How to set the font size in Emacs?

Question

I also want to save the font size in my .emacs file.

see also: http://stackoverflow.com/questions/2091881/emacs-font-sizing-with-ctrl-key-and-mouse-scroll — Michael Paulukonis, Mar 25 '11 at 13:41
This is the simplest answer that worked for me http://stackoverflow.com/a/6050987/215094 — Zeynel, Dec 18 '13 at 18:24
Novice, use `.emacs.d/init.el` instead which is better (cleaner and better version control) — XY L, Apr 08 '16 at 08:35

score 458 · Accepted Answer · edited Dec 24 '13 at 13:22

458

(set-face-attribute 'default nil :height 100)

The value is in 1/10pt, so 100 will give you 10pt, etc.

edited Dec 24 '13 at 13:22

elemakil

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answered Nov 17 '08 at 17:49

huaiyuan

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I'm trying to do this, but in Emacs 23.1.1 the auto-complete will only show the options `set-face-background set-face-font set-face-inverse-video-p set-face-underline set-face-background-pixmap set-face-foreground set-face-stipple set-face-underline-p`. – The Student Jan 24 '13 at 12:38
9

@TomBrito Which autocomplete? In my Emacs, `set-face-attribute` is indeed missing from `M-x` (`execute-extended-command`), but it is present in `M-:` (`eval-expression`) and `C-h f` (`describe-function`). `M-:` is probably what you want, if you don't want to put this in your `.emacs` file. – Rory O'Kane May 09 '13 at 14:20
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@RoryO'Kane Why are some commands not available via `M-x`? Noob question, I'm sure, but I'm not familiar with how emacs "works" at a low-level – DavidS Mar 06 '15 at 20:53
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@DavidS Good question. I wrote up an answer at “[Why are some Emacs functions not available via `M-x`?](http://stackoverflow.com/a/29199808/578288)”. Researching the answer turned out to be educational. – Rory O'Kane Mar 22 '15 at 21:05
2

This solution doesn't work though when you have customized some faces, e.g. to have a distinct font, slant, etc. They would be left with the old size, and you gotta set them individually. – Hi-Angel Jan 28 '19 at 08:22
Confirmed does not work in GNU Emacs 25.2.2 for my init.el file at least. I love having a beautiful night of coding on emacs, then spending 1+ hr trying to figure out how to decrease the font size. – Matthaeus Gaius Caesar Apr 04 '22 at 05:53

score 414 · Answer 2 · edited Oct 08 '14 at 02:58

414

From Emacswiki, GNU Emacs 23 has a built-in key combination:

C-xC-+ and C-xC-- to increase or decrease the buffer text size

edited Oct 08 '14 at 02:58

programking

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answered May 04 '10 at 21:06

Brandon Leiran

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or `C-x C-=’ and ‘C-x C--’ – HongboZhu Mar 19 '12 at 15:37
75

This is local to that particular buffer. So when you switch to other files you're editing, they will not see the effect of this change. Also when you close and reopen the buffer (or even restart Emacs), they'll be at the old default size. This may be what you want; I'm just stating this for completeness. – ShreevatsaR May 22 '12 at 04:43
11

The OP wants to save config in .emacs, and this doesn't. – xwl Mar 05 '15 at 16:42
works in spacemacs UI (in macos), to set in init.el - https://stackoverflow.com/a/296316/432903 – prayagupa Oct 01 '18 at 05:26
In elisp, these keys run the `text-scale-adjust`, `text-scale-increase`, and `text-scale-mode` functions in `face-remap.el` – Dave X Jul 06 '21 at 01:33
If you want `C-x C-+` to increase font size in *all* buffers, check [this](https://stackoverflow.com/a/60641769/9450152) post – kotchwane Feb 12 '22 at 12:43

score 82 · Answer 3 · edited Aug 09 '22 at 12:07

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Press Shift and the first mouse button. You can change the font size in the following way: This website has more detail.

edited Aug 09 '22 at 12:07

Dharman

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answered Nov 17 '08 at 01:07

George Stocker

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@AndrewLarned To make the change permanent, you'd make the change in your .emacs file. (See Chris Conway's answer for an example of what he has in his .emacs file.) – Ram Narasimhan May 24 '12 at 03:16
Is there any way to control how much it increases or decreases the font when doing this? – Mauricio A. Cinelli Nov 13 '13 at 12:35

score 44 · Answer 4 · edited Oct 08 '10 at 11:00

M-x customize-face RET default will allow you to set the face default face, on which all other faces base on. There you can set the font-size.

Here is what is in my .emacs. actually, color-theme will set the basics, then my custom face setting will override some stuff. the custom-set-faces is written by emacs's customize-face mechanism:

;; my colour theme is whateveryouwant :)
(require 'color-theme)
(color-theme-initialize)
(color-theme-whateveryouwant)

(custom-set-faces
  ;; custom-set-faces was added by Custom.
  ;; If you edit it by hand, you could mess it up, so be careful.
  ;; Your init file should contain only one such instance.
  ;; If there is more than one, they won't work right.
 '(default ((t (:stipple nil :background "white" :foreground "black" :inverse-video nil :box nil :strike-through nil :overline nil :underline nil :slant normal :weight normal :height 98 :width normal :foundry "unknown" :family "DejaVu Sans Mono"))))
 '(font-lock-comment-face ((t (:foreground "darkorange4"))))
 '(font-lock-function-name-face ((t (:foreground "navy"))))
 '(font-lock-keyword-face ((t (:foreground "red4"))))
 '(font-lock-type-face ((t (:foreground "black"))))
 '(linum ((t (:inherit shadow :background "gray95"))))
 '(mode-line ((t (nil nil nil nil :background "grey90" (:line-width -1 :color nil :style released-button) "black" :box nil :width condensed :foundry "unknown" :family "DejaVu Sans Mono")))))

Many advanced emacs users prefer to not use the customize system, as it's error prone and intermingles all customizations. It's better to break your customization up into individual .el files and load them from init.el, and add your mode customizations as elisp code within each one. See huaiyuan's answer above to see how to set font via elisp. — EdwardG, Jun 19 '13 at 02:28
FWIW, the emacs maintainer (presumably an "advanced" user of emacs) uses the customize system: https://github.com/jwiegley/dot-emacs/blob/bb93466aab71b1140da31f3e6e16e8d0615b2c21/settings.el#L1227-L1252 — Ben, Mar 13 '18 at 17:02

ravi404 · Answer 5 · 2014-08-05T07:01:38.320

40

This is another simple solution. Works in 24 as well

(set-default-font "Monaco 14")

Short cuts:

`C-+` increases font size
`C--` Decreases font size

edited Aug 05 '14 at 07:01

answered Feb 24 '14 at 13:39

ravi404

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`set-default-font` is now deprecated. Use either `(set-frame-font "Monaco 14")` or `(set-face-attribute 'default nil :height 130)` – kotchwane Feb 12 '22 at 12:04
@kotchwane Thank you for the warning. Do you know what's the relationship between the size in `set-frame-font` and in `:height`? In my Emacs, setting the latter to 93, 94, or 95 has exactly the same effect. – pglpm Aug 02 '22 at 10:55

score 16 · Answer 6 · answered Jan 25 '13 at 11:51

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Open emacs in X11, goto menu Options, select "set default font ...", change the font size. Select "save options" in the same menu. Done.

answered Jan 25 '13 at 11:51

TheGreatPower

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The changes do not persist if I restart emacs. – dips Feb 07 '19 at 02:28
To keep the setting for the next time, make sure you select _save options_ after setting the font – G Eitan Apr 13 '22 at 08:44

score 15 · Answer 7 · answered Nov 17 '08 at 02:11

I've got the following in my .emacs:

(defun fontify-frame (frame)
  (set-frame-parameter frame 'font "Monospace-11"))

;; Fontify current frame
(fontify-frame nil)
;; Fontify any future frames
(push 'fontify-frame after-make-frame-functions)

You can subsitute any font of your choosing for "Monospace-11". The set of available options is highly system-dependent. Using M-x set-default-font and looking at the tab-completions will give you some ideas. On my system, with Emacs 23 and anti-aliasing enabled, can choose system fonts by name, e.g., Monospace, Sans Serif, etc.

david villa · Answer 8 · 2018-06-06T17:42:08.353

11

zoom.cfg and global-zoom.cfg provide font size change bindings (from EmacsWiki)

C-- or C-mousewheel-up: increases font size.
C-+ or C-mousewheel-down: decreases font size.
C-0 reverts font size to default.

edited Jun 06 '18 at 17:42

answered Apr 17 '13 at 08:26

david villa

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`C-0` is already in good use unfortunately. And the links broke. But great idea! – Michel de Ruiter Sep 13 '21 at 14:49

score 10 · Answer 9 · answered Jul 17 '14 at 16:36

Here's an option for resizing the font heights interactively, one point at a time:

;; font sizes
(global-set-key (kbd "s-=")
                (lambda ()
                  (interactive)
                  (let ((old-face-attribute (face-attribute 'default :height)))
                    (set-face-attribute 'default nil :height (+ old-face-attribute 10)))))

(global-set-key (kbd "s--")
                (lambda ()
                  (interactive)
                  (let ((old-face-attribute (face-attribute 'default :height)))
                    (set-face-attribute 'default nil :height (- old-face-attribute 10)))))

This is preferable when you want to resize text in all buffers. I don't like solutions using text-scale-increase and text-scale-decrease as line numbers in the gutter can get cut off afterwards.

This is perfect! Thank you so much. – Fomentia Mar 28 '16 at 19:51 — Fomentia, Mar 28 '16 at 19:51

score 9 · Answer 10 · edited Dec 22 '13 at 14:49

9

Firefox and other programs allow you to increase and decrease the font size with C-+ and C--. I set up my .emacs so that I have that same ability by adding these lines of code:

(global-set-key [C-kp-add] 'text-scale-increase)

(global-set-key [C-kp-subtract] 'text-scale-decrease)

edited Dec 22 '13 at 14:49

Paul Richter

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answered Dec 22 '13 at 14:20

bzimmerly

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score 5 · Answer 11 · answered Mar 05 '17 at 07:12

Aquamacs:

(set-face-attribute 'default nil :font "Monaco-16" )

From the Emacs Wiki Globally Change the Default Font, it says you can use either of these:

(set-face-attribute 'default nil :font FONT )

(set-frame-font FONT nil t)

Where FONT is something like "Monaco-16", e.g.:

(set-face-attribute 'default nil :font "Monaco-16" )

There was an extra closing parenthesis in the first suggestion on the wiki, which caused an error on startup. I finally noticed the extra closing parenthesis, and I subsequently corrected the suggestion on the wiki. Then both of the suggestions worked for me.

score 4 · Answer 12 · answered Nov 17 '11 at 15:54

4

It all depends what you mean by change the font size. This EmacsWiki section provides the best and most complete information. It distinguishes the various cases (text scaling, frame font, buffer/frame, etc.): Changing Font Size.

answered Nov 17 '11 at 15:54

Drew

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score 2 · Answer 13 · answered Apr 15 '13 at 00:21

2

In AquaMacs CMD + and CMD - adjust the font size for the current buffer.

answered Apr 15 '13 at 00:21

Matthew H

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score 2 · Answer 14 · answered Apr 26 '18 at 22:31

Here's a snippet that lets you directly specify the global font size using an interactive function:

(defun set-font-size ()
    "Set the font size."
  (interactive)
  (set-face-attribute
   'default nil :height
   (string-to-number
    (read-string "Font size: " (number-to-string (face-attribute 'default :height nil))))))

score 1 · Answer 15 · answered Aug 15 '12 at 16:09

I you're happy with console emacs (emacs -nw), modern vterm implementations (like gnome-terminal) tend to have better font support. Plus if you get used to that, you can then use tmux, and so working with your full environment on remote servers becomes possible, even without X.

score 1 · Answer 16 · answered Apr 11 '10 at 22:32

1

In NTEmacs 23.1, the Options menu has a "Set default font..." option.

answered Apr 11 '10 at 22:32

Phil

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score 1 · Answer 17 · answered Jun 17 '15 at 10:41

I use hydra package to control font increase/decrease contiguously by pressing f2 + + + +/f2 - - - -, which means that press f2 once, and then using +/- to control only, and restore default font size by f2 0. Because i have keypad, so I also bind keypad to the font setting.

(defhydra hydra-zoom (global-map "<f2>")
  "zoom"
  ("<kp-add>" text-scale-increase "in")
  ("+" text-scale-increase "in")
  ("-" text-scale-decrease "out")
  ("<kp-subtract>" text-scale-decrease "out")
  ("0" (text-scale-set 0) "reset")
  ("<kp-0>" (text-scale-set 0) "reset"))

And modern editor mouse control functionality supported by below key bindings, press control + mouse wheel to increase/decrease font.

(global-set-key (kbd "<C-wheel-up>") 'text-scale-increase)
(global-set-key (kbd "<C-wheel-down>") 'text-scale-decrease)

The key bindings for the mouse wheel don't work, I have version `GNU Emacs 24.3.1 (x86_64-pc-linux-gnu, GTK+ Version 3.10.7)` — Zelphir Kaltstahl, Nov 13 '15 at 17:45
Those would be `(global-set-key (kbd "") 'text-scale-increase) (global-set-key (kbd "") 'text-scale-decrease)` In my version of emacs (25) — stefano, Mar 09 '17 at 22:07

How to set the font size in Emacs?

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