How do I display line numbers in Emacs (not in the mode line)?

Question

I know how to display line numbers (and columns) in the mode-line, but I'd like emacs to display the line numbers for all the lines on the left-hand side. I've seen this done in vim and other text editors. How do I do this for emacs?

score 156 · Accepted Answer · answered Nov 19 '10 at 10:28

156

M-x linum-mode (or global-linum-mode), and put (global-linum-mode t) in your ~/.emacs (or ~/.emacs.d/init.el) to enable it at startup.

answered Nov 19 '10 at 10:28

monotux

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Is there a way to do this with column numbers? – Topo Nov 24 '12 at 20:09
For any late readers: `M-x column-number-mode` is one way to display the current column your pointer is at. – monotux Mar 13 '14 at 11:42
There is neither an init.el file in my .emacs.d directory nor a .emacs file in my ~. Where can I find them? – JobHunter69 Jul 04 '16 at 18:48
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You can create one if you don't already have a config. – Nick McCurdy Sep 10 '16 at 18:56
This worked for me. Heads up for Windows users - this file is located in C:\Users\username\AppData\Roaming directory, and is called ".emacs". Just add (global-linum-mode t) at the end of the file. – Kirill Yunussov Oct 01 '17 at 16:25
Could also be in the "C:\Users\username\" directory – Kirill Yunussov Oct 02 '17 at 12:49

score 11 · Answer 2 · answered Jun 04 '18 at 23:49

11

linum-mode → old, hack, slow. Emacs 23 (released in 2009).
global-display-line-numbers-mode → Emacs 26 (beta as of 2018-03-30)

Put this in your emacs init file:

(when (version<= "26.0.50" emacs-version )
  (global-display-line-numbers-mode))

http://ergoemacs.org/emacs/emacs_line_number_mode.html

answered Jun 04 '18 at 23:49

rofrol

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This worked for me – Billal Begueradj Aug 20 '18 at 18:22
Adding `(global-display-line-numbers-mode)` to `.emacs` file works in Emacs 26! – joseluisq Apr 01 '19 at 21:07

icyrock.com · Answer 3 · 2017-06-14T03:36:49.887

11

This page:

https://www.emacswiki.org/emacs/LineNumbers

lists a few different options.

monotux's answer is currently the first option listed there. An alternative (also listed) is NLinum:

http://elpa.gnu.org/packages/nlinum.html

You should be able to install from ELPA:

M-x package-install RET nlinum RET

and then use it e.g. like this:

(use-package nlinum
  :config
  (global-nlinum-mode))

edited Jun 14 '17 at 03:36

answered Nov 18 '10 at 05:49

icyrock.com

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Just a link is not ideal for the SX format. – Prof. Falken Nov 15 '12 at 10:03
@Prof.Falken Especially when the link leads to a 404 Not Found. Please fix your answer. – byxor Jun 13 '17 at 12:58
1

Thanks both - agreed, though [monotux's answer](https://superuser.com/a/212669/48734) already has all the needed information. I edited to correct the link and provide an alternative one. – icyrock.com Jun 14 '17 at 03:37

How do I display line numbers in Emacs (not in the mode line)?

3 Answers3