ne's manual

4.9.1: AutoPrefs

time an Open command is executed and a file is loaded, ne will look for an automatic preferences file in the `$HOME/.ne' directory. The preferences file name is given by the extension of the file loaded, postfixed with `#ap'. Thus, for instance, C sources have an associated `c#ap' file. See Automatic Preferences.

If you call this command with no arguments, it will toggle the flag. If you specify 0 or 1, the flag will be set to false or true, respectively. A lower case `p' will appear on the status bar if the flag is true.