How can I reload .emacs after changing it?

Question

How can I get Emacs to reload all my definitions that I have updated in .emacs without restarting Emacs?

Answer 1

If you've got your .emacs file open in the currently active buffer:

M-x eval-buffer

Answer 2

I'm currently on Ubuntu 15.04; I like to define a key for this.
[M-insert] translates to alt-insert on my keyboard.
Put this in your .emacs file:

(global-set-key [M-insert] '(lambda() (interactive) (load-file "~/.emacs")))

Answer 3

Very strange that the very convenient

M-x eval-buffer

is not mentioned here.

It immediately evaluates all code in the buffer, its the quickest method, if your .emacs is idempotent.

Answer 4

Keyboard shortcut:

(defun reload-init-file ()
  (interactive)
  (load-file user-init-file))

(global-set-key (kbd "C-c C-l") 'reload-init-file)    ; Reload .emacs file

Answer 5

If you happen to have a shell opened inside Emacs, you can also do:

. ~/.emacs

May save a few key strokes.

Answer 6

solution

M-: (load user-init-file)

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notes

• you type it in Eval: prompt (including the parentheses)
• user-init-file is a variable holding the ~/.emacs value (pointing to the configuration file path) by default
• (load) is shorter, older, and non-interactive version of (load-file); it is not an emacs command (to be typed in M-x) but a mere elisp function

---

conclusion

M-: > M-x