Welcome to my Emacs for noobs series. Today: line (row) numbers, which are one of the first things people notice is missing when they open Emacs for the first time.
Enable line numbers in the current buffer
Hit M-x and call:
display-line-numbers-mode
That is it. Line numbers appear immediately in the current file.
Enable line numbers everywhere
If you want them globally across all buffers:
global-display-line-numbers-mode
Making it permanent
The above methods are session-only. To persist the setting, add one line to your Emacs configuration file. If you are not sure where that file is, check the companion post on how to change your Emacs theme which also covers moving your config to the right location.
Open your ~/.config/emacs/init.el and add:
(global-display-line-numbers-mode)
Save with C-x C-s, restart Emacs, and the numbers will be there every time.