emacs - GNU project Emacs editor
emacs [ command-line switches ] [ files ...
]
GNU Emacs is a version of Emacs, written by the
author of the original (PDP-10) Emacs, Richard Stallman. The user
functionality of GNU Emacs encompasses everything other editors do, and it
is easily extensible since its editing commands are written in Lisp.
The primary documentation of GNU Emacs is in the GNU Emacs Manual,
which you can read using Info, either from Emacs or as a standalone program.
Please look there for complete and up-to-date documentation. This man page
is updated only when someone volunteers to do so.
Emacs has an extensive interactive help facility, but the
facility assumes that you know how to manipulate Emacs windows and
buffers. CTRL-h or F1 enters the Help facility. Help Tutorial (CTRL-h t)
starts an interactive tutorial to quickly teach beginners the fundamentals
of Emacs. Help Apropos (CTRL-h a) helps you find a command with a
name matching a given pattern, Help Key (CTRL-h k) describes a given key
sequence, and Help Function (CTRL-h f) describes a given Lisp function.
GNU Emacs's many special packages handle mail reading
(RMail) and sending (Mail), outline editing (Outline), compiling (Compile),
running subshells within Emacs windows (Shell), running a Lisp
read-eval-print loop (Lisp-Interaction-Mode), automated psychotherapy
(Doctor), and much more.
The following options are of general interest:
- file
- Edit file.
- --file=file,
--find-file=file, --visit=file
- The same as specifying file directly as an argument.
- +number
- Go to the line specified by number (do not insert a space between
the "+" sign and the number). This applies only to the next file
specified.
- +line:column
- Go to the specified line and column.
- --chdir=directory
- Change to directory.
- -q,
--no-init-file
- Do not load an init file.
- -nl,
--no-shared-memory
- Do not use shared memory.
- --no-site-file
- Do not load the site-wide startup file.
- -nsl,
--no-site-lisp
- Do not add site-lisp directories to load-path.
- --no-desktop
- Do not load a saved desktop.
- -Q, --quick
- Similar to "-q --no-site-file --no-splash". Also, avoid
processing X resources.
- --no-splash
- Do not display a splash screen during start-up.
- --debug-init
- Enable Emacs Lisp debugger during the processing of the user init
file ~/.emacs. This is useful for debugging problems in the init
file.
- -u user,
--user=user
- Load user's init file.
- -t file,
--terminal=file
- Use specified file as the terminal instead of using stdin/stdout.
This must be the first argument specified in the command line.
- --daemon[=name],
--bg-daemon[=name]
- Start Emacs as a daemon, enabling the Emacs server and disconnecting from
the terminal. You can then use the emacsclient (see emacsclient(1))
command to connect to the server (with optional name).
- --fg-daemon[=name]
- Like "--bg-daemon", but don't disconnect from the terminal.
- --version
- Display Emacs version information and exit.
- --help
- Display this help and exit.
The following options are Lisp-oriented (these options are
processed in the order encountered):
The following options are useful when running Emacs as a
batch editor:
- --batch
- Edit in batch mode. The editor will send messages to stderr. You must use
-l and -f options to specify files to execute and functions to call.
- --script=file
- Run file as an Emacs Lisp script.
- --insert=file
- Insert contents of file into the current buffer.
- --kill
- Exit Emacs while in batch mode.
- -L dir,
--directory=dir
- Add dir to the list of directories Emacs searches for Lisp
files.
Emacs has been tailored to work well with the X window
system. If you run 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.
Emacs can be started with the following X switches:
- --name=name
- Specify the name which should be assigned to the initial Emacs
window. This controls looking up X resources as well as the window
title.
- -T name,
--title=name
- Specify the title for the initial X window.
- -r, -rv,
--reverse-video
- Display the Emacs window in reverse video.
- -fn font,
--font=font
- Set the Emacs window's font to that specified by font. You
will find the various X fonts in the /usr/lib/X11/fonts
directory. Note that 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
widthxheight are generally fixed width, as is the font
fixed. See xlsfonts(1) for more information.
When you specify a font, be sure to put a space between the
switch and the font name.
- --xrm=resources
- Set additional X resources.
- --color,
--color=mode
- Override color mode for character terminals; mode defaults to
"auto", and can also be "never", "auto",
"always", or a mode name like "ansi8".
- -bw pixels,
--border-width=pixels
- Set the Emacs window's border width to the number of pixels
specified by pixels. Defaults to one pixel on each side of the
window.
- -ib pixels,
--internal-border=pixels
- Set the window's internal border width to the number of pixels specified
by pixels. Defaults to one pixel of padding on each side of the
window.
- -g geometry,
--geometry=geometry
- Set the Emacs window's width, height, and position as specified.
The geometry specification is in the standard X format; see 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.
- -lsp pixels,
--line-spacing=pixels
- Additional space to put between lines.
- -vb,
--vertical-scroll-bars
- Enable vertical scrollbars.
- -fh,
--fullheight
- Make the first frame as high as the screen.
- -fs,
--fullscreen
- Make the first frame fullscreen.
- -fw,
--fullwidth
- Make the first frame as wide as the screen.
- -mm,
--maximized
- Maximize the first frame, like "-fw -fh".
- -fg color,
--foreground-color=color
- On color displays, set the color of the text.
Use the command M-x list-colors-display for a list of
valid color names.
- -bg color,
--background-color=color
- On color displays, set the color of the window's background.
- -bd color,
--border-color=color
- On color displays, set the color of the window's border.
- -cr color,
--cursor-color=color
- On color displays, set the color of the window's text cursor.
- -ms color,
--mouse-color=color
- On color displays, set the color of the window's mouse cursor.
- -d displayname,
--display=displayname
- Create the Emacs window on the display specified by
displayname. Must be the first option specified in the command
line.
- -nbi,
--no-bitmap-icon
- Do not use picture of gnu for Emacs icon.
- --iconic
- Start Emacs in iconified state.
- -nbc,
--no-blinking-cursor
- Disable blinking cursor.
- --parent-id=xid
- Set parent window.
- -nw,
--no-window-system
- Tell Emacs not to create a graphical frame. If you use this switch
when invoking Emacs from an xterm(1) window, display is done
in that window.
- -D,
--basic-display
- This option disables many display features; use it for debugging
Emacs.
You can set X default values for your Emacs windows
in your .Xresources file (see xrdb(1)). Use the following
format:
- emacs.keyword:value
where value specifies the default value of keyword.
Emacs lets you set default values for the following keywords:
- background
(class Background)
- For color displays, sets the window's background color.
- bitmapIcon
(class BitmapIcon)
- If bitmapIcon's value is set to on, the window will iconify
into the "kitchen sink."
- borderColor
(class BorderColor)
- For color displays, sets the color of the window's border.
- borderWidth
(class BorderWidth)
- Sets the window's border width in pixels.
- cursorColor
(class Foreground)
- For color displays, sets the color of the window's text cursor.
- cursorBlink
(class CursorBlink)
- Specifies whether to make the cursor blink. The default is on. Use
off or false to turn cursor blinking off.
- font (class
Font)
- Sets the window's text font.
- foreground
(class Foreground)
- For color displays, sets the window's text color.
- fullscreen
(class Fullscreen)
- The desired fullscreen size. The value can be one of fullboth,
maximized, fullwidth, or fullheight, which correspond
to the command-line options "-fs", "-mm",
"-fw", and "-fh", respectively. Note that this applies
to the initial frame only.
- geometry (class
Geometry)
- Sets the geometry of the Emacs window (as described above).
- iconName (class
Title)
- Sets the icon name for the Emacs window icon.
- internalBorder
(class BorderWidth)
- Sets the window's internal border width in pixels.
- lineSpacing
(class LineSpacing)
- Additional space ("leading") between lines, in pixels.
- Gives frames menu bars if on; don't have menu bars if 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.
- minibuffer
(class Minibuffer)
- If none, don't make a minibuffer in this frame. It will use a
separate minibuffer frame instead.
- paneFont (class
Font)
- Font name for menu pane titles, in non-toolkit versions of
Emacs.
- pointerColor
(class Foreground)
- For color displays, sets the color of the window's mouse cursor.
- privateColormap
(class PrivateColormap)
- If on, use a private color map, in the case where the "default
visual" of class PseudoColor and Emacs is using
it.
- reverseVideo
(class ReverseVideo)
- If reverseVideo's value is set to on, the window will be
displayed in reverse video.
- screenGamma
(class ScreenGamma)
- Gamma correction for colors, equivalent to the frame parameter
"screen-gamma".
- scrollBarWidth
(class ScrollBarWidth)
- The scroll bar width in pixels, equivalent to the frame parameter
"scroll-bar-width".
- selectionFont
(class SelectionFont)
- Font name for pop-up menu items, in non-toolkit versions of Emacs.
(For toolkit versions, see the Emacs manual, sections "Lucid
Resources" and "Motif Resources".)
- selectionTimeout
(class SelectionTimeout)
- Number of milliseconds to wait for a selection reply. A value of 0 means
wait as long as necessary.
- synchronous
(class Synchronous)
- Run Emacs in synchronous mode if on. Synchronous mode is useful for
debugging X problems.
- title (class
Title)
- Sets the title of the Emacs window.
- toolBar (class
ToolBar)
- Number of lines to reserve for the tool bar.
- useXIM (class
UseXIM)
- Turns off use of X input methods (XIM) if false or off.
- verticalScrollBars
(class ScrollBars)
- Gives frames scroll bars if on; suppresses scroll bars if
off.
- visualClass
(class VisualClass)
- Specify the "visual" that X should use. This tells X how to
handle colors. The value should start with one of TrueColor,
PseudoColor, DirectColor, StaticColor,
GrayScale, and StaticGray, followed by -depth,
where depth is the number of color planes.
You can order printed copies of the GNU Emacs Manual from the Free
Software Foundation, which develops GNU software. See the online store at
<https://shop.fsf.org/>.
Your local administrator might also have copies available. As with all
software and publications from FSF, everyone is permitted to make and
distribute copies of the Emacs manual. The Texinfo source to the manual is
also included in the Emacs source distribution.
/usr/local/share/info — files for the Info documentation
browser. The complete text of the Emacs reference manual is included in a
convenient tree structured form. Also includes the Emacs Lisp Reference
Manual, useful to anyone wishing to write programs in the Emacs Lisp
extension language, and the Introduction to Programming in Emacs Lisp.
/usr/local/share/emacs/$VERSION/lisp — Lisp source files
and compiled files that define most editing commands. Some are preloaded;
others are autoloaded from this directory when used.
/usr/local/libexec/emacs/$VERSION/$ARCH — various programs
that are used with GNU Emacs.
/usr/local/share/emacs/$VERSION/etc — various files of
information.
/usr/local/share/emacs/$VERSION/etc/DOC.* — contains the
documentation strings for the Lisp primitives and preloaded Lisp functions
of GNU Emacs. They are stored here to reduce the size of Emacs proper.
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 every 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
<https://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
<https://savannah.gnu.org/mail/?group=emacs>.
Emacs is free; anyone may redistribute copies of
Emacs to anyone under the terms stated in the GNU General Public
License, a copy of which accompanies each copy of Emacs and which
also appears in the reference manual.
Copies of Emacs may sometimes be received packaged with
distributions of Unix systems, but it is never included in the scope of any
license covering those systems. Such inclusion violates the terms on which
distribution is permitted. In fact, the primary purpose of the GNU General
Public License is to prohibit anyone from attaching any other restrictions
to redistribution of Emacs.
Richard Stallman encourages you to improve and extend
Emacs, and urges that you contribute your extensions to the GNU
library. Eventually GNU (Gnu's Not Unix) will be a complete replacement for
Unix. Everyone will be free to use, copy, study and change the GNU
system.
Emacs was written by Richard Stallman and the Free Software
Foundation. For detailed credits and acknowledgments, see the GNU Emacs
manual.
Copyright 1995, 1999-2018 Free Software Foundation, Inc.
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.
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.
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.