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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)