Ubuntu Manpage: emacsclient - tells a running Emacs to visit a file

Provided by: emacs-common_29.3+1-1ubuntu2_all

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. 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
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.

EXIT STATUS

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

ENVIRONMENT

       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.

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.