Emacs: Font Setup
This page shows you how to set font for emacs.
Change Current Buffer Font Size Interactively by Command
- Alt+x
text-scale-increase - Make font size larger in current buffer.
- Alt+x
text-scale-decrease - Make font size smaller in current buffer.
- Alt+x
text-scale-adjust - Changes font size in current buffer. Call it, then press + to increase, - to decrease. You can press them repeatedly. Press 0 to set it back to default size. Press any key to exit.
Change Font/Size Globally by Menu
Chose the menu [Options ▸ Set Default Font…], then menu [Options ▸ Save Options].
Find the Current Font Used
Alt+x describe-char, then look at the line in “display:”. It shows the font used for the character under cursor.
Set Default Font/Size Globally in Init File
Use set-frame-font to set default font and size.
(when (member "Consolas" (font-family-list)) (set-frame-font "Consolas" t t))
You can add a font size:
(when (member "Consolas" (font-family-list)) (set-frame-font "Consolas-14" t t))
or
;; set default font (cond ((string-equal system-type "windows-nt") ; Microsoft Windows (when (member "Consolas" (font-family-list)) (set-frame-font "Consolas" t t))) ((string-equal system-type "darwin") ; macOS (when (member "Menlo" (font-family-list)) (set-frame-font "Menlo" t t))) ((string-equal system-type "gnu/linux") ; linux (when (member "DejaVu Sans Mono" (font-family-list)) (set-frame-font "DejaVu Sans Mono" t t))))
See also: Elisp: Determine OS, Emacs Version, Machine Host Name
List available fonts
(print (font-family-list))
Select the elisp code, then Alt+x eval-region. [see Evaluate Emacs Lisp Code]
You can see the result in “*Messages*” buffer. view-echo-area-messages 【Ctrl+h e】.
For linux, see Standard Fonts on Linuxes
Check if a font exist
;; returns true if Symbola exists (member "Symbola" (font-family-list))
[see Emacs: Evaluate Elisp Code]
Set Font for Symbols
;; set font for symbols (set-fontset-font t 'symbol (cond ((string-equal system-type "windows-nt") (cond ((member "Segoe UI Symbol" (font-family-list)) "Segoe UI Symbol"))) ((string-equal system-type "darwin") (cond ((member "Apple Symbols" (font-family-list)) "Apple Symbols"))) ((string-equal system-type "gnu/linux") (cond ((member "Symbola" (font-family-list)) "Symbola")))))
Set Font for emoji
(progn ;; set font for emoji (if before emacs 28, should come after setting symbols. emacs 28 now has 'emoji . before, emoji is part of 'symbol) (set-fontset-font t (if (version< emacs-version "28.1") '(#x1f300 . #x1fad0) 'emoji ) (cond ((member "Apple Color Emoji" (font-family-list)) "Apple Color Emoji") ((member "Noto Color Emoji" (font-family-list)) "Noto Color Emoji") ((member "Noto Emoji" (font-family-list)) "Noto Emoji") ((member "Segoe UI Emoji" (font-family-list)) "Segoe UI Emoji") ((member "Symbola" (font-family-list)) "Symbola"))))
- [see Unicode Emoji 😄 😱 😸 👸 👽 🙋]
- [see Download Free Unicode Fonts]
Set Font for Chinese
;; set font for chinese (set-fontset-font t 'han (cond ((string-equal system-type "windows-nt") (cond ((member "Microsoft YaHei" (font-family-list)) "Microsoft YaHei") ((member "Microsoft JhengHei" (font-family-list)) "Microsoft JhengHei") ((member "SimHei" (font-family-list)) "SimHei"))) ((string-equal system-type "darwin") (cond ((member "Hei" (font-family-list)) "Hei") ((member "Heiti SC" (font-family-list)) "Heiti SC") ((member "Heiti TC" (font-family-list)) "Heiti TC"))) ((string-equal system-type "gnu/linux") (cond ((member "WenQuanYi Micro Hei" (font-family-list)) "WenQuanYi Micro Hei")))))
Note: 2020-05-28, in emacs 26 or before, on Microsoft Windows 10, if you don't set font for Chinese, and if a buffer has Chinese character, then emacs operation such as moving cursor will be super slow, like 1/3 of a second when you press arrow key. See also: Chinese Font
Set Font for Other Languages
- script-representative-chars
- Variable. Alist of scripts vs the representative characters. Each element is a cons (SCRIPT . CHARS). SCRIPT is a symbol representing a script or a subgroup of a script. CHARS is a list or a vector of characters. [see Emacs: Show Variable Value]
Find a script supported in emacs by the variable script-representative-chars, then find out what's the font name in your operating system that supports that script. Then you can setup a font for the script in emacs, like this:
;; set font for cuneiform (set-fontset-font t 'cuneiform (cond ((string-equal system-type "windows-nt") (cond ((member "Segoe UI Historic" (font-family-list)) "Segoe UI Historic"))) ((string-equal system-type "darwin") (cond ((member "Noto Sans Cuneiform Regular" (font-family-list)) "Noto Sans Cuneiform Regular"))) ((string-equal system-type "gnu/linux") (cond ((member "Noto Sans Cuneiform Regular" (font-family-list)) "Noto Sans Cuneiform Regular"))))) (set-fontset-font t 'phoenician (cond ((string-equal system-type "windows-nt") (cond ((member "Segoe UI Historic" (font-family-list)) "Segoe UI Historic"))) ((string-equal system-type "darwin") (cond ((member "Noto Sans Phoenician Regular" (font-family-list)) "Noto Sans Phoenician Regular"))) ((string-equal system-type "gnu/linux") (cond ((member "Noto Sans Phoenician Regular" (font-family-list)) "Noto Sans Phoenician Regular"))))) (set-fontset-font t 'deseret (cond ((string-equal system-type "windows-nt") (cond ((member "Segoe UI Symbol" (font-family-list)) "Segoe UI Symbol"))) ((string-equal system-type "darwin") (cond ((member "Apple Symbols" (font-family-list)) "Apple Symbols"))) ((string-equal system-type "gnu/linux") (cond ((member "Noto Sans Deseret" (font-family-list)) "Noto Sans Deseret"))))) (set-fontset-font t 'shavian (cond ((string-equal system-type "windows-nt") (cond ((member "Segoe UI Historic" (font-family-list)) "Segoe UI Historic"))) ((string-equal system-type "darwin") (cond ((member "Apple Symbols" (font-family-list)) "Apple Symbols"))) ((string-equal system-type "gnu/linux") (cond ((member "Noto Sans Shavian Regular" (font-family-list)) "Noto Sans Shavian Regular"))))) (set-fontset-font t 'egyptian (cond ((string-equal system-type "windows-nt") (cond ((member "Segoe UI Historic" (font-family-list)) "Segoe UI Historic"))) ((string-equal system-type "darwin") (cond ((member "Noto Sans Egyptian Hieroglyphs" (font-family-list)) "Noto Sans Egyptian Hieroglyphs"))) ((string-equal system-type "gnu/linux") (cond ((member "Aegyptus" (font-family-list)) "Aegyptus")))))
How to Display Emoji on MacOS
2022-01-22 Note: this seems fixed on MacOS's emacs distro as of 2022-01-22
FSF GNU emacs disabled displaying color emoji on Mac, so that Mac won't work better than linux. See GNU Emacs Removes Color Emoji Support on the Mac
Solution:
download font “symbola” at Download Free Unicode Fonts
Put this in your Emacs Init File:
;; specify font for all unicode characters (when (member "Symbola" (font-family-list)) (set-fontset-font t 'unicode "Symbola" nil 'prepend))
How to install font
- Microsoft Windows: double click on the font.
- MacOS: double click on the font.
- Linux: How to Install Font, List Fonts
Restart emacs. Emacs should see it.