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efaq: Terminal setup code works after Emacs has begun

 
 9.3 Why doesn’t this [terminal or window-system setup] code work in my ‘.emacs’ file, but it works just fine after Emacs starts up?
 ===================================================================================================================================
 
 During startup, Emacs initializes itself according to a given code/file
 order.  If some of the code executed in your ‘.emacs’ file needs to be
 postponed until the initial terminal or window-system setup code has
 been executed but is not, then you will experience this problem (this
 code/file execution order is not enforced after startup).
 
    To postpone the execution of Emacs Lisp code until after terminal or
 window-system setup, treat the code as a “lambda list” and add it to
 ‘emacs-startup-hook’ (or ‘tty-setup-hook’ in Emacs 24.4 and newer).  For
 example,
 
      (add-hook 'emacs-startup-hook
                (lambda ()
                 (when (string-match "\\`vt220" (or (getenv "TERM") ""))
                   ;; Make vt220's "Do" key behave like M-x:
                   (global-set-key [do] 'execute-extended-command))))
 
    For information on what Emacs does every time it is started, see the
 ‘lisp/startup.el’ file.
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