diff -ur a/visual_regexp.tcl b/visual_regexp.tcl
--- a/visual_regexp.tcl	2013-11-12 23:23:59.730171882 +0100
+++ b/visual_regexp.tcl	2013-11-12 23:24:42.134085257 +0100
@@ -1062,27 +1060,38 @@
 #==============================================================================================
 
 # try to get customization from 'visual_regexp.ini'
-puts "[file exists visual_regexp.ini]"
-set filename [file dirname [info nameofexecutable]]/visual_regexp.ini
-if {[file exists $filename]} {
-	source $filename
-} elseif {[file exists visual_regexp.ini]} {
-	source visual_regexp.ini
+set localfilename visual_regexp.ini
+set homefilename ""
+if {[info exists ::env(HOME)]} {
+	set homefilename [file join $::env(HOME) .visual_regexp visual_regexp.ini]
 }
-
-# try to auto user patterns
-set filename [file dirname [info nameofexecutable]]/regexp.txt
-if {[file exists $filename]} {
-	regexp::pattern:load $filename
-} elseif {[file exists regexp.txt]} {
-	regexp::pattern:load regexp.txt
+set binfilename [file join [file dirname [info nameofexecutable]] visual_regexp.ini]
+foreach filename [list $localfilename $homefilename $binfilename] {
+	if {[file exists $filename]} {
+		source $filename
+		break
+	}
 }
 
-# buld the GUI
+# build the GUI
 regexp::history:init
 regexp::gui
 regexp::go
 
+# try to auto user patterns
+set localfilename regexp.txt
+set homefilename ""
+if {[info exists ::env(HOME)]} {
+	set homefilename [file join $::env(HOME) .visual_regexp regexp.txt]
+}
+set binfilename [file join [file dirname [info nameofexecutable]] regexp.txt]
+foreach filename [list $localfilename $homefilename $binfilename] {
+	if {[file exists $filename]} {
+		regexp::pattern:load $filename
+		break
+	}
+}
+
 if {$argc > 1} {
 	puts "Usage: $argv0 <sampleFile>"
 } elseif {$argc == 1} {