viper: Loading Viper
1.2 Loading Viper
=================
The most common way to load it automatically is to include the following
lines (in the given order!):
(setq viper-mode t)
(require 'viper)
in your ‘~/.emacs’ file. The ‘.emacs’ file is placed in your home
directory and it is be executed every time you invoke Emacs. This is
the place where all general Emacs customization takes place. Beginning
with version 20.0, Emacsen have an interactive interface, which
simplifies the job of customization significantly.
Viper also uses the file ‘~/.emacs.d/viper’ for Viper-specific
customization. The location of Viper customization file can be changed
by setting the variable ‘viper-custom-file-name’ in ‘.emacs’ _prior_ to
loading Viper.
The latest versions of Emacs have an interactive customization
facility, which allows you to (mostly) bypass the use of the ‘.emacs’
and ‘viper-custom-file-name’ files. You can reach this customization
facility from within Viper’s VI state by executing the Ex command
‘:customize’.
Once invoked, Viper will arrange to bring up Emacs buffers in Vi
state whenever this makes sense. 
Packages that Change Keymaps,
to find out when forcing Vi command state on a buffer may be
counter-productive.
Even if your ‘.emacs’ file does not invoke Viper automatically, you
can still load Viper and enter the Vi command state by typing the
following from within Emacs:
M-x viper-mode
When Emacs first comes up, if you have not specified a file on the
command line, it will show the ‘*scratch*’ buffer, in the ‘Lisp
Interaction’ mode. After you invoke Viper, you can start editing files
by using ‘:e’, ‘:vi’, or ‘v’ commands. (File and Buffer
Handling, for more information on ‘v’ and other new commands that, in
many cases, are more convenient than ‘:e’, ‘:vi’, and similar old-style
Vi commands.)
Finally, if at some point you would want to de-Viperize your running
copy of Emacs after Viper has been loaded, the command ‘M-x
viper-go-away’ will do it for you. The function ‘toggle-viper-mode’
toggles Viperization of Emacs on and off.
Info Catalog
viper: Emacs Preliminaries
viper: Overview
viper: States in Viper