emacsclient - tells a running Emacs to visit a file
emacsclient [options] files ...
EMACSCLIENT(1) General Commands Manual 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 docu-
mentation is available in the GNU Info format; see below. This manual
page was originally written for the Debian GNU/Linux distribution, but
is not specific to that system.
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=EDITOR
if the Emacs server is not running, run the specified editor
instead. This can also be specified via the ALTERNATE_EDITOR
environment variable. If the value of 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 vari-
able.
-n, --no-wait
returns immediately without waiting for you to "finish" the buf-
fer in Emacs.
-nw, -t, --tty
open a new Emacs frame on the current terminal
-s, --socket-name=FILENAME
use socket named FILENAME for communication.
-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.
ATTRIBUTES
See attributes(7) for descriptions of the following attributes:
+---------------+------------------+
|ATTRIBUTE TYPE | ATTRIBUTE VALUE |
+---------------+------------------+
|Availability | editor/gnu-emacs |
+---------------+------------------+
|Stability | Uncommitted |
+---------------+------------------+
SEE ALSO
The program is documented fully in Using Emacs as a Server available
via the Info system.
AUTHOR
This manual page was written by Stephane Bortzmeyer
<bortzmeyer@debian.org>, for the Debian GNU/Linux system (but may be
used by others).
COPYING
This manual page is in the public domain.
NOTES
This software was built from source available at
https://github.com/oracle/solaris-userland. The original community
source was downloaded from
https://ftp.gnu.org/gnu/emacs/emacs-25.2.tar.gz
Further information about this software can be found on the open source
community website at https://www.gnu.org/software/emacs.
EMACSCLIENT(1)