My Emacs configurations written in Org mode
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Emacs configuration file

About

This is a Emacs configuration file written in org-mode. There are a few reasons why I wanted to do this. My .emacs.d/ was a mess, and needed a proper clean-up. Also I like keeping all my configurations in a single file, using org-mode I can keep this file organized. I aim to briefly explain all my configurations.

Configurations

Meta

Emacs can only load .el-files. We can use C-c C-v t to run org-babel-tangle, which extracts the code blocks from the current file into a source-specific file (in this case a .el-file).

To avoid doing this each time a change is made we can add a function to the after-save-hook ensuring to always tangle and byte-compile the org-document after changes.

  (defun init-hook ()
    "If the current buffer is 'init.org' the code-blocks are
  tangled, and the tangled file is compiled."
    (when (equal (buffer-file-name)
                 (expand-file-name (concat user-emacs-directory "init.org")))
      (org-babel-tangle)
      (byte-compile-file (concat user-emacs-directory "init.el"))))

  (add-hook 'after-save-hook 'init-hook)

Package

Managing extensions for Emacs is simplified using package which is built in to Emacs 24 and newer. To load downloaded packages we need to initialize package.

  (require 'package)
  (package-initialize)

Packages can be fetched from different mirrors, melpa is the largest archive and is well maintained.

  (add-to-list 'package-archives
               '("MELPA" . "http://melpa.milkbox.net/packages/") t)

We can define a predicate that tells us wither or not the newest version of a package is installed.

  (defun newest-package-installed-p (package)
    "Return true if the newest available PACKAGE is installed."
    (when (package-installed-p package)
      (let* ((local-pkg-desc (or (assq package package-alist)
                                 (assq package package--builtins)))
             (newest-pkg-desc (assq package package-archive-contents)))
        (version-list-= (package-desc-vers (cdr local-pkg-desc))
                        (package-desc-vers (cdr newest-pkg-desc))))))

Let's write a function to install a package if it is not installed or upgrades it if a new version has been released. Here our predicate comes in handy.

  (defun upgrade-or-install-package (package)
    "Unless the newest available version of PACKAGE is installed
  PACKAGE is installed and the current version is deleted."
    (unless (newest-package-installed-p package)
      (let ((pkg-desc (assq package package-alist)))
        (when pkg-desc
          (package-delete (symbol-name package)
                          (package-version-join
                           (package-desc-vers (cdr pkg-desc)))))
        (package-install package))))

The package-refresh-contents function downloads archive descriptions, this is a major bottleneck in this configuration. To avoid this we can try to only check for updates once every day or so. Here are to variables. The first specifies how often we should check for updates. The second specifies wither one should update during the initialization.

  (defvar days-between-updates 1)
  (defvar do-package-update-on-init t)

The tricky part is figuring out when the last time the Emacs was opened! Here is a hacky way of doing it, using time-stamps. By adding a time-stamp to the init file, we can search for it and determine wither or not to do an update. After that we must run the time-stamp-function to update the time-stamp.

  (require 'time-stamp)
  ;; Open the 'user-init-file' and write any changes.
  (with-temp-file user-init-file
    ;; Insert it's original content's.
    (insert-file-contents user-init-file)
    (forward-line time-stamp-line-limit)
    (let ((bound (point)))
      (goto-char (point-min))
      ;; We search for the time-stamp.
      (let ((start (re-search-forward time-stamp-start bound t))
            (end (re-search-forward time-stamp-end bound t)))
        (when (and start end)
          ;; Assuming we have found a time-stamp, we check determine if it's
          ;; time to update.
          (setq do-package-update-on-init
                (<= days-between-updates
                    (days-between
                     (current-time-string)
                     (buffer-substring-no-properties start end)))))))
    ;; Remember to update the time-stamp.
    (time-stamp))

Now we can use the function above to make sure packages are installed and up to date. Here are some packages I find useful (some of these configurations are also dependent on them).

  (when do-package-update-on-init
    (package-refresh-contents))

  (dolist (package
           '(ac-geiser         ; Auto-complete backend for geiser
             ac-slime          ; An auto-complete source using slime completions
             ace-jump-mode     ; quick cursor location minor mode
             auto-compile      ; automatically compile Emacs Lisp libraries
             auto-complete     ; auto completion
             elscreen          ; window session manager
             expand-region     ; Increase selected region by semantic units
             flx-ido           ; flx integration for ido
             ido-vertical-mode ; Makes ido-mode display vertically.
             geiser            ; GNU Emacs and Scheme talk to each other
             haskell-mode      ; A Haskell editing mode
             jedi              ; Python auto-completion for Emacs
             magit             ; control Git from Emacs
             markdown-mode     ; Emacs Major mode for Markdown-formatted files.
             monokai-theme     ; A fruity color theme for Emacs.
             move-text         ; Move current line or region with M-up or M-down
             multiple-cursors  ; Multiple cursors for Emacs.
             org               ; Outline-based notes management and organizer
             paredit           ; minor mode for editing parentheses
             pretty-lambdada   ; the word `lambda' as the Greek letter.
             smex              ; M-x interface with Ido-style fuzzy matching.
             ))
    (when do-package-update-on-init
      (upgrade-or-install-package package)))

Require

Some features are not loaded by default to minimize initialization time, so they have to be required (or loaded, if you will).

  (dolist (feature
           '(auto-compile             ; auto-compile .el files
             auto-complete-config     ; a configuration for auto-complete-mode
             jedi                     ; auto-completion for python
             pretty-lambdada          ; show 'lambda' as the greek letter.
             ox-latex                 ; the latex-exporter (from org)
             recentf                  ; recently opened files
             tex-mode                 ; TeX, LaTeX, and SliTeX mode commands
             ))
    (require feature))

Sane defaults

These are what I consider to be saner defaults.

We can set variables to whatever value we'd like using setq.

  (setq initial-scratch-message nil     ; Clean scratch buffer.
        inhibit-startup-message t       ; No splash screen please.
        default-input-method "TeX"      ; Use TeX when toggeling input method.
        ring-bell-function 'ignore      ; Quite as a mouse.
        doc-view-continuous t           ; At page edge goto next/previous.
        echo-keystrokes 0.1             ; Show keystrokes asap.
        )

  ;; Some mac-bindings interfere with Emacs bindings.
  (when (boundp 'mac-pass-command-to-system)
    (setq mac-pass-command-to-system nil))

Some variables are buffer-local, so changing them using setq will only change them in a single buffer. Using setq-default we change the buffer-local variable's default value.

  (setq-default fill-column 76                   ; Maximum line width.
                indent-tabs-mode nil             ; Use spaces instead of tabs.
                split-width-threshold 100        ; Split verticly by default.
                auto-fill-function 'do-auto-fill ; Auto-fill-mode everywhere.
                )

The load-path specifies where Emacs should look for .el-files (or Emacs lisp files). I have a directory called site-lisp where I keep all extensions that have been installed manually (these are mostly my own projects).

  (let ((default-directory (concat user-emacs-directory "site-lisp/")))
    (when (file-exists-p default-directory)
      (normal-top-level-add-to-load-path '("."))
      (normal-top-level-add-subdirs-to-load-path)))

Answering yes and no to each question from Emacs can be tedious, a single y or n will suffice.

  (fset 'yes-or-no-p 'y-or-n-p)

To avoid file system clutter we put all auto saved files in a single directory.

  (defvar emacs-autosave-directory
    (concat user-emacs-directory "autosaves/")
    "This variable dictates where to put auto saves. It is set to a
    directory called autosaves located wherever your .emacs.d/ is
    located.")

  ;; Sets all files to be backed up and auto saved in a single directory.
  (setq backup-directory-alist
        `((".*" . ,emacs-autosave-directory))
        auto-save-file-name-transforms
        `((".*" ,emacs-autosave-directory t)))

Set utf-8 as preferred coding system.

  (set-language-environment "UTF-8")

By default the narrow-to-region command is disabled and issues a warning, because it might confuse new users. I find it useful sometimes, and don't want to be warned.

  (put 'narrow-to-region 'disabled nil)

Call auto-complete default configuration, which enables auto-complete globally.

  (ac-config-default)

Automaticly revert doc-view-buffers when the file changes on disk.

  (add-hook 'doc-view-mode-hook 'auto-revert-mode)

Modes

There are some modes that are enabled by default that I don't find particularly useful. We create a list of these modes, and disable all of these.

  (dolist (mode
           '(tool-bar-mode                ; No toolbars, more room for text.
             scroll-bar-mode              ; No scroll bars either.
             blink-cursor-mode            ; The blinking cursor gets old.
             ))
    (funcall mode 0))

Let's apply the same technique for enabling modes that are disabled by default.

  (dolist (mode
           '(abbrev-mode                ; E.g. sopl -> System.out.println.
             auto-compile-on-load-mode  ; Compile .el files on load ...
             auto-compile-on-save-mode  ; ... and save.
             column-number-mode         ; Show column number in mode line.
             delete-selection-mode      ; Replace selected text.
             recentf-mode               ; Recently opened files.
             show-paren-mode            ; Highlight matching parentheses.
             ))
    (funcall mode 1))

This makes .md-files open in markdown-mode.

  (add-to-list 'auto-mode-alist '("\\.md\\'" . markdown-mode))

Visual

Change the color-theme to monokai (downloaded using package).

  (load-theme 'monokai t)

Use the Inconsolata font if it's installed on the system.

  (when (member "Inconsolata" (font-family-list))
    (set-face-attribute 'default nil :font "Inconsolata-13"))

Ido

Interactive do (or ido-mode) changes the way you switch buffers and open files/directories. Instead of writing complete file paths and buffer names you can write a part of it and select one from a list of possibilities. Using ido-vertical-mode changes the way possibilities are displayed, and flx-ido-mode enables fuzzy matching.

  (dolist (mode
           '(ido-mode                   ; Interactivly do.
             ido-everywhere             ; Use Ido for all buffer/file reading.
             ido-vertical-mode          ; Makes ido-mode display vertically.
             flx-ido-mode               ; Toggle flx ido mode.
             ))
    (funcall mode 1))

We can set the order of file selections in ido. I prioritize source files along with org- and tex-files.

  (setq ido-file-extensions-order
        '(".el" ".scm" ".lisp" ".java" ".c" ".h" ".org" ".tex"))

Sometimes when using ido-switch-buffer the *Messages* buffer get in the way, so we set it to be ignored (it can be accessed using C-h e, so there is really no need for it in the buffer list).

  (add-to-list 'ido-ignore-buffers "*Messages*")

To make M-x behave more like ido-mode we can use the smex package. It needs to be initialized, and we can replace the binding to the standard execute-extended-command with smex.

  (smex-initialize)
  (global-set-key (kbd "M-x") 'smex)

Calendar

Define a function to display week numbers in calender-mode. The snippet is from EmacsWiki.

  (defun calendar-show-week (arg)
    "Displaying week number in calendar-mode."
    (interactive "P")
    (copy-face font-lock-constant-face 'calendar-iso-week-face)
    (set-face-attribute
     'calendar-iso-week-face nil :height 0.7)
    (setq calendar-intermonth-text
          (and arg
               '(propertize
                 (format
                  "%2d"
                  (car (calendar-iso-from-absolute
                        (calendar-absolute-from-gregorian
                         (list month day year)))))
                 'font-lock-face 'calendar-iso-week-face))))

Evaluate the toggle-calendar-show-week function.

  (calendar-show-week t)

Set Monday as the first day of the week, and set my location.

  (setq calendar-week-start-day 1
        calendar-latitude 60.0
        calendar-longitude 10.7
        calendar-location-name "Oslo, Norway")

Mail

I use mu4e (which is a part of mu) along with offlineimap on one of my computers. Because the mail-setup wont work without these programs installed we bind load-mail-setup to nil. If the value is changed to a non-nil value mail is setup.

  (defvar load-mail-setup nil)

  (when load-mail-setup
    ;; We need mu4e
    (require 'mu4e)

    ;; Some basic mu4e settings.
    (setq mu4e-maildir           "~/.ifimail"     ; top-level Maildir
          mu4e-sent-folder       "/INBOX.Sent"    ; folder for sent messages
          mu4e-drafts-folder     "/INBOX.Drafts"  ; unfinished messages
          mu4e-trash-folder      "/INBOX.Trash"   ; trashed messages
          mu4e-refile-folder     "/INBOX.Archive" ; saved messages
          mu4e-get-mail-command  "offlineimap"    ; offlineimap to fetch mail
          mu4e-compose-signature "- Lars"         ; Sign my name
          mu4e-update-interval   (* 5 60)         ; update every 5 min
          mu4e-confirm-quit      nil              ; just quit
          mu4e-view-show-images  t                ; view images
          mu4e-html2text-command
          "html2text -utf8"                       ; use utf-8
          )

    ;; Setup for sending mail.
    (setq user-full-name
          "Lars Tveito"                        ; Your full name
          user-mail-address
          "larstvei@ifi.uio.no"                ; And email-address
          smtpmail-smtp-server
          "smtp.uio.no"                        ; Host to mail-server
          smtpmail-smtp-service 465            ; Port to mail-server
          smtpmail-stream-type 'ssl            ; Protocol used for sending
          send-mail-function 'smtpmail-send-it ; Use smpt to send
          mail-user-agent 'mu4e-user-agent     ; Use mu4e!
          )

    ;; Register file types that can be handled by ImageMagick.
    (when (fboundp 'imagemagick-register-types)
      (imagemagick-register-types))

    ;; A wrapper function to start (if necessary), fetch mail and delete other
    ;; windows.
    (defun show-mu4e ()
      (interactive)
      (mu4e)
      (mu4e-update-mail-and-index t)
      (delete-other-windows))

    ;; Overwrite the native 'compose-mail' binding to 'show-mu4e'.
    (global-set-key (kbd "C-x m") 'show-mu4e))

Flyspell

Flyspell offers on-the-fly spell checking. We can enable flyspell for all text-modes with this snippet.

  (add-hook 'text-mode-hook 'turn-on-flyspell)

To use flyspell for programming there is flyspell-prog-mode, that only enables spell checking for comments and strings. We can enable it for all programming modes using the prog-mode-hook. Flyspell interferes with auto-complete mode, but there is a workaround provided by auto complete.

  (add-hook 'prog-mode-hook 'flyspell-prog-mode)
  (ac-flyspell-workaround)

Org

I use org-agenda for appointments and such.

  (setq org-agenda-start-on-weekday nil             ; Show agenda from today.
        org-agenda-files '("~/Dropbox/life.org")    ; A list of agenda files.
        org-agenda-default-appointment-duration 120 ; 2 hours appointments.
        )

When editing org-files with source-blocks, we want the source blocks to be themed as they would in their native mode.

  (setq org-src-fontify-natively t)

Interactive functions

<<sec:defuns>>

To search recent files useing ido-mode we add this snippet from EmacsWiki.

  (defun recentf-ido-find-file ()
    "Find a recent file using Ido."
    (interactive)
    (let ((f (ido-completing-read "Choose recent file: " recentf-list nil t)))
      (when f
        (find-file f))))

just-one-space removes all whitespace around a point - giving it a negative argument it removes newlines as well. We wrap a interactive function around it to be able to bind it to a key.

  (defun remove-whitespace-inbetween ()
    "Removes whitespace before and after the point."
    (interactive)
    (just-one-space -1))

This interactive function switches you to a shell, and if triggered in the shell it switches back to the previous buffer.

  (defun switch-to-shell ()
    "Jumps to eshell or back."
    (interactive)
    (if (string= (buffer-name) "*shell*")
        (switch-to-prev-buffer)
      (shell)))

To duplicate either selected text or a line we define this interactive function.

  (defun duplicate-thing ()
    "Ethier duplicates the line or the region"
    (interactive)
    (save-excursion
      (let ((start (if (region-active-p) (region-beginning) (point-at-bol)))
            (end   (if (region-active-p) (region-end) (point-at-eol))))
        (goto-char end)
        (unless (region-active-p)
          (newline))
        (insert (buffer-substring start end)))))

To tidy up a buffer we define this function borrowed from simenheg.

  (defun tidy ()
    "Ident, untabify and unwhitespacify current buffer, or region if active."
    (interactive)
    (let ((beg (if (region-active-p) (region-beginning) (point-min)))
          (end (if (region-active-p) (region-end) (point-max))))
      (indent-region beg end)
      (whitespace-cleanup)
      (untabify beg (if (< end (point-max)) end (point-max)))))

Key bindings

Bindings for expand-region.

  (global-set-key (kbd "C-'")  'er/expand-region)
  (global-set-key (kbd "C-;")  'er/contract-region)

Bindings for multiple-cursors.

  (global-set-key (kbd "C-c e")  'mc/edit-lines)
  (global-set-key (kbd "C-c a")  'mc/mark-all-like-this)
  (global-set-key (kbd "C-c n")  'mc/mark-next-like-this)

Bindings for Magit.

  (global-set-key (kbd "C-c m") 'magit-status)

Bindings for ace-jump-mode.

  (global-set-key (kbd "C-c SPC") 'ace-jump-mode)

Bindings for move-text.

  (global-set-key (kbd "<M-S-up>")    'move-text-up)
  (global-set-key (kbd "<M-S-down>")  'move-text-down)

Bind some native Emacs functions.

  (global-set-key (kbd "C-c s")    'ispell-word)
  (global-set-key (kbd "C-c t")    'org-agenda-list)
  (global-set-key (kbd "C-x k")    'kill-this-buffer)
  (global-set-key (kbd "C-x C-r")  'recentf-ido-find-file)

Bind the functions defined above.

  (global-set-key (kbd "C-c j")    'remove-whitespace-inbetween)
  (global-set-key (kbd "C-x t")    'switch-to-shell)
  (global-set-key (kbd "C-c d")    'duplicate-thing)
  (global-set-key (kbd "<C-tab>")  'tidy)

Advice

An advice can be given to a function to make it behave differently. This advice makes eval-last-sexp (bound to C-x C-e) replace the sexp with the value.

  (defadvice eval-last-sexp (around replace-sexp (arg) activate)
    "Replace sexp when called with a prefix argument."
    (if arg
        (let ((pos (point)))
          ad-do-it
          (goto-char pos)
          (backward-kill-sexp)
          (forward-sexp))
      ad-do-it))

Flyspell signals an error if there is no spell-checking tool is installed. We can advice turn-on=flyspell and flyspell-prog-mode to only try to enable flyspell if a spell-checking tool is avalible.

  (defadvice turn-on-flyspell (around check nil activate)
    "Turns on flyspell only if a spell-checking tool is installed."
    (when (executable-find ispell-program-name)
      ad-do-it))
  (defadvice flyspell-prog-mode (around check nil activate)
    "Turns on flyspell only if a spell-checking tool is installed."
    (when (executable-find ispell-program-name)
      ad-do-it))

Language mode specific

Lisp

Pretty-lambda provides a customizable variable pretty-lambda-auto-modes that is a list of common lisp modes. Here we can add some extra lisp-modes. We run the pretty-lambda-for-modes function to activate pretty-lambda-mode in lisp modes.

  (dolist (mode '(slime-repl-mode inferior-lisp-mode inferior-scheme-mode))
    (add-to-list 'pretty-lambda-auto-modes mode))

  (pretty-lambda-for-modes)

I use Paredit when editing lisp code, we enable this for all lisp-modes in the pretty-lambda-auto-modes list.

  (dolist (mode pretty-lambda-auto-modes)
    ;; add paredit-mode to all mode-hooks
    (add-hook (intern (concat (symbol-name mode) "-hook")) 'paredit-mode))

Emacs Lisp

In emacs-lisp-mode we can enable eldoc-mode to display information about a function or a variable in the echo area.

  (add-hook 'emacs-lisp-mode-hook 'turn-on-eldoc-mode)
  (add-hook 'lisp-interaction-mode-hook 'turn-on-eldoc-mode)

Common lisp

I use Slime along with lisp-mode to edit Common Lisp code. Slime provides code evaluation and other great features, a must have for a Common Lisp developer. Quicklisp is a library manager for Common Lisp, and you can install Slime following the instructions from the site along with this snippet.

  (when (file-exists-p "~/quicklisp/slime-helper.elc")
    (load (expand-file-name "~/quicklisp/slime-helper.elc")))

We can specify what Common Lisp program Slime should use (I use SBCL).

  (setq inferior-lisp-program "sbcl")

To improve auto completion for Common Lisp editing we can use ac-slime which uses slime completions as a source.

  (add-hook 'slime-mode-hook 'set-up-slime-ac)
  (add-hook 'slime-repl-mode-hook 'set-up-slime-ac)

  (eval-after-load "auto-complete"
    '(add-to-list 'ac-modes 'slime-repl-mode))

Scheme

Geiser provides features similar to Slime for Scheme editing. Everything works pretty much out of the box, the only thing we need to add is the auto completion.

  (add-hook 'geiser-mode-hook 'ac-geiser-setup)
  (add-hook 'geiser-repl-mode-hook 'ac-geiser-setup)
  (eval-after-load "auto-complete"
    '(add-to-list 'ac-modes 'geiser-repl-mode))

Java and C

The c-mode-common-hook is a general hook that work on all C-like languages (C, C++, Java, etc…). I like being able to quickly compile using C-c C-c (instead of M-x compile), a habit from latex-mode.

  (defun c-setup ()
    (local-set-key (kbd "C-c C-c") 'compile))

  (add-hook 'c-mode-common-hook 'c-setup)

Some statements in Java appear often, and become tedious to write out. We can use abbrevs to speed this up.

  (define-abbrev-table 'java-mode-abbrev-table
    '(("psv" "public static void main(String[] args) {" nil 0)
      ("sopl" "System.out.println" nil 0)
      ("sop" "System.out.printf" nil 0)))

To be able to use the abbrev table defined above, abbrev-mode must be activated.

  (defun java-setup ()
    (abbrev-mode t)
    (setq-local compile-command (concat "javac " (buffer-name))))

  (add-hook 'java-mode-hook 'java-setup)

Assembler

When writing assembler code I use # for comments. By defining comment-start we can add comments using M-; like in other programming modes. Also in assembler should one be able to compile using C-c C-c.

  (defun asm-setup ()
    (setq comment-start "#")
    (local-set-key (kbd "C-c C-c") 'compile))

  (add-hook 'asm-mode-hook 'asm-setup)

LaTeX

.tex-files should be associated with latex-mode instead of tex-mode.

  (add-to-list 'auto-mode-alist '("\\.tex\\'" . latex-mode))

I like using the Minted package for source blocks in LaTeX. To make org use this we add the following snippet.

  (add-to-list 'org-latex-packages-alist '("" "minted"))
  (setq org-latex-listings 'minted)

Because Minted uses Pygments (an external process), we must add the -shell-escape option to the org-latex-pdf-process commands.

  (setq org-latex-pdf-process
        (mapcar
         (lambda (str)
           (concat "pdflatex -shell-escape "
                   (substring str (string-match "-" str))))
         org-latex-pdf-process))

Python

Jedi offers very nice auto completion for python-mode. Mind that it is dependent on some python programs as well, so make sure you follow the instructions from the site.

  (setq jedi:server-command
        (cons "python3" (cdr jedi:server-command))
        python-shell-interpreter "python3")
  (add-hook 'python-mode-hook 'jedi:setup)
  (setq jedi:complete-on-dot t)
  (add-hook 'python-mode-hook 'jedi:ac-setup)

Haskell

haskell-doc-mode is similar to eldoc, it displays documentation in the echo area. Haskell has several indentation modes - I prefer using haskell-indent.

  (add-hook 'haskell-mode-hook 'turn-on-haskell-doc-mode)
  (add-hook 'haskell-mode-hook 'turn-on-haskell-indent)

Matlab

Matlab is very similar to Octave, which is supported by Emacs. We just need to let .m-files be associated with octave-mode.

  (add-to-list 'auto-mode-alist '("\\.m$" . octave-mode))