When Emacs is started, it normally tries to load a Lisp program from
an @dfn{initialization file}, or @dfn{init file} for short. This
file, if it exists, specifies how to initialize Emacs for you.
-If the file @file{~/.config/emacs/init.el} exists, it is used as the
-init file; otherwise Emacs may look at @file{~/.emacs.el},
-@file{~/.emacs}, @file{~/.emacs.d/init.el}, or other locations.
-@xref{Find Init}.
+Traditionally, file @file{~/.emacs} is used as the init file, although
+Emacs also looks at @file{~/.emacs.el}, @file{~/.emacs.d/init.el},
+@file{~/.config/emacs/init.el}, or other locations. @xref{Find Init}.
+
+You may find it convenient to have all your Emacs configuration in one
+directory, in which case you should use @file{~/.emacs.d/init.el} or
+the XDG-compatible @file{~/.config/emacs/init.el}.
You can use the command line switch @samp{-q} to prevent loading
your init file, and @samp{-u} (or @samp{--user}) to specify a
@subsection How Emacs Finds Your Init File
Emacs normally finds your init file in a location under your home
-directory. @xref{Init File}. By default this location is
-@file{~/.emacs.d/init.el} where @file{~/} stands for your home directory.
-This default can be overridden as described below.
+directory. @xref{Init File}.
-Emacs looks for your init file
-using the filenames @file{~/.emacs.el}, @file{~/.emacs}, or
-@file{~/.emacs.d/init.el}; you can choose to use any one of these
-names. (Note that only the locations directly in your home directory
-have a leading dot in the location's basename.)
+ Emacs looks for your init file using the filenames @file{~/.emacs.el},
+@file{~/.emacs}, or @file{~/.emacs.d/init.el} in that order; you can
+choose to use any one of these names. (Note that only the locations
+directly in your home directory have a leading dot in the location's
+basename.)
Emacs can also look in an XDG-compatible location for @file{init.el},
the default is the directory @file{~/.config/emacs}. This can be
overriden by setting @env{XDG_CONFIG_HOME} in your environment, its
value replaces @file{~/.config} in the name of the default XDG init
-file. However @file{~/.emacs.d} and @file{~/.emacs} are always
-preferred if they exist, which means that you must delete or rename
-them in order to use the XDG location.
+file. However @file{~/.emacs.d}, @file{~/.emacs}, and
+@file{~/.emacs.el} are always preferred if they exist, which means
+that you must delete or rename them in order to use the XDG location.
Note also that if neither the XDG location nor @file{~/.emacs.d}
exist, then Emacs will create @file{~/.emacs.d} (and therefore use it