2 @node Command Switches, Startup Paths, Exiting, Top
3 @section Command Line Switches and Arguments
4 @cindex command line arguments
5 @cindex arguments (from shell)
7 XEmacs supports command line arguments you can use to request
8 various actions when invoking Emacs. The commands are for compatibility
9 with other editors and for sophisticated activities. If you are using
10 XEmacs under the X window system, you can also use a number of
11 standard Xt command line arguments. Command line arguments are not usually
12 needed for editing with Emacs; new users can skip this section.
14 Many editors are designed to be started afresh each time you want to
15 edit. You start the editor to edit one file; then exit the editor. The
16 next time you want to edit either another file or the same one, you
17 start the editor again. Under these circumstances, it makes sense to use a
18 command line argument to say which file to edit.
20 The recommended way to use XEmacs is to start it only once, just
21 after you log in, and do all your editing in the same Emacs process.
22 Each time you want to edit a file, you visit it using the existing
23 Emacs. Emacs creates a new buffer for each file, and (unless you kill
24 some of the buffers) Emacs eventually has many files in it ready for
25 editing. Usually you do not kill the Emacs process until you are about
26 to log out. Since you usually read files by typing commands to Emacs,
27 command line arguments for specifying a file when Emacs is started are seldom
30 Emacs accepts command-line arguments that specify files to visit,
31 functions to call, and other activities and operating modes. If you are
32 running XEmacs under the X window system, a number of standard
33 Xt command line arguments are available as well.
35 The following subsections list:
38 Command line arguments that you can always use
40 Command line arguments that have to appear at the beginning of the
43 Command line arguments that are only relevant if you are running XEmacs
47 @subsection Command Line Arguments for Any Position
48 Command line arguments are processed in the order they appear on the
49 command line; however, certain arguments (the ones in the
50 second table) must be at the front of the list if they are used.
52 Here are the arguments allowed:
56 Visit @var{file} using @code{find-file}. @xref{Visiting}.
58 @item +@var{linenum} @var{file}
59 Visit @var{file} using @code{find-file}, then go to line number
62 @item -load @var{file}
64 Load a file @var{file} of Lisp code with the function @code{load}.
65 @xref{Lisp Libraries}.
67 @item -funcall @var{function}
68 @itemx -f @var{function}
69 Call Lisp function @var{function} with no arguments.
71 @item -eval @var{function}
72 Interpret the next argument as a Lisp expression, and evaluate it.
73 You must be very careful of the shell quoting here.
75 @item -insert @var{file}
77 Insert the contents of @var{file} into the current buffer. This is like
78 what @kbd{M-x insert-buffer} does; @xref{Misc File Ops}.
81 Exit from Emacs without asking for confirmation.
85 Prints version information. This implies @samp{-batch}.
89 XEmacs 19.13 of Mon Aug 21 1995 on willow (usg-unix-v) [formerly Lucid Emacs]
93 Prints a summary of command-line options and then exits.
96 @subsection Command Line Arguments (Beginning of Line Only)
97 The following arguments are recognized only at the beginning of the
98 command line. If more than one of them appears, they must appear in the
99 order in which they appear in this table.
103 Use @var{file} instead of the terminal for input and output. This
104 implies the @samp{-nw} option, documented below.
108 Run Emacs in @dfn{batch mode}, which means that the text being edited is
109 not displayed and the standard Unix interrupt characters such as
110 @kbd{C-z} and @kbd{C-c} continue to have their normal effect. Emacs in
111 batch mode outputs to @code{stderr} only what would normally be printed
112 in the echo area under program control.
114 Batch mode is used for running programs written in Emacs Lisp from shell
115 scripts, makefiles, and so on. Normally the @samp{-l} switch or
116 @samp{-f} switch will be used as well, to invoke a Lisp program to do
117 the batch processing.
119 @samp{-batch} implies @samp{-q} (do not load an init file). It also
120 causes Emacs to kill itself after all command switches have been
121 processed. In addition, auto-saving is not done except in buffers for
122 which it has been explicitly requested.
125 Start up XEmacs in TTY mode (using the TTY XEmacs was started from),
126 rather than trying to connect to an X display. Note that this happens
127 automatically if the @samp{DISPLAY} environment variable is not set.
130 Enter the debugger if an error in the init file occurs.
133 Displays information on how XEmacs constructs the various paths into its
134 hierarchy on startup. (See also @pxref{Startup Paths}.)
137 Do not map the initial frame. This is useful if you want to start up
138 XEmacs as a server (e.g. for gnuserv screens or external client widgets).
142 Do not load your Emacs init file @file{~/.emacs}.
145 Do not load the site-specific init file @file{lisp/site-start.el}.
148 Do not load global symbol files (@file{auto-autoloads}) at startup.
149 This implies @samp{-vanilla}.
151 @item -no-early-packages
152 Do not process early packages. (For more information on startup issues
153 concerning the package system, @xref{Startup Paths}.)
156 This is equivalent to @samp{-q -no-site-file -no-early-packages}.
158 @item -user @var{user}
160 Load @var{user}'s Emacs init file @file{~@var{user}/.emacs} instead of
166 @vindex command-line-args
167 Note that the init file can get access to the command line argument
168 values as the elements of a list in the variable
169 @code{command-line-args}. (The arguments in the second table above will
170 already have been processed and will not be in the list.) The init file
171 can override the normal processing of the other arguments by setting
174 One way to use command switches is to visit many files automatically:
181 passes each @code{.c} file as a separate argument to Emacs, so that
182 Emacs visits each file (@pxref{Visiting}).
184 Here is an advanced example that assumes you have a Lisp program file
185 called @file{hack-c-program.el} which, when loaded, performs some useful
186 operation on the current buffer, expected to be a C program.
189 xemacs -batch foo.c -l hack-c-program -f save-buffer -kill > log
193 Here Emacs is told to visit @file{foo.c}, load @file{hack-c-program.el}
194 (which makes changes in the visited file), save @file{foo.c} (note that
195 @code{save-buffer} is the function that @kbd{C-x C-s} is bound to), and
196 then exit to the shell from which the command was executed. @samp{-batch}
197 guarantees there will be no problem redirecting output to @file{log},
198 because Emacs will not assume that it has a display terminal to work
201 @subsection Command Line Arguments (for XEmacs Under X)
202 @vindex frame-title-format
203 @vindex frame-icon-title-format
204 If you are running XEmacs under X, a number of options are
205 available to control color, border, and window title and icon name:
208 @item -title @var{title}
209 @itemx -wn @var{title}
210 @itemx -T @var{title}
211 Use @var{title} as the window title. This sets the
212 @code{frame-title-format} variable, which controls the title of the X
213 window corresponding to the selected frame. This is the same format as
214 @code{mode-line-format}.
216 @item -iconname @var{title}
217 @itemx -in @var{title}
218 Use @var{title} as the icon name. This sets the
219 @code{frame-icon-title-format} variable, which controls the title of
220 the icon corresponding to the selected frame.
222 @item -mc @var{color}
223 Use @var{color} as the mouse color.
225 @item -cr @var{color}
226 Use @var{color} as the text-cursor foreground color.
229 In addition, XEmacs allows you to use a number of standard Xt
230 command line arguments.
234 @item -background @var{color}
235 @itemx -bg @var{color}
236 Use @var{color} as the background color.
238 @item -bordercolor @var{color}
239 @itemx -bd @var{color}
240 Use @var{color} as the border color.
242 @item -borderwidth @var{width}
243 @itemx -bw @var{width}
244 Use @var{width} as the border width.
246 @item -display @var{display}
247 @itemx -d @var{display}
248 When running under the X window system, create the window containing the
249 Emacs frame on the display named @var{display}.
251 @item -foreground @var{color}
252 @itemx -fg @var{color}
253 Use @var{color} as the foreground color.
255 @item -font @var{name}
256 @itemx -fn @var{name}
257 Use @var{name} as the default font.
259 @item -geometry @var{spec}
260 @itemx -geom @var{spec}
262 Use the geometry (window size and/or position) specified by @var{spec}.
268 Bring up Emacs in reverse video.
270 @item -name @var{name}
271 Use the resource manager resources specified by @var{name}.
272 The default is to use the name of the program (@code{argv[0]}) as
273 the resource manager name.
276 Read something into the resource database for this invocation of Emacs only.