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Can I configure Emacs to ask for confirmation before exiting on C-x C-c? (Sometimes, my fingers press this by mistake.)

imz -- Ivan Zakharyaschev
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3 Answers3

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Set the variable confirm-kill-emacs to something like yes-or-no-p.

legoscia
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    Thanks! It's a pity it is not mentioned in `save-buffers-kill-terminal` documentation... – imz -- Ivan Zakharyaschev Jul 03 '15 at 10:02
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    It's only mentioned for `save-buffers-kill-emacs`, which used to be the binding for `C-x C-c` until 23.1. That should be updated, it seems. – legoscia Jul 03 '15 at 16:39
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    @imz--IvanZakharyaschev: Yes; likewise `kill-emacs-query-functions`. See Emacs [bug #10794](http://debbugs.gnu.org/cgi/bugreport.cgi?bug=10794). (And [bug #11181](http://debbugs.gnu.org/cgi/bugreport.cgi?bug=11181#22), though not directly related, is also relevant here.) – Drew Jul 04 '15 at 06:29
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I use this, which workds in all Emacs versions:

(add-hook 'kill-emacs-query-functions
          (lambda () (y-or-n-p "Do you really want to exit Emacs? "))
          'append)
Drew
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    It would be nice to explain how that is different from setting `confirm-kill-emacs`. IIUC, the difference is that `c-k-e` is ignored if there are modified buffers (which already asks confirmation) or active processes (also asks for confirmation). – YoungFrog Jul 03 '15 at 16:24
  • @YoungFrog: What you say is true, but only for Emacs 25, not earlier. And `confirm-kill-emacs` does not exist prior to Emacs 21. – Drew Jul 04 '15 at 06:22
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A common alternative is to unbind the key using

(global-unset-key (kbd "C-x C-c"))

You can always quit via M-x save-buffers-kill-terminal

mike3996
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