code.delx.au - gnu-emacs/blob - doc/man/emacsclient.1

   1 .\" See section COPYING for conditions for redistribution.
   2 .TH EMACSCLIENT 1
   3 .\" NAME should be all caps, SECTION should be 1-8, maybe w/ subsection
   4 .\" other parms are allowed: see man(7), man(1)
   5 .SH NAME
   6 emacsclient \- tells a running Emacs to visit a file
   7 .SH SYNOPSIS
   8 .B emacsclient
   9 .I "[options] files ..."
  10 .SH "DESCRIPTION"
  11 This manual page documents briefly the
  12 .BR emacsclient
  13 command.  Full documentation is available in the GNU Info format; see
  14 below.
  15 This manual page was originally written for the Debian GNU/Linux
  16 distribution, but is not specific to that system.
  17 .PP
  18 .B emacsclient
  19 works in conjunction with the built-in Emacs server.
  20 .PP
  21 You can either call
  22 .B emacsclient
  23 directly or let other programs run it for you when necessary.  On
  24 GNU and Unix systems many programs consult the environment
  25 variable EDITOR (sometimes also VISUAL) to obtain the command used for
  26 editing.  Thus, setting this environment variable to 'emacsclient'
  27 will allow these programs to use an already running Emacs for editing.
  28 Other operating systems might have their own methods for defining the
  29 default editor.
  30
  31 For
  32 .B emacsclient
  33 to work, you need an already running Emacs with a server.  Within Emacs,
  34 call the functions `server-start' or `server-mode'.  (Your `.emacs' file
  35 can do this automatically if you add either `(server-start)' or
  36 `(server-mode 1)' to it.)
  37
  38 When you've finished editing the buffer, type `C-x #'
  39 (`server-edit').  This saves the file and sends a message back to the
  40 `emacsclient' program telling it to exit.  The programs that use
  41 `EDITOR' wait for the "editor" (actually, `emacsclient') to exit.  `C-x
  42 #' also checks for other pending external requests to edit various
  43 files, and selects the next such file.
  44
  45 If you set the variable `server-window' to a window or a frame, `C-x
  46 #' displays the server buffer in that window or in that frame.
  47
  48 .SH OPTIONS
  49 The programs follow the usual GNU command line syntax, with long
  50 options starting with two dashes (`-').
  51 .TP
  52 .B \-a, \-\-alternate-editor=EDITOR
  53 if the Emacs server is not running, run the specified editor instead.
  54 This can also be specified via the `ALTERNATE_EDITOR' environment variable.
  55 If the value of EDITOR is the empty string, then Emacs is started in
  56 daemon mode and emacsclient will try to connect to it.
  57 .TP
  58 .B -c, \-\-create-frame
  59 create a new frame instead of trying to use the current Emacs frame
  60 .TP
  61 .B \-d, \-\-display=DISPLAY
  62 tell the server to display the files on the given display.
  63 .TP
  64 .B \-e, \-\-eval
  65 do not visit files but instead evaluate the arguments as Emacs
  66 Lisp expressions.
  67 .TP
  68 .B \-f, \-\-server-file=FILENAME
  69 use TCP configuration file FILENAME for communication.
  70 This can also be specified via the `EMACS_SERVER_FILE' environment variable.
  71 .TP
  72 .B \-n, \-\-no-wait
  73 returns
  74 immediately without waiting for you to "finish" the buffer in Emacs.
  75 .TP
  76 .B \-nw, \-t, \-\-tty
  77 open a new Emacs frame on the current terminal
  78 .TP
  79 .B \-s, \-\-socket-name=FILENAME
  80 use socket named FILENAME for communication.
  81 .TP
  82 .B \-V, \-\-version
  83 print version information and exit
  84 .TP
  85 .B \-H, \-\-help
  86 print this usage information message and exit
  87 .SH "SEE ALSO"
  88 The program is documented fully in
  89 .IR "Using Emacs as a Server"
  90 available via the Info system.
  91 .SH AUTHOR
  92 This manual page was written by Stephane Bortzmeyer <bortzmeyer@debian.org>,
  93 for the Debian GNU/Linux system (but may be used by others).
  94 .SH COPYING
  95 This manual page is in the public domain.
  96