= Emacs 23 =

Use the menu:

* Options > Set Default Font ...
* Options > Save Options

This saves the font to .emacs.

Optionally, you can add some code to init.el directly:

##(set-face-attribute 'default nil :font "Andale Mono-12")##

or this, which works quite well for Emacs on Windows:

##(set-face-attribute 'default nil :family "Consolas" :height 110)##

= For older Emacs-versions = 

== Automatic ==
Lisp:frame-restore.el will save/restore the font you've selected through the mouse-set-font menu.  this means you never have to know the "X format" name.  very handy if you change the font often.


== Manual ==
The problem is that you need to use the X format of specifying a font.
Here's how to do it (works with recent versions of Gnu-Emacs (Oct.2007)):

* Switch to the *scratch* buffer (Menu: Buffers--%%*scratch*%%)
* type ##(w32-select-font)## followed by C-j (or M-x ##eval-print-last-sexp##)
* select the desired font from the menu dialog that ensues
* copy the string that is displayed (something like: 
  ##"-outline-Lucida Sans Typewriter-normal-r-normal-normal-12-90-96-96-c-*-iso8859-1"##)
  and paste it into the .emacs file (MsWindowsDotEmacs) or the registry (MsWindowsRegistry).
  If .emacs is used the line to add is:
  ##(set-face-font 'default "##/fontname/##")##
  where /fontname/ is the copied string


==For even older Emacs-versions==

(these are earlier guidelines on this page)

<pre>
 From: Michael Slass <mikesl@wrq.com>
 Subject: Re: How to make selected font permanent?
 Newsgroups: gnu.emacs.help
 Date: Tue, 23 Oct 2001 19:22:39 GMT
</pre>

# Set the font to what you like with s-down-mouse-1
# Figure out what that font is called
## switch to the *scratch* buffer 
## enter "(frame-parameters)" without the quotes
## place the cursor after the closing paren and hit C-j
## a list of frame parameters will appear in the buffer.  Look for something in the list like: (font . "-outline-Courier New-normal-r-normal-normal-16-120-96-96-c-100-iso8859-1")
# copy the font form from the *scratch* buffer, and then add this to your .emacs  (notice the added ' before the font form you just copied):
<tt>
 (add-to-list
    'default-frame-alist
    '(font . "-outline-Courier New-normal-r-normal-normal-16-120-96-96-c-100-iso8859-1"))
</tt>

The next time you start emacs, you'll have the font you want.

Even simpler is just to evaluate (press <code>C-x C-e</code> at the end of the line):
<pre>
(insert (prin1-to-string (w32-select-font)))
</pre>

It will show you a dialog, from which you can choose font, and insert its name at the current point.

== Discussion ==

----

With Emacs >= 21.x you can do it like:  <tt>(set-face-font 'default "-misc-fixed-medium-r-normal--15-140-75-75-c-90-iso8859-15")</tt>
  in your .emacs
----

Sorry, but this does not work for me using GNU Emacs 21.2 on Windows XP. I can only
see this: 

((display . "") (visibility . t) (icon-name) (window-id . "917794")
(top . 0) (left . 0) (buffer-list #<buffer *scratch*> #<buffer NEWS>
# <buffer *Minibuf-1*> #<buffer *Customize Faces*>) (unsplittable)
(minibuffer . #<window 4 on *Minibuf-0*>) (modeline . t) (width . 80)
(height . 40) ...)

but not any kind of font information. Any hints?

: Evaluating <tt>(frame-parameters)</tt> on recent versions gets you a truncated result (hence the three dots at the end). To expand the result, move the cursor to any of the three dots at the end and press RETURN. You should now be able to find the font information. --MichaelMason

: I'm sure there's a prettier way to do this in elisp but you can find the font information by pasting this in the scratch buffer, putting the TextCursor at the end, and hitting C-j: (let (r) (mapcar (lambda (e) (if (eq (car e) 'font) (push e r))) (frame-parameters)) r) -- JDC

: Simplest way that i always do is just do M-x set-face-font RET default RET .. now you get the list of the fonts that can be recognized by emacs.. something like -outline-XXX.. Select the one you want, C-k C-g and then paste it in for the default-frame-alist.. --GirishB

: Another way is to type "(frame-parameter nil 'font)" without the quotes to the *scratch* buffer and hit C-j.

: You can display the full set of parameters for the current frame by evaluating <tt>(prin1-to-string (frame-parameters))</tt>. -- MichaelMason
: A pretty printing version of the above: <tt>(pr-to-string (frame-parameters))</tt>. -- Yamitai

: You can display a list of the available fonts by evaluating <tt>(prin1-to-string (x-list-fonts "*"))</tt>. -- MichaelMason

Note: when you use the "change buffer font" menu, the font selected doesn't affect the frame. Examine the buffer-face-mode-remapping variable for that using C-h v buffer-face-mode-remapping. -- Yamitai

[new:DrewAdams:2004-12-30 03:48 UTC]
You can see the available fonts, and the effect each has, by cycling through them with command `##doremi-font+##' in library <tt>[[doremi-frm.el]]</tt>. -- DrewAdams

----
[new]
If you would like emacs to start with a specific font, instead of jumping around as it resizes, you can put your font configuration in the MsWindowsRegistry (and frame size):
<pre>
[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\GNU\Emacs]
"Emacs.FONT"="-*-Lucida Console-normal-r-*-*-11-82-96-96-c-*-iso8859-1"
"Emacs.GEOMETRY"="90x60"
</pre>
-- Dmb

[new]
But how about fontset? Is there any way to define fontset even before emacs starts?
-- JoonhwanLee

[new]
w32-select-font was removed in Emacs 28
-- VagnJohansen

----
CategoryFaces CategoryCustomize