user-setup(3)
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NAME
SYNOPSIS
DESCRIPTION
user-setup provides a dialog interface to enable the user to configure the editor. user-setup may be invoked from the main Help menu or directly from the command line using
execute-named-command(2). user-setup configures the user's setup registry file, "<logname>.erf" which is used by MicroEmacs to initialize the environment to a user's preference.
Note, if your screen is too small to display the whole dialog, it may be moved using any key bound to the scroll commands such as scroll-up, e.g. A-up, C-z, A-down, C-v, A-left etc. For systems without mouse support, the tab key may be used to move between fields.
On all pages the following buttons are available at the bottom of the dialog and have the following effect:
Save
Saves the changes made to the users registry file, i.e. "<Log-Name>.erf" but does not re-initialize MicroEmacs. Some changes, such as color scheme changes, only take effect when the Current button is used or when MicroEmacs is restarted.
Current
Makes the current user and the changes made Current to this MicroEmacs session, dismissing the user-setup dialog and reinitializing MicroEmacs. This also saves the registry file out!
Cancel
Quits user-setup, if changes where not Saved or made Current they will be lost.
The following pages, which appear in the dialog, are defined as follows:-
Start-up
User Name
Documents the user name currently being configured, this entry cannot be changed in user-setup, see
$user-name(5) for help on changing the MicroEmacs user name.
User Path
Documents the location of the current user's MicroEmacs setup files, this entry cannot be changed in user-setup, see
$user-path(5) for help on changing the user path.
Setup File
Sets the personal user setup macro file name which is executed at start-up. A user macro file should contain all personal settings such as preferred key bindings etc. See
Setting Up A User Profile for more information. The Edit check box can be used to enable/disable the automatic loading of the setup file ready for editing when the Current button is used.
Company File
Sets the company setup macro file name which is executed at start-up. A company macro file should contain all company wide standard settings such as %company-name, %company-url and %company-license. The value given should not include the .emf extension. The value can be a space separated list of company file names, in which case only the first file is executed on start-up, unless the first name is just "-" which no file is executed, see
change-company(3),
insert-template(3) and
Setting Up a Company Profile for more information.
Emulation
Sets an emulation mode which changes the behaviour on MicroEmacs to emulate another editor/program; this is done by executing a macro file at start-up. An emulation macro file should contain the macro code required to simulate the environment of the other editor. MicroEmacs 2025 is released with four emulation modes, GNU Emacs (see macro file meemacs.emf), CUA (Windows style key bindings and interface, see mecua.emf), MicroEmacs v3.8 (meme3_8.emf) and NEdit v5 which is at best a demonstration of what can be achieved via the emulation support (defined in menedit.emf). See
Compatibility for more information on emulation.
Rebind Home Keys
When enabled the following key bindings are created to ease frustration, particularly for MS users:
home
Bound to beginning-of-line instead of beginning-of-buffer.
end
Bound to end-of-line instead of end-of-buffer.
C-home
Bound to beginning-of-buffer.
C-end
MS Shift Region
Enables/disables cursor key manipulation with the shift key similar to the conventional Microsoft region selection. When enabled, pressing the shift key in conjunction with the cursor movement keys selects a region which is hilighted. Once the region is selected then the <DELETE> or <BACKSPACE> key erases the selected region. This also enables a similar behaviour with the Mouse Drag region driver, see below.
C-# to Favorites
When enabled, C-0 opens the favorites menu and C-1 to C-9 opens favorite file with the hotkey of given number. C-c 0 adds the current file to the end to the favorite file list, C-c 1 to C-c 9 adds the current file as a favorite file with the given number as a hotkey, replacing the previous file if it exists. See Favorites within the File menu section of the
main menu for more information on favorites.
Locale Setup
Keyboard
Configures MicroEmacs to the user's keyboard. Accent character generation keys present on foreign keyboards cannot be automatically supported on Windows platforms. MicroEmacs must be informed of the keyboard being used to correctly interpret the keys. If a required keyboard is not supported please see
FAQ38 on how to setup the keyboard, also see
Locale Support.
Language
Sets the user language, this sets the word (or letter) characters and if available sets up
spell(2) with appropriate spelling rules and dictionaries. For more information on adding support for a language see
Locale Support.
NOTES
Earlier versions MicroEmacs had "(Ext)" languages which use extended language dictionaries, vastly increasing the word list. New versions automatically test for and use these dictionaries if available. More recently these dictionaries have been merged into the main dictionary.
In earlier versions a personal dictionary name could be set in the next field, this option was removed on Oct 2001. Instead a personal dictionary for each language is automatically created for you, any words or auto-corrected words will be added to the current language's personal dictionary. The name of dictionary is "lsp<lang-id>.edf" where "<lang-id>" is the 4 letter MicroEmacs language name (e.g. "enus" for American), simply rename any existing personal dictionary to this new name.
Auto Save Dictionaries
Enables auto-saving of any changed dictionaries on exit. If this is disabled the user is prompted to save for each changed dictionary.
Enable Auto-Spell
Enables Auto Spell Checking in file types which support this feature (usually text based files such as
txt(9) or
nroff(9) files etc). Auto spell detects word breaks as you type and checks the spelling of every completed word hilighting any erroneous words in the error color scheme (usually red). When auto-spell is enable, right clicking on an erroneous word will add an extra Auto Spell sub-menu to the opened context menu, the sub-menu lists suggested corrections and other useful options; this menu can also be opened by executing the
auto-spell-menu(3) command (usually bound to "C-f7"). The feature can be manually enabled and disabled by invoking the
auto-spell(3) command.
General
Platform - UNIX XTerm Setup
Only present on UNIX platforms using the X interface, see below for the Console setup.
Font
Sets the X font name to be used. This indirectly executes
change-font(2) with the given font name. e.g.
Display Char Set
Selects the display character set being used by the system to render the MicroEmacs window, dependent on the Font being used. The setting of this option effects the configuration of MicroEmacs's internal character maps (using command
set-char-mask(2)) enabling the character sets of foreign languages to be correctly supported. It also changes the definition of variables
$box-chars(5) and
$window-chars(5) to their best values for the given font.
Extend Char Set
When enabled MicroEmacs replaces the display of characters 0x00 to 0x1f with forms which are useful for variables
$box-chars(5) and
$window-chars(5) greatly improving the look of
osd(2) dialogs, the scroll bars etc.
Use Fonts
When enabled the bold, italic, light and underline characteristics of the font will be used depending on their availability and the Color Scheme being used. This indirectly sets bit 0x10 of the
$system(5) variable.
Draw White Spaces
Enables the drawing of visible white spaces, i.e. space, tab and new-line characters. This indirectly sets bit 0x80000 of the
$system(5) variable.
Choose Font
Runs XTerm command xfontsel(1) which opens a dialog allowing the user to select a font, the current font name is passed back to MicroEmacs if the quit button is press, the font name is not altered if xfontsel is exited using the title bar close button.
Enable Toolbar
Enables the Toolbar - configurable, managed windows giving easy access to many features and tools. When enabled the toolbar is opened and displayed at start-up, when disabled the toolbar is not displayed but it can be opened (or closed) by simply executing the
toolbar(3) command.
Client Server
The client/server enables the file based external macro command driver to be enabled - see
Client-Server. This by default is disabled, when enabled it is used by
command-line options -m and -o.
DOS File Names
DOS has a restricted 8.3 file naming system (i.e. "BBBBBBBB.XXX"), if this option is enabled the MicroEmacs will adhere to this system for auto-save and backup file names whenever possible. See
$auto-time(5) for more information on the naming convention used. This indirectly sets bit 0x400 of the
$system(5) variable.
# Backups
This option only has an effect when DOS File Names is disabled. Setting this to a number greater than zero enables multiple backup files to be created, the number determined by this value. If set to zero (or less) then only a single backup file is created. This indirectly sets the
$kept-versions(5) variable.
Ignore Files
Sets a list extensions of files to be ignored in file completion, e.g. MicroEmacs backup files (~). This indirectly sets the
$file-ignore(5) variable.
System Clipboard
Sets the required interaction with the external system clipboard; this sets bits 0x800000, 0x4000000 and 0x8000000 of the
$system(5) variable.
Cursor Blink Rate
Sets the cursor blink period in millisecond. The first entry box sets the cursor visible time, a setting of zero disables blinking. The second box sets the hidden time. A visible time of 600 and hidden time of 200 gives a reasonable blink cycle. This indirectly sets the
$cursor-blink(5) variable.
Fence Display
Sets the preferred method of displaying a matching fence, a fence is one of the following brackets:
{...} (...) [...]
Jumping to the opening fence only occurs when the closing brace is typed, whereas the drawing of matching fences occurs whenever the cursor is on an open fence or one character past the close fence. When this option is set to "Never Display" the
buffer-setup(3) setting is ignored.
Scroll Bars
Selects the scroll bar support required. When Splitter is enabled, the first character of the scroll bar and mode-line is a split character used for splitting the window into two using the mouse. This indirectly sets the
$scroll-bar(5) variable.
Horizontal Scroll
Vertical Scroll
Color Scheme
Sets the color scheme setup macro file name which is executed at start-up. MicroEmacs by default comes with 4 color schemes. Color schemes can be created and altered using the
scheme-editor(3) dialog.
Platform - UNIX Console Setup
Only present on UNIX platforms when using the termcap interface, all the Console platform settings are kept independent of the X interface settings.
Display Char Set
See Platform UNIX Setup above.
UTF-8 encode term I/O
Enable this option if your terminal is using UTF-8 encoding. This can usually be determined by disabling the option then executing
insert-symbol(3), if many of the characters in the second half of the table are drawn as a question mark within a diamond (<?>) the terminal is using UTF-8 encoding and the option should be enabled.
Extend Char Set
See Platform UNIX Setup above, only supported when UTF-8 encoding is enabled. When enabled MicroEmacs uses specific Unicode characters, typically not available in the current charset, to render the characters 0x00 to 0x1f to improve the visual rendering of the
$box-chars(5) and
$window-chars(5) characters used for drawing the dialogs and menus.
Termcap Color
This option determines whether Termcap based colors should be used. These are typically the standard eight colors and may not be supported on all terminals. If this option is disabled Termcap fonts (such as bold) are used instead to create a primitive hi-lighting. This indirectly sets bit 0x004 of the
$system(5) variable.
Use Fonts
See Platform UNIX Setup above.
Draw White Spaces
See Platform UNIX Setup above.
Enable Toolbar
See Platform UNIX Setup above.
Client Server
See Platform UNIX Setup above.
DOS File Names
See Platform UNIX Setup above.
# Backups
See Platform UNIX Setup above.
Ignore Files
See Platform UNIX Setup above.
Cursor Blink Rate
See Platform UNIX Setup above.
Fence Display
See Platform UNIX Setup above.
Scroll Bars
See Platform UNIX Setup above.
Horizontal Scroll
See Platform UNIX Setup above.
Vertical Scroll
See Platform UNIX Setup above.
Color Scheme
See Platform UNIX Setup above.
Platform - Windows Window Setup
Only present on Microsoft Windows window-based machines, see below for the Console setup.
Font Name
Sets the windows font name and size. This indirectly executes
change-font(2) with the given font name. MicroEmacs may only use a Fixed Mono Font, either an OEM font as used by the MS-DOS command line, or the more conventional ANSI fonts. The fonts are selected using the Change Font button which invokes a dialog to allow the available fonts to be selected. True-Type mono fonts such as Courier New or Lucida Console are typically used.
Weight & Size
Allows the size and weight of the font to be selected, specified as weight, width and height. The weight is typically 4, this corresponds to a regular weighting, 7 is bold. width is the width of the font in pixels, this may be 0 when the height is specified as negative. height is the height of the font, typically a negative value (where the width is 0), which produces a proportionally sized font, values of in the range -11 .. -14 generally produce reasonably sized fonts. The hight and width may be specified as positive values and allow explicit font dimensions to be specified, generally used to achieve a precise font size requirement.
Fonts
See Use Fonts in Platform UNIX Setup above.
Display Char Set
See Platform UNIX Setup above.
Extend Char Set
See Platform UNIX Setup above.
Choose Font
Opens a windows dialog allowing the user to select a font, the selection is used to configure the above font fields.
Draw White Spaces
See Platform UNIX Setup above.
Capture Alt Space
Used to enable/disable the capture and interpretation of the 'A-space' key sequence. If this key sequence is not captured by MicroEmacs it is passed back to Windows which opens the top left window menu, allow keyboard access to Window commands like Maximize.
Enable Toolbar
See Platform UNIX Setup above.
Client Server
See Platform UNIX Setup above.
DOS File Names
See Platform UNIX Setup above. Note that some early version of Windows '95 have problems with ~ extensions. Service release 2 fixed these problems - if you experience problems then return to 8.3 filename mode - note that MicroEmacs will still store longer file names, only the backup naming convention changes.
# Backups
See Platform UNIX Setup above.
Ignore Files
See Platform UNIX Setup above.
Cursor Blink Rate
See Platform UNIX Setup above.
Fence Display
See Platform UNIX Setup above.
Scroll Bars
See Platform UNIX Setup above.
Horizontal Scroll
See Platform UNIX Setup above.
Vertical Scroll
See Platform UNIX Setup above.
Color Scheme
See Platform UNIX Setup above.
Platform - Win32 Console Setup
Only present on Windows platforms when using the console interface, all the Console platform settings are kept independent of the Window interface settings.
Display Char Set
See Platform UNIX Setup above.
Draw White Spaces
See Platform UNIX Setup above.
Enable Toolbar
See Platform UNIX Setup above.
Client Server
See Platform Win32 Setup above.
DOS File Names
See Platform Win32 Setup above.
# Backups
See Platform UNIX Setup above.
Ignore Files
See Platform UNIX Setup above.
Cursor Blink Rate
See Platform UNIX Setup above.
Fence Display
See Platform UNIX Setup above.
Scroll Bars
See Platform UNIX Setup above.
Horizontal Scroll
See Platform UNIX Setup above.
Vertical Scroll
See Platform UNIX Setup above.
Color Scheme
See Platform UNIX Setup above.
Platform - DOS Setup
Only present on DOS machines.
Graphic Mode # and Double Lines
Sets the DOS graphics mode number and whether the number of text lines can be doubled. This indirectly executes
change-font(2) with the given font name.
Display Char Set
See Platform UNIX Setup above.
Double Lines
In some graphic modes the number of text lines can be doubled via a dos terminal call, this option is worth trying if more visible text lines are required.
Draw White Spaces
See Platform UNIX Setup above.
Enable Toolbar
See Platform UNIX Setup above.
Ignore Files
See Platform UNIX Setup above.
Cursor Blink Rate
See Platform UNIX Setup above.
Fence Display
See Platform UNIX Setup above.
Scroll Bars
See Platform UNIX Setup above.
Horizontal Scroll
See Platform UNIX Setup above.
Vertical Scroll
See Platform UNIX Setup above.
Color Scheme
See Platform UNIX Setup above.
Mouse
The mouse device creates keys in a similar way to regular keyboard keys and, like keyboard keysm they must be bound before they are used. MicroEmacs does not have the mouse functionality hard coded into the editor, it provides a macro interface to the mouse for ultimate flexibility and a set of default functionality which can be bound to the mouse in a variety of ways.
All the mouse controlling macros are stored in mouse.emf and mouseosd.emf although some buffers have local functionality over-rides, such as
file-browser(3). The user can expand the range of mouse functionality but how this is achieved is beyond the scope of this documentation.
The user-setup dialog allows the user to configure the mouse to use the default functionality, as follows:-
Enable Mouse
Enables or disables the mouse, when disabled the mouse can not be used and will not generate any key events. This does not apply to UNIX Termcap systems as the mouse cut and paste operation is performed by the Xterm. This indirectly sets bit 0x010 of the
$mouse(5) variable.
Number Buttons
Sets the number of buttons on the mouse, may be 1, 2 or 3. MicroEmacs usually obtains the correct number for the system, but sometimes this can be wrong. This entry can be used to correct this problem. For one button mice, the button is considered to be the left mouse button, two button mice have an left and right button. This indirectly sets the
$mouse(5) variable.
Swap Buttons
If enabled then the left and right buttons are swapped, i.e. when the left button is pressed it executes the right button bindings. This indirectly sets bit 0x020 of the
$mouse(5) variable.
Simulate 3 Buttons
If enabled then pressing the left and right buttons together with generate a middle button press event, this feature is for people with a 2 button mouse who want more. The two buttons must be pressed or release within 10 millisecond of each other.
The following four fields determine which mouse button binding the user wishes to view and change:-
Button
The mouse button, Left, Right or Middle for the normal buttons and Whell Up or Whell Down for the pilot wheel events.
Modifier - Shift
The action of the mouse can be different for every modifier key setting, if this is enabled then the binding being modified is for the Button being pressed with the Shift key held down.
Modifier - Control
If enabled then modifying the action when the Button is pressed with the Control key held down.
Modifier - Alt
If enabled then modifying the action when the Button is pressed with the Alt key held down.
The following two fields determine the functionality of the button defined by the previous four fields:-
Bound To
Handle Scroll Bars
When enabled, if the button is pressed with the mouse on the main menu, a scroll bar or mode-line the standard action is performed, such as opening the main menu or scrolling up or down the window etc. The bound To command is only called if the mouse is in a main window. If disabled, the Bound To command is always called.
Defaults
Rests the mouse configuration to the default settings.
Miscellaneous
NOTES
user-setup is a macro using
osd(2), defined in userstp.emf.
SEE ALSO
User Profiles,
Company Profiles,
Installation,
Top Main Menu,
buffer-setup(3),
change-company(3),
change-scheme(3),
scheme-editor(3),
alias-path-setup(3),
cc-setup(3),
cvs-setup(3),
find-setup(3),
shell-tool-setup(3),
$user-name(5),
$user-path(5).
(c) Copyright JASSPA 2025
Last Modified: 2025/08/28
Generated On: 2025/09/29