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emacs — The extensible, customizable, self-documenting, real-time display editor. See also: `emacsclient`. M

Submitted by: @import:tldr-pages·Mar 2, 2026·

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Problem

How to use the emacs command: The extensible, customizable, self-documenting, real-time display editor. See also: emacsclient. More information: <https://www.gnu.org/software/emacs>.

Solution

emacs — The extensible, customizable, self-documenting, real-time display editor. See also: emacsclient. More information: <https://www.gnu.org/software/emacs>.

Start Emacs and open a file:

emacs {{path/to/file}}

Open a file at a specified line number:

emacs +{{line_number}} {{path/to/file}}

Run an Emacs Lisp file as a script:

emacs --script {{path/to/file.el}}

Start Emacs in console mode (without an X window):

emacs {{[-nw|--no-window-system]}}

Start an Emacs server in the background (accessible via emacsclient):

emacs --daemon

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

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

Save a file in Emacs:

<Ctrl x><Ctrl s>

Quit Emacs:

<Ctrl x><Ctrl c>

Code Snippets

Start Emacs and open a file

emacs {{path/to/file}}

Open a file at a specified line number

emacs +{{line_number}} {{path/to/file}}

Run an Emacs Lisp file as a script

emacs --script {{path/to/file.el}}

Start Emacs in console mode (without an X window)

emacs {{[-nw|--no-window-system]}}

Start an Emacs server in the background (accessible via `emacsclient`)

emacs --daemon

Context

tldr-pages: common/emacs

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