EMACSCLIENT(1) GNU EMACSCLIENT(1)

NAME

emacsclient - tells a running Emacs to visit a file

SYNOPSIS

emacsclient [options] files ...

DESCRIPTION

This manual page documents briefly the emacsclient command. Full
documentation is available in the GNU Info format; see below.

emacsclient works in conjunction with the built-in Emacs server.

You can either call emacsclient directly or let other programs run it
for you when necessary. On GNU and Unix systems many programs
consult the environment variable EDITOR (sometimes also VISUAL) to
obtain the command used for editing. Thus, setting this environment
variable to 'emacsclient' will allow these programs to use an already
running Emacs for editing. Other operating systems might have their
own methods for defining the default editor.

For emacsclient to work, you need an already running Emacs with a
server. Within Emacs, call the functions "server-start" or "server-
mode". (Your ".emacs" file can do this automatically if you add
either "(server-start)" or "(server-mode 1)" to it.)

When you've finished editing the buffer, type "C-x #" ("server-
edit"). This saves the file and sends a message back to the
emacsclient program telling it to exit. The programs that use EDITOR
wait for the "editor" (actually, emacsclient) to exit. "C-x #" also
checks for other pending external requests to edit various files, and
selects the next such file.

If you set the variable "server-window" to a window or a frame, "C-x
#" displays the server buffer in that window or in that frame.

OPTIONS

Most options follow the usual GNU command line syntax, with long
options starting with two dashes ("-").

+line[:column]
Go to the specified line and column. A missing column is
treated as column 1. This option applies only to the next
file specified.

-a, --alternate-editor=COMMAND
If the Emacs server is not running, run the specified shell
command instead. This can also be specified via the
ALTERNATE_EDITOR environment variable. If the value of
ALTERNATE_EDITOR is the empty string, run "emacs --daemon" to
start Emacs in daemon mode, and try to connect to it.

-c, --create-frame
Create a new frame instead of trying to use the current Emacs
frame.

-F, --frame-parameters=ALIST
Set the parameters of a newly-created frame.

-d, --display=DISPLAY
Tell the server to display the files on the given display.

-e, --eval
Do not visit files but instead evaluate the arguments as Emacs
Lisp expressions.

-f, --server-file=FILENAME
Use TCP configuration file FILENAME for communication. This
can also be specified via the EMACS_SERVER_FILE environment
variable.

-n, --no-wait
Return immediately without waiting for you to "finish" the
buffer in Emacs. If combined with --eval, this option is
ignored.

-nw, -t, --tty
Open a new Emacs frame on the current terminal.

-s, --socket-name=FILENAME
Use socket named FILENAME for communication. This can also be
specified via the EMACS_SOCKET_NAME environment variable.

-V, --version
Print version information and exit.

-H, --help
Print this usage information message and exit.

EXIT STATUS

Normally, the exit status is 0. If emacsclient shuts down due to
Emacs signaling an error, the exit status is 1.

SEE ALSO

The program is documented fully in Using Emacs as a Server available
via the Info system.

AUTHOR

This manual page was originally written by Stephane Bortzmeyer
<bortzmeyer@debian.org>, for the Debian GNU/Linux system, but is not
specific to that system.

COPYING

This manual page is in the public domain.


GNU Emacs 2020-10-18 EMACSCLIENT(1)