# How are \`user.clj\` files loaded?
**URL:** https://clojureverse.org/t/how-are-user-clj-files-loaded/3842
**Category:** General Questions
**Created:** [February 25, 2019, 5:46pm UTC](https://clojureverse.org/t/how-are-user-clj-files-loaded/3842 "2019-02-25T17:46:37Z")
**Posts on this page:** 4
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@jlesquembre](https://clojureverse.org/u/jlesquembre)
#### Post date: [February 25, 2019, 5:46pm UTC](https://clojureverse.org/t/how-are-user-clj-files-loaded/3842/1 "2019-02-25T17:46:37Z")
I’m trying to understand how `user.clj` files are loaded by clojure.
For example, using clojure CLI, if I have a `user.clj` file in one of my dependencies, that `user.clj` file is loaded by clojure, but if add a `user.clj` in my paths, looks like my `user.clj` file is loaded instead, and the one in the dependencies it’s not loaded anymore. Not sure if my assumptions are correct, but it looks like the last `user.clj` wins and the other are discarded.
If it is possible to load multiple `user.clj` files, I think it would be nice to have a global `user.clj` file (used only by me), where I can define, for example, a custom pretty-print function, but also to have a `user.clj` file in every project, where I can define some specific helpers for the project. I guess with leiningen injections it’s possible to accomplish something similar, but I’m trying to do it using only clojure CLI.
BTW, to load a global `user.clj` I found this project: [https://github.com/gfredericks/user.clj](https://github.com/gfredericks/user.clj)
---
### Author:  [@alexmiller](https://clojureverse.org/u/alexmiller)
#### Post date: [February 25, 2019, 8:45pm UTC](https://clojureverse.org/t/how-are-user-clj-files-loaded/3842/2 "2019-02-25T20:45:30Z")
Clojure looks for the first user.clj file on the classpath during runtime initialization. So if there are multiple ones, which one it finds first is entirely dependent on the order of your classpath. With `clj`, you can see your classpath with `clj -Spath`. The local project paths are always placed first (followed by your dependencies). Generally, I think it would be bad for a library to publish with a user.clj, so you should only find them locally.
If you always want to find some special one first, you should ensure it’s in the first path in your source :paths.
---
### Author:  [@jlesquembre](https://clojureverse.org/u/jlesquembre)
#### Post date: [March 4, 2019, 3:24pm UTC](https://clojureverse.org/t/how-are-user-clj-files-loaded/3842/3 "2019-03-04T15:24:30Z")
Thanks for the explanation, Alex. Knowing that, I found a way to load multiple `user.clj` files:
- `~/.clojure/deps.edn`:
```clojure
{:aliases {:user {:extra-paths ["/path/to/.clojure"]}}}
```
- `~/.clojure/user.clj`:
```clojure
(defn- static-classpath-dirs
[]
(mapv #(.getCanonicalPath %) (classpath/classpath-directories)))
(defn user-clj-paths
[]
(->> (static-classpath-dirs)
(map #(io/file % "user.clj"))
(filter #(.exists %))))
(defn load-user!
[f]
(try
(prn (str "Loading " f))
(load-file (str f))
(catch Exception e
(binding [*out* *err*]
(printf "WARNING: Exception while loading %s\n" f)
(prn e)))))
(defn load-all-user!
[]
(let [paths (user-clj-paths)]
(prn (str "Load " (first paths)))
(doall
(map load-user! (rest paths)))))
(load-all-user!)
```
Now I can start clojure from the command line with `clj -A:user:other-alias`. My `~/.clojure/user.clj` is the first in the classpath, and will take care of loading all the other `user.clj` on the classpath
---
### Author:  [@system](https://clojureverse.org/u/system)
#### Post date: [September 3, 2019, 3:24am UTC](https://clojureverse.org/t/how-are-user-clj-files-loaded/3842/4 "2019-09-03T03:24:32Z")
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