These commands allow you to set your preferences, that is, the value of
a series of flags that modify the behaviour of ne. (Some of the
flag commands, like the command for the indent flag, appear in other
sections.) The status of the flags can be saved and restored later
either by writing them out to a file (saved as a macro that suitably
sets the flags) or by pushing them onto a “preferences stack”. The
back search and the read only flags are not saved, because they do not
represent a preference, but rather a temporary state. The escape time
and the turbo parameter are global to ne, and are not
saved. However, you can add manually to a preferences file any
preferences command (such as EscapeTime or Turbo);
usually, this will be done to the default preferences file
~/.ne/.default#ap.
Note that there is an automatic preferences system, which automagically loads a preferences file related to the extension of the file name. Automatic preferences files are kept in your ~/.ne directory. They are named as an extension postfixed with ‘#ap’. Each time you open a file whose name has an extension for which there is an automatic preferences file, the latter is executed. Opening a file which has no extension causes the prefs from ~/.ne/.default#ap to be loaded. If you want to inhibit this process, you can clear the automatic preferences flag. See AutoPrefs.