting letter of a word.

• Indent and clean up white space in the entire buffer with C-c n

• We recommend rebinding Caps Lock to Ctrl and use that instead of the often badly placed Ctrl-key.

Using Emacs

• C Shorthand for the ctrl-key
• M Shorthand for the meta-key (bound to cmd on my mac settings)
• S Shorthand for the shift-key

Files

• C-x C-f Open a file. Starts in the current directory
• C-x f Open a recently visited file
• C-x o Open a file in the current project (based on .git ++)
• C-x C-s Save this file
• C-x C-w Save as ...
• C-x C-j Jump to this files' current directory
• C-x b Switch to another open file (buffer)
• C-x C-b List all open files (buffers)

Cut copy and paste

• C-space Start marking stuff. C-g to cancel.
• C-w Cut (aka kill)
• C-k Cut till end of line
• M-w Copy
• C-y Paste (aka yank)
• M-y Cycle last paste through previous kills
• C-x C-y Choose what to paste from previous kills
• C-@ Mark stuff quickly. Press multiple times

General

• C-g Quit out of whatever mess you've gotten yourself into
• M-x Run a command by name
• C-. Autocomplete
• C-_ Undo
• M-_ Redo
• C-x u Show the undo-tree
• C-x m Open magit. It's a magical git interface for emacs

Navigation

• C-arrow Move past words/paragraphs
• C-a Go to start of line
• C-e Go to end of line
• M-g M-g Go to line number
• C-x C-i Go to symbol
• C-s Search forward. Press C-s again to go further.
• C-r Search backward. Press C-r again to go further.

Window management

• C-x 0 Close this window
• C-x 1 Close other windows
• C-x 2 Split window horizontally
• C-x 3 Split window vertically
• S-arrow Jump to window to the left/right/up/down

Help

• F1 t Basic tutorial
• F1 k Help for a keybinding
• F1 r Emacs' extensive documentation

Advanced usage

• C-c j e j copy-edn-as-json
• C-c j j e copy-json-as-edn

TODO

• Warning (comp): perspective.el:2219:6: Warning: ‘ibuffer-awhen’ is an obsolete macro (as of 29.1); use ‘when-let’ instead.
• Warning (comp): paredit.el:714:33: Warning: ‘point-at-eol’ is an obsolete function (as of 29.1); use ‘line-end-position’ or ‘pos-eol’ instead.
• Warning (comp): paredit.el:723:42: Warning: ‘point-at-bol’ is an obsolete function (as of 29.1); use ‘line-beginning-position’ or ‘pos-bol’ instead.
• Warning (comp): datomic-snippets.el:87:48: Warning: reference to free variable ‘datomic-snippets-root’
• Warning (comp): datomic-snippets.el:90:6: Warning: ‘yas/load-directory’ is an obsolete function (as of yasnippet 0.8); use ‘yas-load-directory’ instead.