EMACS(1) GNU EMACS(1)

NAME

emacs - GNU project Emacs editor

SYNOPSIS

emacs [ command-line switches ] [ files ... ]

DESCRIPTION

GNU Emacs is a version of Emacs, written by the author of the
original (PDP-10) Emacs, Richard Stallman. The user functionality of
GNU Emacs encompasses everything other editors do, and it is easily
extensible since its editing commands are written in Lisp.

The primary documentation of GNU Emacs is in the GNU Emacs Manual,
which you can read using Info, either from Emacs or as a standalone
program. Please look there for complete and up-to-date
documentation. This man page is updated only when someone volunteers
to do so.

Emacs has an extensive interactive help facility, but the facility
assumes that you know how to manipulate Emacs windows and buffers.
CTRL-h or F1 enters the Help facility. Help Tutorial (CTRL-h t)
starts an interactive tutorial to quickly teach beginners the
fundamentals of Emacs. Help Apropos (CTRL-h a) helps you find a
command with a name matching a given pattern, Help Key (CTRL-h k)
describes a given key sequence, and Help Function (CTRL-h f)
describes a given Lisp function.

GNU Emacs's many special packages handle mail reading (RMail) and
sending (Mail), outline editing (Outline), compiling (Compile),
running subshells within Emacs windows (Shell), running a Lisp read-
eval-print loop (Lisp-Interaction-Mode), automated psychotherapy
(Doctor), and much more.

Emacs Options

The following options are of general interest:

file Edit file.

--file=file, --find-file=file, --visit=file
The same as specifying file directly as an argument.

+number Go to the line specified by number (do not insert a
space between the "+" sign and the number). This
applies only to the next file specified.

+line:column
Go to the specified line and column.

--chdir=directory
Change to directory.

-q, --no-init-file
Do not load an init file.

-nl, --no-shared-memory
Do not use shared memory.

--no-site-file
Do not load the site-wide startup file.

-nsl, --no-site-lisp
Do not add site-lisp directories to load-path.

--no-desktop
Do not load a saved desktop.

-Q, --quick
Similar to "-q --no-site-file --no-splash". Also,
avoid processing X resources.

--no-splash
Do not display a splash screen during start-up.

--debug-init
Enable Emacs Lisp debugger during the processing of
the user init file ~/.emacs. This is useful for
debugging problems in the init file.

-u user, --user=user
Load user's init file.

-t file, --terminal=file
Use specified file as the terminal instead of using
stdin/stdout. This must be the first argument
specified in the command line.

--daemon[=name], --bg-daemon[=name]
Start Emacs as a daemon, enabling the Emacs server and
disconnecting from the terminal. You can then use the
emacsclient (see emacsclient(1)) command to connect to
the server (with optional name).

--fg-daemon[=name]
Like "--bg-daemon", but don't disconnect from the
terminal.

--version
Display Emacs version information and exit.

--help Display this help and exit.

The following options are Lisp-oriented (these options are processed
in the order encountered):

-f function, --funcall=function
Execute the lisp function function.

-l file, --load=file
Load the lisp code in the file file.

--eval=expr, --execute=expr
Evaluate the Lisp expression expr.

The following options are useful when running Emacs as a batch
editor:

--batch Edit in batch mode. The editor will send messages to
stderr. You must use -l and -f options to specify
files to execute and functions to call.

--script file
Run file as an Emacs Lisp script.

--insert=file
Insert contents of file into the current buffer.

--kill Exit Emacs while in batch mode.

-L dir, --directory=dir
Add dir to the list of directories Emacs searches for
Lisp files.

Using Emacs with X

Emacs has been tailored to work well with the X Window System. If
you run Emacs from under X windows, it will create its own X window
to display in. You will probably want to start the editor as a
background process so that you can continue using your original
window.

Emacs can be started with the following X switches:

--name=name
Specify the name which should be assigned to the
initial Emacs window. This controls looking up X
resources as well as the window title.

--no-x-resources
Do not load X resources.

-T name, --title=name
Specify the title for the initial X window.

-r, -rv, --reverse-video
Display the Emacs window in reverse video.

-fn font, --font=font
Set the Emacs window's font to that specified by font.
You will find the various X fonts in the
/usr/lib/X11/fonts directory. Note that Emacs will
only accept fixed width fonts. Under the X11 Release
4 font-naming conventions, any font with the value "m"
or "c" in the eleventh field of the font name is a
fixed width font. Furthermore, fonts whose name are
of the form widthxheight are generally fixed width, as
is the font fixed. See xlsfonts(1) for more
information.

When you specify a font, be sure to put a space
between the switch and the font name.

--xrm=resources
Set additional X resources.

--color, --color=mode
Override color mode for character terminals; mode
defaults to "auto", and can also be "never", "auto",
"always", or a mode name like "ansi8".

-bw pixels, --border-width=pixels
Set the Emacs window's border width to the number of
pixels specified by pixels. Defaults to one pixel on
each side of the window.

-ib pixels, --internal-border=pixels
Set the window's internal border width to the number
of pixels specified by pixels. Defaults to one pixel
of padding on each side of the window.

-g geometry, --geometry=geometry
Set the Emacs window's width, height, and position as
specified. The geometry specification is in the
standard X format; see X(7) for more information. The
width and height are specified in characters; the
default for GUI frames is a width of 80 and a height
between 35 and 40, depending on the OS and the window
manager. See the Emacs manual, section "Options for
Window Size and Position", for information on how
window sizes interact with selecting or deselecting
the tool bar, tab bar and menu bar.

-lsp pixels, --line-spacing=pixels
Additional space to put between lines.

-vb, --vertical-scroll-bars
Enable vertical scrollbars.

-fh, --fullheight
Make the first frame as high as the screen.

-fs, --fullscreen
Make the first frame fullscreen.

-fw, --fullwidth
Make the first frame as wide as the screen.

-mm, --maximized
Maximize the first frame, like "-fw -fh".

-fg color, --foreground-color=color
On color displays, set the color of the text.

Use the command M-x list-colors-display for a list of
valid color names.

-bg color, --background-color=color
On color displays, set the color of the window's
background.

-bd color, --border-color=color
On color displays, set the color of the window's
border.

-cr color, --cursor-color=color
On color displays, set the color of the window's text
cursor.

-ms color, --mouse-color=color
On color displays, set the color of the window's mouse
cursor.

-d displayname, --display=displayname
Create the Emacs window on the display specified by
displayname. Must be the first option specified in
the command line.

-nbi, --no-bitmap-icon
Do not use picture of gnu for Emacs icon.

--iconic
Start Emacs in iconified state.

-nbc, --no-blinking-cursor
Disable blinking cursor.

--parent-id=xid
Set parent window.

-nw, --no-window-system
Tell Emacs not to create a graphical frame. If you
use this switch when invoking Emacs from an xterm(1)
window, display is done in that window.

-D, --basic-display
This option disables many display features; use it for
debugging Emacs.

You can set X default values for your Emacs windows in your
.Xresources file (see xrdb(1)). Use the following format:

emacs.keyword:value

where value specifies the default value of keyword. Emacs lets you
set default values for the following keywords:

background (class Background)
For color displays, sets the window's background
color.

bitmapIcon (class BitmapIcon)
If bitmapIcon's value is set to on, the window will
iconify into the "kitchen sink."

borderColor (class BorderColor)
For color displays, sets the color of the window's
border.

borderWidth (class BorderWidth)
Sets the window's border width in pixels.

cursorColor (class Foreground)
For color displays, sets the color of the window's
text cursor.

cursorBlink (class CursorBlink)
Specifies whether to make the cursor blink. The
default is on. Use off or false to turn cursor
blinking off.

font (class Font)
Sets the window's text font.

foreground (class Foreground)
For color displays, sets the window's text color.

fullscreen (class Fullscreen)
The desired fullscreen size. The value can be one of
fullboth, maximized, fullwidth, or fullheight, which
correspond to the command-line options "-fs", "-mm",
"-fw", and "-fh", respectively. Note that this
applies to the initial frame only.

geometry (class Geometry)
Sets the geometry of the Emacs window (as described
above).

iconName (class Title)
Sets the icon name for the Emacs window icon.

internalBorder (class BorderWidth)
Sets the window's internal border width in pixels.

lineSpacing (class LineSpacing)
Additional space ("leading") between lines, in pixels.

menuBar (class MenuBar)
Gives frames menu bars if on; don't have menu bars if
off. See the Emacs manual, sections "Lucid Resources"
and "Motif Resources", for how to control the
appearance of the menu bar if you have one.

minibuffer (class Minibuffer)
If none, don't make a minibuffer in this frame. It
will use a separate minibuffer frame instead.

paneFont (class Font)
Font name for menu pane titles, in non-toolkit
versions of Emacs.

pointerColor (class Foreground)
For color displays, sets the color of the window's
mouse cursor.

privateColormap (class PrivateColormap)
If on, use a private color map, in the case where the
"default visual" of class PseudoColor and Emacs is
using it.

reverseVideo (class ReverseVideo)
If reverseVideo's value is set to on, the window will
be displayed in reverse video.

screenGamma (class ScreenGamma)
Gamma correction for colors, equivalent to the frame
parameter "screen-gamma".

scrollBarWidth (class ScrollBarWidth)
The scroll bar width in pixels, equivalent to the
frame parameter "scroll-bar-width".

selectionFont (class SelectionFont)
Font name for pop-up menu items, in non-toolkit
versions of Emacs. (For toolkit versions, see the
Emacs manual, sections "Lucid Resources" and "Motif
Resources".)

selectionTimeout (class SelectionTimeout)
Number of milliseconds to wait for a selection reply.
A value of 0 means wait as long as necessary.

synchronous (class Synchronous)
Run Emacs in synchronous mode if on. Synchronous mode
is useful for debugging X problems.

title (class Title)
Sets the title of the Emacs window.

toolBar (class ToolBar)
Number of lines to reserve for the tool bar.

tabBar (class TabBar)
Number of lines to reserve for the tab bar.

useXIM (class UseXIM)
Turns off use of X input methods (XIM) if false or
off.

verticalScrollBars (class ScrollBars)
Gives frames scroll bars if on; suppresses scroll bars
if off.

visualClass (class VisualClass)
Specify the "visual" that X should use. This tells X
how to handle colors. The value should start with one
of TrueColor, PseudoColor, DirectColor, StaticColor,
GrayScale, and StaticGray, followed by -depth, where
depth is the number of color planes.

MANUALS

You can order printed copies of the GNU Emacs Manual from the Free
Software Foundation, which develops GNU software. See the online
store at <https://shop.fsf.org/>.
Your local administrator might also have copies available. As with
all software and publications from FSF, everyone is permitted to make
and distribute copies of the Emacs manual. The Texinfo source to the
manual is also included in the Emacs source distribution.

FILES

/usr/local/share/info -- files for the Info documentation browser.
The complete text of the Emacs reference manual is included in a
convenient tree structured form. This includes the Emacs Lisp
Reference Manual, useful to anyone wishing to write programs in the
Emacs Lisp extension language, and the Introduction to Programming in
Emacs Lisp.

/usr/local/share/emacs/$VERSION/lisp -- Lisp source files and
compiled files that define most editing commands. Some are
preloaded; others are autoloaded from this directory when used.

/usr/local/libexec/emacs/$VERSION/$ARCH -- various programs that are
used with GNU Emacs.

/usr/local/share/emacs/$VERSION/etc -- various files of information.

/usr/local/share/emacs/$VERSION/etc/DOC.* -- contains the
documentation strings for the Lisp primitives and preloaded Lisp
functions of GNU Emacs. They are stored here to reduce the size of
Emacs proper.

BUGS

There is a mailing list, bug-gnu-emacs@gnu.org, for reporting Emacs
bugs and fixes. But before reporting something as a bug, please try
to be sure that it really is a bug, not a misunderstanding or a
deliberate feature. We ask you to read the section "Reporting Bugs"
in the Emacs manual for hints on how and when to report bugs. Also,
include the version number of the Emacs you are running in every bug
report that you send in. Bugs tend actually to be fixed if they can
be isolated, so it is in your interest to report them in such a way
that they can be easily reproduced.

Do not expect a personal answer to a bug report. The purpose of
reporting bugs is to get them fixed for everyone in the next release,
if possible. For personal assistance, consult the service directory
at <https://www.fsf.org/resources/service/> for a list of people who
offer it.

Please do not send anything but bug reports to this mailing list.
For other Emacs lists, see
<https://savannah.gnu.org/mail/?group=emacs>.

UNRESTRICTIONS

Emacs is free; anyone may redistribute copies of Emacs to anyone
under the terms stated in the GNU General Public License, a copy of
which accompanies each copy of Emacs and which also appears in the
reference manual.

Copies of Emacs may sometimes be received packaged with distributions
of Unix systems, but it is never included in the scope of any license
covering those systems. Such inclusion violates the terms on which
distribution is permitted. In fact, the primary purpose of the GNU
General Public License is to prohibit anyone from attaching any other
restrictions to redistribution of Emacs.

Richard Stallman encourages you to improve and extend Emacs, and
urges that you contribute your extensions to the GNU library.
Eventually GNU (Gnu's Not Unix) will be a complete replacement for
Unix. Everyone will be free to use, copy, study and change the GNU
system.

SEE ALSO

emacsclient(1), etags(1), X(7), xlsfonts(1), xterm(1), xrdb(1)

AUTHORS

Emacs was written by Richard Stallman and the Free Software
Foundation. For detailed credits and acknowledgments, see the GNU
Emacs manual.

COPYING

Copyright 1995, 1999-2022 Free Software Foundation, Inc.

Permission is granted to make and distribute verbatim copies of this
document provided the copyright notice and this permission notice are
preserved on all copies.

Permission is granted to copy and distribute modified versions of
this document under the conditions for verbatim copying, provided
that the entire resulting derived work is distributed under the terms
of a permission notice identical to this one.

Permission is granted to copy and distribute translations of this
document into another language, under the above conditions for
modified versions, except that this permission notice may be stated
in a translation approved by the Free Software Foundation.


GNU Emacs 28.2 2021-09-28 EMACS(1)