emacsclient Command Examples

Open files in an existing Emacs server. See also emacs. More information: https://www.emacswiki.org/emacs/EmacsClient.

• 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 --no-window-system {{path/to/file}}

• Open a file in a new Emacs window:

emacsclient --create-frame {{path/to/file}}

• Evaluate a command, printing the output to stdout, and then quit:

emacsclient --eval '({{command}})'

• Specify an alternative editor in case no Emacs server is running:

emacsclient --alternate-editor {{editor}} {{path/to/file}}

• Stop a running Emacs server and all its instances, asking for confirmation on unsaved files:

emacsclient --eval '(save-buffers-kill-emacs)'