emacsclient Command Examples

Open files in an existing Emacs server. See also emacs. More information: https://www.gnu.org/software/emacs/manual/html_node/emacs/emacsclient-Options.html.

• 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)'