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Re: emacs boot error from .emacs file
From: |
Anselm Helbig |
Subject: |
Re: emacs boot error from .emacs file |
Date: |
Fri, 14 Aug 2009 10:01:28 +0200 |
At Thu, 13 Aug 2009 21:12:10 GMT,
notbob <notbob@nothome.com> wrote:
>
> I get this opening error from the messages buffer for 3-4 secs before
> opening emacs proper:
>
>
> An error has occurred while loading `/home/notbob/.emacs':
>
> Symbol's value as variable is void: *
>
>
> The offending line is no doubt this line of code in my .emacs file:
>
>
> ;;; Dired Settings
> ;setting for recursive dir delete from dired
>
> (setq dired-recursive-deletes *)
>
>
> I know there are several alternative options for the * setting, but I
> want it to cover all files. Which other option might work and not
> trigger the error message prior to opening emacs proper? Is there a
> way to keep the * and not trigger the error?
Emacs interprets your "*" as a variable name, but since this variable
was never set, Emacs throws an error. Legal Lisp could look like this:
(setq dired-recursive-deletes '*)
(setq dired-recursive-deletes "*")
The first case sets dired-recursive-deletes to the symbol `*', the
second one to the string "*". Symbols need to be quoted with a `'',
otherwise the Lisp system will try to look up the symbol's value as a
variable.
These settings will, however, not have the desired effect. See the
documentation: C-h v dired-recursive-deletes RET
Decide whether recursive deletes are allowed.
A value of nil means no recursive deletes.
`always' means delete recursively without asking. This is DANGEROUS!
`top' means ask for each directory at top level, but delete its
subdirectories
without asking.
Anything else means ask for each directory.
So you probably want
(setq dired-recursive-deletes 'always)
HTH,
Anselm
--
Anselm Helbig
mailto:anselm.helbig+news2009@googlemail.com