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 program
34 telling it to exit. The programs that use EDITOR wait for the "editor"
35 (actually, emacsclient) to exit. "C-x #" also checks for other pending
36 external requests to edit various files, and selects the next such
37 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 Most options follow the usual GNU command line syntax, with long
45 options starting with two dashes ("-").
46 +line[:column]
48 Go to the specified line and column. A missing column is
49 treated as column 1. This option applies only to the next file
50 specified.
51 -a, --alternate-editor=COMMAND
53 if the Emacs server is not running, run the specified shell com‐
54 mand instead. This can also be specified via the ALTERNATE_EDI‐
55 TOR environment variable. If the value of ALTERNATE_EDITOR is
56 the empty string, run "emacs --daemon" to start Emacs in daemon
57 mode, and try to connect to it.
58 -c, --create-frame
60 create a new frame instead of trying to use the current Emacs
61 frame
62 -F, --frame-parameters=ALIST
64 set the parameters of a newly-created frame.
65 -d, --display=DISPLAY
67 tell the server to display the files on the given display.
68 -e, --eval
70 do not visit files but instead evaluate the arguments as Emacs
71 Lisp expressions.
72 -f, --server-file=FILENAME
74 use TCP configuration file FILENAME for communication. This can
75 also be specified via the EMACS_SERVER_FILE environment vari‐
76 able.
77 -n, --no-wait
79 returns immediately without waiting for you to "finish" the buf‐
80 fer in Emacs. If combined with --eval, this option is ignored.
81 -nw, -t, --tty
83 open a new Emacs frame on the current terminal
84 -s, --socket-name=FILENAME
86 use socket named FILENAME for communication. This can also be
87 specified via the EMACS_SOCKET_NAME environment variable.
88 -V, --version
90 print version information and exit
91 -H, --help
93 print this usage information message and exit
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96 Normally, the exit status is 0. If emacsclient shuts down due to Emacs
97 signaling an error, the exit status is 1.
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100 The program is documented fully in Using Emacs as a Server available
101 via the Info system.
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104 This manual page was written by Stephane Bortzmeyer
105 <bortzmeyer@debian.org>, for the Debian GNU/Linux system (but may be
106 used by others).
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109 This manual page is in the public domain.
110 EMACSCLIENT(1)