how to load a file in init.el

Question

I have a

~/.emacs.d/init.el

which includes:-

(load-file "blabla.el")

blabla.el is in ~/.emacs.d/

When I start emacs I get this error:-

File is missing: Cannot open load file, No such file or directory, /root/blabla.el

I can use a full path to load the file, but do I need to? I thought emacs would look in emacs home directory (~/.emacs.d/) to find files. What have I missed?

Answer 1

load-file needs an absolute file name. If you don't give it an absolute path, it will have to generate one based on the current buffer's default-directory which isn't going to be what you want:

$ cd /
$ emacs -Q --batch --eval "(load-file \"foo.el\")"
Cannot open load file: No such file or directory, /foo.el

$ cd /tmp
$ emacs -Q --batch --eval "(load-file \"foo.el\")"
Cannot open load file: No such file or directory, /tmp/foo.el

I thought emacs would look in emacs home directory (~/.emacs.d/) to find files.

You don't want that either. Emacs will not look in ~/.emacs.d by default when loading lisp files (and see Warning message about load-path. or https://stackoverflow.com/q/24779041 regarding the fact that Emacs will complain if you try to make it do so).

In code, you would usually use either (load "foo") or (require 'foo) to load a foo.el[c] library with Emacs looking for it in the directories listed in the load-path variable.

I suggest reading:

• C-hig (emacs)Lisp Libraries
• C-hig (elisp)How Programs Do Loading
• C-hf require