load

load is a built-in function in `C source code'.

(load FILE &optional NOERROR NOMESSAGE NOSUFFIX MUST-SUFFIX)

Execute a file of Lisp code named FILE.
First try FILE with `.elc' appended, then try with `.el',
then try FILE unmodified (the exact suffixes in the exact order are
determined by `load-suffixes'). Environment variable references in
FILE are replaced with their values by calling `substitute-in-file-name'.
This function searches the directories in `load-path'.

If optional second arg NOERROR is non-nil,
report no error if FILE doesn't exist.
Print messages at start and end of loading unless
optional third arg NOMESSAGE is non-nil (but `force-load-messages'
overrides that).
If optional fourth arg NOSUFFIX is non-nil, don't try adding
suffixes `.elc' or `.el' to the specified name FILE.
If optional fifth arg MUST-SUFFIX is non-nil, insist on
the suffix `.elc' or `.el'; don't accept just FILE unless
it ends in one of those suffixes or includes a directory name.

If NOSUFFIX is nil, then if a file could not be found, try looking for
a different representation of the file by adding non-empty suffixes to
its name, before trying another file. Emacs uses this feature to find
compressed versions of files when Auto Compression mode is enabled.
If NOSUFFIX is non-nil, disable this feature.

The suffixes that this function tries out, when NOSUFFIX is nil, are
given by the return value of `get-load-suffixes' and the values listed
in `load-file-rep-suffixes'. If MUST-SUFFIX is non-nil, only the
return value of `get-load-suffixes' is used, i.e. the file name is
required to have a non-empty suffix.

When searching suffixes, this function normally stops at the first
one that exists. If the option `load-prefer-newer' is non-nil,
however, it tries all suffixes, and uses whichever file is the newest.

Loading a file records its definitions, and its `provide' and
`require' calls, in an element of `load-history' whose
car is the file name loaded. See `load-history'.

While the file is in the process of being loaded, the variable
`load-in-progress' is non-nil and the variable `load-file-name'
is bound to the file's name.

Return t if the file exists and loads successfully.