Path: utzoo!yunexus!telly!attcan!utgpu!jarvis.csri.toronto.edu!rutgers!tut.cis.ohio-state.edu!mstar!mstar.morningstar.com!bob
From: bob@MorningStar.Com (Bob Sutterfield)
Newsgroups: gnu.emacs
Subject: Re: emacs inti file
Message-ID: <BOB.89Oct9092212@puffer.MorningStar.Com>
Date: 9 Oct 89 13:22:12 GMT
Article-I.D.: puffer.BOB.89Oct9092212
References: <12286@polya.Stanford.EDU>
Sender: @MorningStar.COM
Reply-To: bob@MorningStar.com (Bob Sutterfield)
Distribution: gnu.emacs
Organization: Morning Star Technologies
Lines: 17
In-reply-to: connelly@Neon.Stanford.EDU's message of 9 Oct 89 00:47:55 GMT

In article <12286@polya.Stanford.EDU> connelly@Neon.Stanford.EDU (Jay H Connelly) writes:
   Can anyone tell me how to use the .emacs file ?  I tried putting
   the line : <esc> x auto-fill-mode in the file but to no avail - I
   got an error in the init file.

You've got to write Lisp, not the stuff you type in the minibuffer.
Mine contains things like

	(put 'eval-expression 'disabled nil)
	(display-time)
	(setq inhibit-startup-message t)
	(setq dired-listing-switches "-Failg")
	(setq text-mode-hook 'turn-on-auto-fill)
	(global-set-key "\C-\\" 'call-last-kbd-macro)
	(global-set-key "\C-[/" 'yow)

... and so on.