emacsclient - Man Page

• Open a file in an existing Emacs server (using GUI if available): emacsclient path/to/file
• Open a file in console mode (without an X window): emacsclient [-nw|--no-window-system] path/to/file
• Open a file in a new Emacs window: emacsclient [-c|--create-frame] path/to/file
• Evaluate a command, printing the output to stdout, and then quit: emacsclient [-e|--eval] '(command)'
• Specify an alternative editor in case no Emacs server is running: emacsclient [-a|--alternate-editor] editor path/to/file
• Stop a running Emacs server and all its instances, asking for confirmation on unsaved files: emacsclient [-e|--eval] '(save-buffers-kill-emacs)'

tldr.sh

emacsclient [options] files ...

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.

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. If the empty string is specified, run "emacs --daemon" to start Emacs in daemon mode, and try to connect to it.

See also the ALTERNATE_EDITOR environment variable, over which this option takes precedence.

-c,  --create-frame

Create a new frame instead of trying to use the current Emacs frame.

-r --reuse-frame

Reuse an existing frame if one exists, otherwise create a new 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. Relative filenames are relative to "~/.emacs.d/server/" or "$XDG_CONFIG_HOME/emacs/server/", and the default is "server".

See also the EMACS_SERVER_FILE environment variable, over which this option takes precedence.

-n,  --no-wait

Return immediately without waiting for you to "finish" the buffer in Emacs.  If combined with --eval, this option is ignored.

-w,  --timeout=N

How long to wait, in seconds, for Emacs to respond before giving up. The default is 0, which means to wait forever.

--parent-id=ID

Open an emacsclient frame as a client frame in the parent X window with id ID.

-q,  --quiet

Do not let emacsclient display messages about waiting for Emacs or connecting to remote server sockets.

-u,  --suppress-output

Do not let emacsclient display results returned from the server.  Mostly useful in combination with --eval when the evaluation performed is for side-effect rather than result.

-s,  --socket-name=FILENAME

Use socket named FILENAME for communication. Relative filenames are relative to "$XDG_RUNTIME_DIR/emacs/" or "$TMPDIR/".

See also the EMACS_SOCKET_NAME environment variable, over which this option takes precedence.

-nw,  -t,  --tty,  --no-window-system

Open a new Emacs frame on the current terminal.

-T,  --tramp=PREFIX

Set PREFIX to add to filenames for Emacs to locate files on remote machines using TRAMP.  This is mostly useful in combination with using the Emacs server on a remote host (either using TCP with --server-file, or a socket forwarded over SSH).

See also the EMACSCLIENT_TRAMP environment variable, over which this option takes precedence.

-V,  --version

Print version information and exit.

-H,  --help

Print this usage information message and exit.

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

ALTERNATE_EDITOR

If the Emacs server is not running, run the shell command in this environment variable instead.  If set to the empty string, run "emacs --daemon" to start Emacs in daemon mode, and try to connect to it.  Will be overridden by the --alternate-editor option, if present.

EMACSCLIENT_TRAMP

A prefix to add to filenames, intended to allow Emacs to locate files on remote machines using TRAMP.  Will be overridden by the --tramp option, if present.

EMACS_SERVER_FILE

Look in this file to discover where to find a TCP Emacs server. Relative filenames are relative to "~/.emacs.d/server/" or "$XDG_CONFIG_HOME/emacs/server/", and the default is "server".  Will be overridden by the --server-file option, if present.

EMACS_SOCKET_NAME

The filename of the socket to use for communication with the Emacs server. Relative filenames are relative to "$XDG_RUNTIME_DIR/emacs/" or "$TMPDIR/". Will be overridden by the --socket-name option, if present.

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

The XDG_ environment variables are described in detail in the XDG Base Directory Specification.

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.

This manual page is in the public domain.

emacs(1).