em.1

.\" See section COPYING for conditions for redistribution.
.TH EM 1
.\" NAME should be all caps, SECTION should be 1-8, maybe w/ subsection
.\" other parms are allowed: see man(7), man(1)
.SH NAME
em \- visit a file with Emacs
.SH SYNOPSIS
.B em
.I "[options] files ..."
.SH "DESCRIPTION"
The
.B em
command combines and extends the functionality of
.I Emacs
and
.I Emacsclient
by
running
.IR emacs (1)
and/or
.IR emacsclient (1)
as appropriate per
given command-line arguments. For interactive sessions, an
emacs(1)
server is sought or, if not found,
invoked as a traditional daemon, prior to running
emacsclient(1).

You can either call
.B em
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 'em'
will allow these programs to invoke
.I Emacs
for editing.
Other operating systems might have their own methods for defining the
default editor.

When you've finished editing the buffer, type "C-x #"
("server-edit").  This saves the file and sends a message back to the
.B em
program telling it to exit.  The programs that use
EDITOR wait for the "editor" (actually,
.BR em )
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.

.SH OPTIONS
Most options follow the usual GNU command line syntax, with long
options starting with two dashes ("\-").
They may be abbreviated (e.g.,
.I \-new
instead of
.I --new-frame\fR),
provided they are unambiguous.

.TP
.BI + line\fR[\fP\fB:\fPcolumn\fR]\fP
Go to the specified
.I line
and
.IR column .
A missing
.I column
is treated as column 1.
This option applies only to the next file specified.
.TP
.B \-nw, \-t, \-\-tty
Open a new
.I Emacs
frame on the current terminal.
.TP
.B -c, \-\-create-frame
Create a new frame instead of trying to use the current
.I Emacs
frame.
.TP
.B \-F, \-\-frame-parameters=ALIST
Set the parameters of a newly-created frame.
.TP
.B \-e, \-\-eval
Do not visit files but instead evaluate the arguments as
.I Emacs
Lisp expressions.
.TP
.B \-n, \-\-no-wait
Returns
immediately without waiting for you to "finish" the buffer in
.I Emacs\fR.
.TP
.B \-\-quiet
Don't display messages on success.
.TP
.B \-u, \-\-suppress-output
Don't display return values from the server. Note that the long option is overshadowed by option
.IR \-\-sudo .
.TP
.B \-d, \-\-display=DISPLAY
Tell the server to display the files on the given display.
.TP
.B \-\-server-file=FILENAME
Use TCP configuration file FILENAME for communication.
This can also be specified via the EMACS_SERVER_FILE environment variable.
.TP
.B \-\-parent\-id=ID
Open in parent window ID, via XEmbed.
.TP
.B \-s, \-\-socket-name=NAME
Connect
to a running
.I Emacs
server with name,
.I NAME\fR,
or if none exists, start a new
.I Emacs
server (via
.I \-\-daemon\fR=\fPNAME\fR),
and then connect to that.


.TP
.B \-V, \-\-version
Print version information and exit.
.TP
.B \-H, \-\-help
Print this usage information message and exit.

.SH EXTENDED OPTIONS
The following options extend those available to
.I Emacs
and
.I Emacsclient\fR.
.TP
.B \-\-buffer\fR[=\fPBUF\fR]
Visit buffer BUF if given, otherwise
.I *scratch*\fR.
.TP
.B \-\-dired\fR[=\fPDIR\fR]
Visit directory DIR if given, otherwise
.I .\fR.
.TP
.B \-\-many-frames
Visit FILEs in parallel, each in its own frame.
.TP
.B \-\-markdown, \-md\fR=\fPFILE
Visit FILE in mode
.I markdown-live-preview-mode\fR.
.TP
.B \-\-new-frame
Visit FILEs in a new frame.
.TP
.B \-\-preload-files
Load FILEs in parallel, but visit one at a time.
.TP
.B \-\-save-kill
Save buffers and kill
.I emacs\fR.
.TP
.B \-\-ssh=\fR[\fPUSER@\fR]\fPHOST\fR[\fP:PATH\fR]
Visit PATH on remote HOST via SSH.
If PATH not given, visit USER's home directory on HOST.
.TP
.B \-\-ssu=\fR[\fPUSER@\fR]\fPHOST\fR[\fP:PATH\fR]
Visit PATH with SUDO on remote HOST via SSH.
If PATH not given, visit USER's home directory on HOST.
.TP
.B \-\-super-user\fR[=\fPUSER\fR]
Visit FILEs with
.I root
user privileges via tramp.
.TP
.B \-\-trace
Trace execution of
.B em
script.
.TP
.B \-\-two-way-merge\fR=\fPFILE1\fR,\fPFILE2\fR[,\fPOUTPUT-FILE\fR]
Call
.I emerge-files
with arguments  FILE1 and FILE2.
Save output to OUTPUT-FILE if given.
.TP
.B \-\-update-loaddefs\fR[=\fPDIR\fR]
Build autoload file
.I DIR-loaddefs.el
from
.I Emacs
Lisp
sources in directory
.I DIR
(i.e.,
.I DIR/*.el\fR).
.TP
.B \-\-wait
Run
.I emacsclient
in foreground.

.SH EMACS OPTIONS
In addition to the above, the following
.I Emacs\fR-specific
options are
recognized. Many of these cannot be processed by an already running
.I Emacs
server, in which case a separate
.I Emacs
process is invoked.

The following options are of general interest:
.RS
.TP 8
.I file
Edit
.IR file .
.TP
.BI \-\-file " file\fR,\fP " \-\-find-file " file\fR,\fP " \-\-visit " file"
The same as specifying
.I file
directly as an argument.
.TP
.BI + number
Go to the line specified by
.I number
(do not insert a space between the "+" sign and
the number).
This applies only to the next file specified.
.TP
.BI + line:column
Go to the specified
.I line
and
.IR column .
.TP
.BI \-\-chdir " directory"
Change to
.IR directory .
.TP
.BR \-q ", " \-\-no\-init\-file
Do not load an init file.
.TP
.BR \-nl ", " \-\-no\-shared\-memory
Do not use shared memory.
.TP
.B \-\-no\-site\-file
Do not load the site-wide startup file.
.TP
.BR \-nsl ", " \-\-no\-site\-lisp
Do not add site-lisp directories to load-path.
.TP
.B \-\-no\-desktop
Do not load a saved desktop.
.TP
.BR \-Q ", " \-\-quick
Similar to "\-q \-\-no\-site\-file \-\-no\-splash".  Also, avoid
processing X resources.
.TP
.B \-\-no\-splash
Do not display a splash screen during start-up.
.TP
.B \-\-debug\-init
Enable
.I Emacs
Lisp debugger during the processing of the user init file
.BR ~/.emacs .
This is useful for debugging problems in the init file.
.TP
.BI \-u " user\fR,\fP " \-\-user\fR=\fI user
Load
.IR user 's
init file.
.TP
.B \-\-init\-directory\fR=\fIdirectory
Start \fIEmacs\fR with user-emacs-directory set to
.IR directory .
.TP
.BI \-t " file\fR,\fP " \-\-terminal\fR=\fIfile
Use specified
.I file
as the terminal instead of using stdin/stdout.
This must be the first argument specified in the command line.
.TP
.BI \-\-daemon "\fR[=\fPname\fR], " \-\-bg\-daemon "\fR[=\fPname\fR]"
Start
.I Emacs
as a daemon, enabling the
.I Emacs
server and disconnecting
from the terminal.  You can then use the emacsclient (see
.BR emacsclient (1))
command to
connect to the server (with optional
.IR name ")."
.TP
.BI \-\-fg\-daemon "\fR[=\fPname\fR]"
Like
.IR \-\-bg\-daemon ,
but don't disconnect from the terminal.
.RE
.PP
The following options are Lisp-oriented
(these options are processed in the order encountered):
.RS
.TP 8
.BI \-f " function\fR,\fP " \-\-funcall "\fR=\fPfunction"
Execute the lisp function
.IR function .
.TP
.BI \-l " file\fR,\fP " \-\-load "\fR=\fPfile"
Load the lisp code in the file
.IR file .
.TP
.BI \-\-eval "\fR=\fPexpr\fR,\fP " \-\-execute "\fR=\fPexpr"
Evaluate the Lisp expression
.IR expr .
.RE
.PP
The following options are useful when running
.I Emacs
as a batch editor:
.RS
.TP 8
.B \-\-batch
Edit in batch mode.
The editor will send messages to stderr.
You must use \fB\-l\fP and \fB\-f\fP options to specify files to execute
and functions to call.
.TP
.BI \-\-script "\fR=\fPfile"
Run
.I file
as an Emacs Lisp script.
.TP
.BI \-\-insert "\fR=\fPfile"
Insert contents of
.I file
into the current buffer.
.TP
.B \-\-kill
Exit
.I Emacs
while in batch mode.
.TP
.BI \-L " dir\fR,\fP " \-\-directory "\fR=\fPdir"
Add
.I dir
to the list of directories
.I Emacs
searches for Lisp files.
.RE
.
.\" START DELETING HERE IF YOU'RE NOT USING X
.SS Using Emacs with X
.I Emacs
has been tailored to work well with the X window system.
If you run
.I Emacs
from under X windows, it will create its own X window to
display in.
You will probably want to start the editor as a background
process so that you can continue using your original window.
.PP
.I Emacs
can be started with the following X switches:
.RS
.TP 8
.BI \-\-name " name"
Specify the name which should be assigned to the initial
.I Emacs
window.
This controls looking up X resources as well as the window title.
.TP
.BI \-T " name\fR,\fP " \-\-title " name"
Specify the title for the initial X window.
.TP
.BR \-r ", " \-rv ", " \-\-reverse\-video
Display the
.I Emacs
window in reverse video.
.TP
.BI \-fn " font\fR,\fP " \-\-font " font"
Set the
.I Emacs
window's font to that specified by
.IR font .
You will find the various
.I X
fonts in the
.I /usr/lib/X11/fonts
directory.
Note that
.I Emacs
will only accept fixed width fonts.
Under the X11 Release 4 font-naming conventions, any font with the
value "m" or "c" in the eleventh field of the font name is a fixed
width font.
Furthermore, fonts whose name are of the form
.IR width x height
are generally fixed width, as is the font
.IR fixed .
See
.BR xlsfonts (1)
for more information.

When you specify a font, be sure to put a space between the
switch and the font name.
.TP
.BI \-\-xrm " resources"
Set additional X resources.
.TP
.BI "\-\-color\fR,\fP \-\-color=" mode
Override color mode for character terminals;
.I mode
defaults to "auto", and can also be "never", "auto", "always",
or a mode name like "ansi8".
.TP
.BI \-bw " pixels\fR,\fP " \-\-border\-width " pixels"
Set the
.I Emacs
window's border width to the number of pixels specified by
.IR pixels .
Defaults to one pixel on each side of the window.
.TP
.BI \-ib " pixels\fR,\fP " \-\-internal\-border " pixels"
Set the window's internal border width to the number of pixels specified
by
.IR pixels .
Defaults to one pixel of padding on each side of the window.
.TP
.BI \-g " geometry\fR,\fP " \-\-geometry " geometry"
Set the
.I Emacs
window's width, height, and position as specified.
The geometry specification is in the standard X format; see
.BR X (7)
for more information.
The width and height are specified in characters; the default is
80 by 24.
See the Emacs manual, section "Options for Window Size and Position",
for information on how window sizes interact
with selecting or deselecting the tool bar and menu bar.
.TP
.BI \-lsp " pixels\fR,\fP " \-\-line\-spacing " pixels"
Additional space to put between lines.
.TP
.BR \-vb ", " \-\-vertical\-scroll\-bars
Enable vertical scrollbars.
.TP
.BR \-fh ", " \-\-fullheight
Make the first frame as high as the screen.
.TP
.BR \-fs ", " \-\-fullscreen
Make the first frame fullscreen.
.TP
.BR \-fw ", " \-\-fullwidth
Make the first frame as wide as the screen.
.TP
.BR \-mm ", " \-\-maximized
Maximize the first frame, like "\-fw \-fh".
.TP
.BI \-fg " color\fR,\fP " \-\-foreground\-color " color"
On color displays, set the color of the text.

Use the command
.I M\-x list\-colors\-display
for a list of valid color names.
.TP
.BI \-bg " color\fR,\fP " \-\-background\-color " color"
On color displays, set the color of the window's background.
.TP
.BI \-bd " color\fR,\fP " \-\-border\-color " color"
On color displays, set the color of the window's border.
.TP
.BI \-cr " color\fR,\fP " \-\-cursor\-color " color"
On color displays, set the color of the window's text cursor.
.TP
.BI \-ms " color\fR,\fP " \-\-mouse\-color " color"
On color displays, set the color of the window's mouse cursor.
.TP
.BI \-d " displayname\fR,\fP " \-\-display " displayname"
Create the
.I Emacs
window on the display specified by
.IR displayname .
Must be the first option specified in the command line.
.TP
.BR \-nbi ", " \-\-no\-bitmap\-icon
Do not use picture of gnu for Emacs icon.
.TP
.B \-\-iconic
Start
.I Emacs
in iconified state.
.TP
.BR \-nbc ", " \-\-no\-blinking\-cursor
Disable blinking cursor.
.TP
.BR \-nw ", " \-\-no\-window\-system
Tell
.I Emacs
not to create a graphical frame.
If you use this switch when invoking
.I Emacs
from an
.BR xterm (1)
window, display is done in that window.
.TP
.BR \-D ", " \-\-basic\-display
This option disables many display features; use it for
debugging Emacs.
.RE
.PP
You can set
.I X
default values for your
.I Emacs
windows in your
.I \.Xresources
file (see
.BR xrdb (1)).
Use the following format:
.IP
.RI emacs. keyword : value
.PP
where
.I value
specifies the default value of
.IR keyword .
.I Emacs
lets you set default values for the following keywords:
.RS
.TP 8
.BR background " (class " Background )
For color displays,
sets the window's background color.
.TP
.BR bitmapIcon " (class " BitmapIcon )
If
.BR bitmapIcon 's
value is set to
.IR on ,
the window will iconify into the "kitchen sink."
.TP
.BR borderColor " (class " BorderColor )
For color displays,
sets the color of the window's border.
.TP
.BR borderWidth " (class " BorderWidth )
Sets the window's border width in pixels.
.TP
.BR cursorColor " (class " Foreground )
For color displays,
sets the color of the window's text cursor.
.TP
.BR cursorBlink " (class " CursorBlink )
Specifies whether to make the cursor blink.
The default is
.IR on .
Use
.I off
or
.I false
to turn cursor blinking off.
.TP
.BR font " (class " Font )
Sets the window's text font.
.TP
.BR foreground " (class " Foreground )
For color displays,
sets the window's text color.
.TP
.BR fullscreen " (class " Fullscreen )
The desired fullscreen size.
The value can be one of
.IR fullboth ,
.IR maximized ,
.IR fullwidth ,
or
.IR fullheight ,
which correspond to the command-line options "\-fs", "\-mm", "\-fw",
and "\-fh", respectively.
Note that this applies to the initial frame only.
.TP
.BR geometry " (class " Geometry )
Sets the geometry of the
.I Emacs
window (as described above).
.TP
.BR iconName " (class " Title )
Sets the icon name for the
.I Emacs
window icon.
.TP
.BR internalBorder " (class " BorderWidth )
Sets the window's internal border width in pixels.
.TP
.BR lineSpacing " (class " LineSpacing )
Additional space ("leading") between lines, in pixels.
.TP
.BR menuBar " (class " MenuBar )
Gives frames menu bars if
.IR on ;
don't have menu bars if
.IR off .
See the Emacs manual, sections "Lucid Resources" and "Motif
Resources", for how to control the appearance of the menu bar
if you have one.
.TP
.BR minibuffer " (class " Minibuffer )
If
.IR none ,
don't make a minibuffer in this frame.
It will use a separate minibuffer frame instead.
.TP
.BR paneFont " (class " Font )
Font name for menu pane titles, in non-toolkit versions of
.IR Emacs .
.TP
.BR pointerColor " (class " Foreground )
For color displays,
sets the color of the window's mouse cursor.
.TP
.BR privateColormap " (class " PrivateColormap )
If
.IR on ,
use a private color map, in the case where the "default
visual" of class
.B PseudoColor
and
.B Emacs
is using it.
.TP
.BR reverseVideo " (class " ReverseVideo )
If
.BR reverseVideo 's
value is set to
.IR on ,
the window will be displayed in reverse video.
.TP
.BR screenGamma " (class "ScreenGamma )
Gamma correction for colors, equivalent to the frame parameter
"screen\-gamma".
.TP
.BR scrollBarWidth " (class "ScrollBarWidth )
The scroll bar width in pixels, equivalent to the frame parameter
"scroll\-bar\-width".
.TP
.BR selectionFont " (class " SelectionFont )
Font name for pop-up menu items, in non-toolkit versions of
.IR Emacs .
(For toolkit versions, see the Emacs manual, sections
"Lucid Resources" and "Motif Resources".)
.TP
.BR selectionTimeout " (class " SelectionTimeout )
Number of milliseconds to wait for a selection reply.
A value of 0 means wait as long as necessary.
.TP
.BR synchronous " (class " Synchronous )
Run Emacs in synchronous mode if
.IR on .
Synchronous mode is useful for debugging X problems.
.TP
.BR title " (class " Title )
Sets the title of the
.I Emacs
window.
.TP
.BR toolBar " (class " ToolBar )
Number of lines to reserve for the tool bar.
.TP
.BR useXIM " (class " UseXIM )
Turns off use of X input methods (XIM) if
.I false
or
.IR off .
.TP
.BR verticalScrollBars " (class " ScrollBars )
Gives frames scroll bars if
.IR on ;
suppresses scroll bars if
.IR off .
.TP
.BR visualClass " (class " VisualClass )
Specify the "visual" that X should use.
This tells X how to handle colors.
The value should start with one of
.IR TrueColor ,
.IR PseudoColor ,
.IR DirectColor ,
.IR StaticColor ,
.IR GrayScale ,
and
.IR StaticGray ,
followed by
.BI \- depth\fR,\fP
where
.I depth
is the number of color planes.
.RE
.
.
.SH BUGS
There is a mailing list, bug-gnu-emacs@gnu.org, for reporting Emacs
bugs and fixes.
But before reporting something as a bug, please try to be sure that
it really is a bug, not a misunderstanding or a deliberate feature.
We ask you to read the section "Reporting Bugs" in the Emacs manual
for hints on how and when to report bugs.
Also, include the version number of the Emacs you are running in
\fIevery\fR bug report that you send in.
Bugs tend actually to be fixed if they can be isolated, so it is
in your interest to report them in such a way that they can be
easily reproduced.

Do not expect a personal answer to a bug report.
The purpose of reporting bugs is to get them fixed for everyone
in the next release, if possible.
For personal assistance, consult the service directory at
<http://www.fsf.org/resources/service/> for a list of people who offer it.

Please do not send anything but bug reports to this mailing list.
For other Emacs lists, see <http://savannah.gnu.org/mail/?group=emacs>.
.
.
.
.SH SEE ALSO
.BR emacsclient (1),
.BR emacs (1).
.
.
.SH AUTHORS
.I Emacs
was written by Richard Stallman and the Free Software Foundation.
For detailed credits and acknowledgments, see the GNU Emacs manual.
.PP
This emacsclient portion of this manual page was written by
Stephane Bortzmeyer <bortzmeyer@debian.org>,
for the Debian GNU/Linux system (but may be used by others).
.PP
The
.I em
script was written by Andrew L. Moore.
.
.
.SH COPYING
Copyright
.if t \(co
.if n (C)
1995, 1999-2017 Free Software Foundation, Inc.
.PP
Permission is granted to make and distribute verbatim copies of this
document provided the copyright notice and this permission notice are
preserved on all copies.
.PP
Permission is granted to copy and distribute modified versions of
this document under the conditions for verbatim copying, provided that
the entire resulting derived work is distributed under the terms of
a permission notice identical to this one.
.PP
Permission is granted to copy and distribute translations of this
document into another language, under the above conditions for
modified versions, except that this permission notice may be stated
in a translation approved by the Free Software Foundation.
.