Next: Where do I put my init file?, Previous: How do I get image support?, Up: Installing Emacs [Contents][Index]
When Emacs starts up, it attempts to load and execute the contents of a file commonly called .emacs (though it may have other names, see Where do I put my init file?) which contains any customizations you have made. You can manually add lisp code to your .emacs, or you can use the Customization interface accessible from the Options menu. If the file does not exist, Emacs will start with the default settings.
In addition, Emacs 27 and later attempts to load and execute the
contents of the early-init.el file. As its name suggests, this
file, if it exists, is loaded and executed early on during the Emacs
startup sequence, before .emacs, and is intended to contain the
few initializations which must be performed before .emacs is
looked up and loaded.