On startup, jEdit runs any BeanShell scripts located in the startup subdirectory of the jEdit installation and user settings directories (see the section called “The jEdit Settings Directory”). As with macros, the scripts must have a .bsh file name extension. Startup scripts are run near the end of the startup sequence, after plugins, properties and such have been initialized, but before the first view is opened.

Startup scripts can perform initialization tasks that cannot be handled by command line options or ordinary configuration options, such as customizing jEdit's user interface by changing entries in the Java platform's UIManager class.

Startup scripts have an additional feature lacking in ordinary macros that can help you further customize jEdit. Variables and methods defined in a startup script are available in all instances of the BeanShell interpreter created in jEdit. This allows you to create a personal library of methods and objects that can be accessed at any time during the editing session in another macro, the BeanShell shell of the Console plugin, or menu items such as Utilities>BeanShell>Evaluate BeanShell Expression.

The startup script routine will run script files in the installation directory first, followed by scripts in the user settings directory. In each case, scripts will be executed in alphabetical order, applied without regard to whether the file name contains upper or lower case characters.

If a startup script throws an exception (because, for example, it attempts to call a method on a null object). jEdit will show an error dialog box and move on to the next startup script. If script bugs are causing jEdit to crash or hang on startup, you can use the -nostartupscripts command line option to disable them for that editing session.

Another important difference between startup scripts and ordinary macros is that startup scripts cannot use the pre-defined variables view, textArea, editPane and buffer. This is because they are executed before the initial view is created.

If you are writing a method in a startup script and wish to use one of the above variables, pass parameters of the appropriate type to the method, so that a macro calling them after startup can supply the appropriate values. For example, a startup script could include a method

void doSomethingWithView(View v, String s)  {
    ...
}

so that during the editing session another macro can call the method using

doSomethingWithView(view, "something");

BeanShell.runScript(view,path,null,false);