16.13 Miscellaneous Settings for a .emacs File

Here are a few miscellaneous settings:

• Set the shape and color of the mouse cursor:

            ; Cursor shapes are defined in
            ; `/usr/include/X11/cursorfont.h';
            ; for example, the `target' cursor is number 128;
            ; the `top_left_arrow' cursor is number 132.
            
            (let ((mpointer (x-get-resource "*mpointer"
                                            "*emacs*mpointer")))
              ;; If you have not set your mouse pointer
              ;;     then set it, otherwise leave as is:
              (if (eq mpointer nil)
                  (setq mpointer "132")) ; top_left_arrow
              (setq x-pointer-shape (string-to-int mpointer))
              (set-mouse-color "white"))
  

• Or you can set the values of a variety of features in an alist, like this:

            (setq-default
             default-frame-alist
             '((cursor-color . "white")
               (mouse-color . "white")
               (foreground-color . "white")
               (background-color . "DodgerBlue4")
               ;; (cursor-type . bar)
               (cursor-type . box)
               (tool-bar-lines . 0)
               (menu-bar-lines . 1)
               (width . 80)
               (height . 58)
               (font .
                     "-Misc-Fixed-Medium-R-Normal--20-200-75-75-C-100-ISO8859-1")
               ))
  

• Convert <CTRL>-h into <DEL> and <DEL> into <CTRL>-h.
  (Some older keyboards needed this, although I have not seen the problem recently.)

            ;; Translate `C-h' to <DEL>.
            ; (keyboard-translate ?\C-h ?\C-?)
            
            ;; Translate <DEL> to `C-h'.
            (keyboard-translate ?\C-? ?\C-h)
  

• Turn off a blinking cursor!

            (if (fboundp 'blink-cursor-mode)
                (blink-cursor-mode -1))
  

  or start GNU Emacs with the command emacs -nbc.

• When using `grep'
  ‘-i’   Ignore case distinctions
  ‘-n’   Prefix each line of output with line number
  ‘-H’   Print the filename for each match.
  ‘-e’   Protect patterns beginning with a hyphen character, ‘-’

            (setq grep-command "grep -i -nH -e ")
  

• Find an existing buffer, even if it has a different name
  This avoids problems with symbolic links.

            (setq find-file-existing-other-name t)
  

• Set your language environment and default input method

            (set-language-environment "latin-1")
            ;; Remember you can enable or disable multilingual text input
            ;; with the toggle-input-method' (C-\) command
            (setq default-input-method "latin-1-prefix")
  

  If you want to write with Chinese `GB' characters, set this instead:

            (set-language-environment "Chinese-GB")
            (setq default-input-method "chinese-tonepy")
  

Fixing Unpleasant Key Bindings

Some systems bind keys unpleasantly. Sometimes, for example, the <CTRL> key appears in an awkward spot rather than at the far left of the home row.

Usually, when people fix these sorts of keybindings, they do not change their ~/.emacs file. Instead, they bind the proper keys on their consoles with the loadkeys or install-keymap commands in their boot script and then include xmodmap commands in their .xinitrc or .Xsession file for X Windows.

For a boot script:

     loadkeys /usr/share/keymaps/i386/qwerty/emacs2.kmap.gz

or

     install-keymap emacs2

For a .xinitrc or .Xsession file when the <Caps Lock> key is at the far left of the home row:

     # Bind the key labeled `Caps Lock' to `Control'
     # (Such a broken user interface suggests that keyboard manufacturers
     # think that computers are typewriters from 1885.)
     
     xmodmap -e "clear Lock"
     xmodmap -e "add Control = Caps_Lock"

In a .xinitrc or .Xsession file, to convert an <ALT> key to a <META> key:

     # Some ill designed keyboards have a key labeled ALT and no Meta
     xmodmap -e "keysym Alt_L = Meta_L Alt_L"