Where's That File
Linux

Where Is the Emacs Config File?

Emacs init file and .emacs.d directory: init.el, custom.el, elpa packages and backups.

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Emacs loads ~/.emacs.d/init.el at startup (falling back to ~/.emacs), keeping packages in elpa, custom settings in custom.el and backups alongside.

One directory holds the entire personality. Copying .emacs.d migrates editor, mail and org setups in a single move.

Where Emacs stores this, by platform

Linux
~/.emacs.d/init.el

Holds init.el, custom.el, elpa packages and auto-save files. Same path on macOS and WSL. Native Windows builds also honor %APPDATA%\.emacs.d when present.

Frequently asked questions

Where is the Emacs config file?

Edit ~/.emacs.d/init.el (or ~/.emacs) and reload with M-x load-file or a restart. Keep it in version control; it is plain Lisp describing the whole setup.

emacseditorinit.ellisp

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