57.2.6 Customizing Specific Items

Instead of finding the setting you want to change by navigating the structure of groups, here are other ways to specify the settings that you want to customize.

M-x customize-variable <RET> variable <RET>

Set up a customization buffer with just one variable, variable.

M-x customize-face <RET> face <RET>

Set up a customization buffer with just one face, face.

M-x customize-group <RET> group <RET>

Set up a customization buffer with just one group, group.

M-x customize-apropos <RET> regexp <RET>

Set up a customization buffer with all the settings and groups that match regexp.

M-x customize-changed-options <RET> version <RET>

Set up a customization buffer with all the settings and groups whose meaning has changed since Emacs version version.

M-x customize-saved

Set up a customization buffer containing all settings that you have saved with customization buffers.

M-x customize-customized

Set up a customization buffer containing all settings that you have customized but not saved.

If you want to alter a particular variable with the customization buffer, and you know its name, you can use the command M-x customize-variable and specify the variable name. This sets up the customization buffer with just one variable—the one that you asked for. Editing, setting and saving the value work as described above, but only for the specified variable. Minibuffer completion is handy if you only know part of the name. However, this command can only see options that have been loaded in the current Emacs session.

Likewise, you can modify a specific face, chosen by name, using M-x customize-face. By default it operates on the face used on the character after point.

You can also set up the customization buffer with a specific group, using M-x customize-group. The immediate contents of the chosen group, including variables, faces, and other groups, all appear as well (even if not already loaded). However, the subgroups' own contents are not included.

To control more precisely what to customize, you can use M-x customize-apropos. You specify a regular expression as argument; then all loaded settings and groups whose names match this regular expression are set up in the customization buffer. If you specify an empty regular expression, this includes all loaded groups and settings—which takes a long time to set up.

When you upgrade to a new Emacs version, you might want to customize new settings and settings whose meanings or default values have changed. To do this, use M-x customize-changed and specify a previous Emacs version number using the minibuffer. It creates a customization buffer which shows all the settings and groups whose definitions have been changed since the specified version, loading them if necessary.

If you change settings and then decide the change was a mistake, you can use two special commands to revisit your previous changes. Use M-x customize-saved to look at the settings that you have saved. Use M-x customize-customized to look at the settings that you have set but not saved.