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I searched everywhere and mostly people suggest the following code for setting a default color theme:

(require 'color-theme)

However, this doesn't work. When I start emacs I get this error:

Warning (initialization): An error occurred while loading `/home/epsilonvector/.emacs':

Symbol's function definition is void: color-theme-name


This happens for every theme name, even ones whose correctness I'm sure of.

What am I missing?

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2 Answers 2

up vote 3 down vote accepted

Try to insert (color-theme-initialize) in between the require and the call to the theme name.

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This just rescued me from a lot of frustration. Thanks! –  j4w7 Jan 24 at 13:54

First, color-theme is a package that you have to install; I don't believe it's included in any version of emacs. The download link is here.

Second, you're not supposed to literally use the symbol color-theme-name, but rather the name of the color scheme: color-theme-hober, for example.

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I have color-theme, and I meant color-theme-<name>, as in color-theme-the-name-of-the-theme-I-want (Didn't know color-theme-name was a defined symbol when I wrote this). –  EpsilonVector Oct 6 '11 at 12:36
@EpsilonVector: from the error message "Symbol's function definition is void: color-theme-name" its evident that you evaled color-theme-name rather than substituting name for the actual theme name. –  Sujoy Oct 6 '11 at 13:44

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