How to change the default split-screen direction?

Question

Emacs usualy automaticaly splits the window horizontaly.

How can I change this default behaviour, so that the window is splited verticaly by default?

I don't know what you mean, but you can hit `C-x 2` to split a window vertically, and `C-x 3` to split a window horizontally. — mqp, Nov 03 '11 at 15:37
Some functions do automatically split the screen. As examples of such, there is magit, slime and rinari — Pedro Rolo, Nov 03 '11 at 15:55
This will be helpful too. It doesn't change the default behavior, but it helps to toggle from horizontal to vertical and vice-versa. http://www.emacswiki.org/emacs/ToggleWindowSplit — aartist, Nov 03 '11 at 16:10
Possible duplicate of [Setting Emacs Split to Horizontal](https://stackoverflow.com/questions/2081577/setting-emacs-split-to-horizontal) — Bae, Jan 30 '18 at 02:43

aartist · Answer 1 · 2011-11-03T16:26:03.407

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Use (setq split-width-threshold nil) for vertical split.
Use (setq split-width-threshold 1 ) for horizontal split.

Use http://www.emacswiki.org/emacs/ToggleWindowSplit to toggle between them.
Use http://www.emacswiki.org/emacs/TransposeWindows to transponse them.

edited Nov 03 '11 at 16:26

answered Nov 03 '11 at 16:18

aartist

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Isn't it the opposite? (````(setq split-width-threshold 1)```` for vertical split) – ghilesZ May 17 '18 at 08:39
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@ghilesZ I had the same reaction, but it can be understood both ways : splitting "horizontally" or "vertically" is always misleading. If you draw a vertical line, the split is horizontal (one part on the left, the other on the right). But one could also say drawing a vertical line does a vertical split. No idea how to settle this ;-) As for the configuration directive, `(setq split-width-threshold 1 )` draws a vertical line. – Httqm Jun 07 '20 at 11:55

score 23 · Accepted Answer · answered Nov 03 '11 at 15:43

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M-x Customize-Group [RET] Windows

There you have Split Window Preferred Function, Split Height Threshold and Split Width Threshold. Set Split Height Threshold to nil and Split Width Threshold to 0

answered Nov 03 '11 at 15:43

Ocaso Protal

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Btw, on saving via Customize I get an error: `split-width-threshold` in emacs 24.4.1. – Konstantine Rybnikov Nov 25 '15 at 11:00
@KostiantynRybnikov Sorry, could not reproduce that in 24.4.1. It still works for me. – Ocaso Protal Dec 16 '15 at 15:39
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Awesome, just had this problem with magit opening a new window below instead of on the right. Simply increased `split-height-threshold` from its default 80 to 200. Thanks! :-) – troglobit Mar 28 '16 at 10:28

score 11 · Answer 3 · answered May 15 '17 at 06:07

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For me it worked with

(setq split-width-threshold 0)
(setq split-height-threshold nil)

answered May 15 '17 at 06:07

coquin

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How to change the default split-screen direction?

3 Answers3