1EMACSCLIENT(1) General Commands Manual EMACSCLIENT(1)
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6 emacsclient - tells a running Emacs to visit a file
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9 emacsclient [options] files ...
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12 This manual page documents briefly the emacsclient command. Full docu‐
13 mentation is available in the GNU Info format; see below. This manual
14 page was originally written for the Debian GNU/Linux distribution, but
15 is not specific to that system.
16 emacsclient works in conjunction with the built-in Emacs server.
18 You can either call emacsclient directly or let other programs run it
20 for you when necessary. On GNU and Unix systems many programs consult
21 the environment variable EDITOR (sometimes also VISUAL) to obtain the
22 command used for editing. Thus, setting this environment variable to
23 'emacsclient' will allow these programs to use an already running Emacs
24 for editing. Other operating systems might have their own methods for
25 defining the default editor.
26 For emacsclient to work, you need an already running Emacs with a
28 server. Within Emacs, call the functions `server-start' or `server-
29 mode'. (Your `.emacs' file can do this automatically if you add either
30 `(server-start)' or `(server-mode 1)' to it.)
31 When you've finished editing the buffer, type `C-x #' (`server-edit').
33 This saves the file and sends a message back to the `emacsclient' pro‐
34 gram telling it to exit. The programs that use `EDITOR' wait for the
35 "editor" (actually, `emacsclient') to exit. `C-x #' also checks for
36 other pending external requests to edit various files, and selects the
37 next such file.
38 If you set the variable `server-window' to a window or a frame, `C-x #'
40 displays the server buffer in that window or in that frame.
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44 The programs follow the usual GNU command line syntax, with long
45 options starting with two dashes (`-').
46 -nw, -t, --tty
48 open a new Emacs frame on the current terminal
49 -c, --create-frame
51 create a new frame instead of trying to use the current Emacs
52 frame
53 -e, --eval
55 do not visit files but instead evaluate the arguments as Emacs
56 Lisp expressions.
57 -n, --no-wait
59 returns immediately without waiting for you to "finish" the buf‐
60 fer in Emacs.
61 -s, --socket-name=FILENAME
63 use socket named FILENAME for communication.
64 -f, --server-file=FILENAME
66 use TCP configuration file FILENAME for communication. This can
67 also be specified via the `EMACS_SERVER_FILE' environment vari‐
68 able.
69 -a, --alternate-editor=EDITOR
71 if the Emacs server is not running, run the specified editor
72 instead. This can also be specified via the `ALTERNATE_EDITOR'
73 environment variable. If the value of EDITOR is the empty
74 string, then Emacs is started in daemon mode and emacsclient
75 will try to connect to it.
76 -d, --display=DISPLAY
78 tell the server to display the files on the given display.
79 -V, --version
81 print version information and exit
82 -H, --help
84 print this usage information message and exit
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87 The program is documented fully in Using Emacs as a Server available
88 via the Info system.
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91 This manual page was written by Stephane Bortzmeyer
92 <bortzmeyer@debian.org>, for the Debian GNU/Linux system (but may be
93 used by others).
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96 This manual page is in the public domain.
97 EMACSCLIENT(1)