Start Emacs.app from CLI

Emacs_starter.pl

#!/usr/bin/perl

# Emacs starter for Emacs mac port

# Thanks to Aquamacs Project and David Reitter

my $args = "";
my $tmpfiles = "";

for my $f (@ARGV) {
  $args .= '"'.$f.'" ';
  $tmpfiles .= '"'.$f.'" ' if (! -e $f);
}

system("touch $args") if ($tmpfiles);
 
system("open -a /Applications/Emacs.app $args");

# delay deletion because AE drag&drop doesn't work with non-existing documents
system("(sleep 3; rm $tmpfiles) &") if ($tmpfiles);
 
exit;

I rewrote this as a shell script and added the capability to accommodate filenames with spaces:

#!/bin/sh

if [ -e '/Applications/Emacs.app' ]; then
  t=()

  if [ ${#@} -ne 0 ]; then
    while IFS= read -r file; do
      [ ! -f "$file" ] && t+=("$file") && /usr/bin/touch "$file"
      file=$(echo $(cd $(dirname "$file") && pwd -P)/$(basename "$file"))
      $(/usr/bin/osascript <<-END
        if application "Emacs.app" is running then
          tell application id (id of application "Emacs.app") to open POSIX file "$file"
        else
          tell application ((path to applications folder as text) & "Emacs.app")
            activate
            open POSIX file "$file"
          end tell
        end if
END
      ) &  # Note: END on the previous line may be indented with tabs but not spaces
    done <<<"$(printf '%s\n' "$@")"
  fi

  if [ ! -z "$t" ]; then
    $(/bin/sleep 10; for file in "${t[@]}"; do
      [ ! -s "$file" ] && /bin/rm "$file";
    done) &
  fi
else
  vim -No "$@"
fi

Since I switched from vi, I can't help but to type vi filename every time, so I saved this script as /usr/local/bin/vi. In the off chance I haven't yet installed Emacs.app, it uses the built in system vim instead.

Thanks @ptb :)

Sorry to ask guys, how can I install this?

@lmartins Paste into a file named emacs (or whatever you want the command to be) in a directory in your path (ahead of the location of the existing emacs command). Then chmod +x /path/to/emacs.

It'd be better to use emacsclient (and kick off Emacs.app as the alternate editor if it's not running already.)

The command open with the argument -a does not need the full application path. It's not useless but if you have installed Emacs in a different location I would consider just to use

system("open -a Emacs $args");

Here's a variation that ensures Emacs.app is launched, waits for it to be ready, and then uses emacsclient to open the file in a GUI frame and wait for edits to be completed.

#!/bin/sh

CLIENT=/Applications/Emacs.app/Contents/MacOS/bin/emacsclient

$(/usr/bin/osascript <<-END
  tell application ((path to applications folder as text) & "Emacs.app")
    activate
  end tell
END
)

while ! "$CLIENT" -e '"pass"' 2>&1 | grep '"pass"' > /dev/null; do
    sleep 0.3
done

if test "$#" -gt 0; then
    exec "$CLIENT" -c $@
fi

Hi @mwolson, thanks for the update. I believe your starter script works for Nextstep port (although I haven't verify that by myself), but it not works for Mac port. Because Emacs Mac port lacks multi-tty support, which means, emacsclient from mac port can only able to create tty frames but not GUI frames.

@ptb Just curious, why do you use a sub-shell to initialize t in your script? Any reason not to use t="" instead?

Edit: After some digging, I see I was misinterpreting the parentheses and mistaking an array assignment for a sub-shell.

Do I need to start server in emacs config before running this? because emacsclient gives me the following error

emacsclient -c nginx.conf
emacsclient: can't find socket; have you started the server?
To start the server in Emacs, type "M-x server-start".

I made some small modifications to the script @ptb provided. This variation is callable with or without file args, and will make emacs visible even if it was previously hidden.

The if [ $# -gt 0] block that handles file args is run in the background (see the closing fi &), but its contents run synchronously with respect to each other. That prevents deleting the tempfiles before they've been visited, with no need for sleep.

#!/bin/sh

emacs_app=/usr/local/opt/emacs-mac/Emacs.app

if [ ! -x $emacs_app ]; then
  echo "Emacs.app not found" >&2
  exit 1
fi

/usr/bin/osascript -e "tell application \"$emacs_app\" to activate" &

if [ $# -gt 0 ]; then
  tempfiles=()

  while IFS= read -r filename; do
    if [ ! -f "$filename" ]; then
      tempfiles+=("$filename")
      /usr/bin/touch "$filename"
    fi

    file=$(echo $(cd $(dirname "$filename") && pwd -P)/$(basename "$filename"))
    /usr/bin/osascript -e "tell application \"$emacs_app\" to open POSIX file \"$file\""
  done <<< "$(printf '%s\n' "$@")"

  for tempfile in "${tempfiles[@]}"; do
    [ ! -s "$tempfile" ] && /bin/rm "$tempfile"
  done
fi &

This will create buffers of any number of existing or non-existing files with or without spaces in their names in a new instance of Emacs.app. emacs_starter file1 file2 file3 ...

#! /usr/bin/env perl
local $" = qq{" "};
my (@have, @havenot);
for (@ARGV) {-e && {push @have, $_} || push @havenot, $_}
system qq{open -a Emacs.app "@have" --args "@havenot"};

If you have an emacs server running, then typing emacsclient file1 file2 file3 ... will use the server.

Anyone know if it's possible to use emacsclient with emacs-mac in a way that opens a new cocoa frame with the -c flag? I've started emacs server using a system plist and am able to connect with /usr/local/opt/emacs-mac/bin/emacsclient, but only in a terminal session.

Interestingly it looks like some people seem to have a bin directory inside of /usr/local/opt/emacs-mac/Emacs.app/Contents/MacOS but I do not.

ls -la /usr/local/opt/emacs-mac/Emacs.app/Contents/MacOS
total 24912
drwxr-xr-x  4 horace  admin       136 Aug 23 12:38 .
drwxr-xr-x  6 horace  admin       204 Aug 23 12:33 ..
-rwxr-xr-x  1 horace  admin  12747496 Aug 23 12:38 Emacs
-rwxr-xr-x  1 horace  admin      1650 Jul 26 21:44 Emacs.sh

If it's useful to anyone here's the plist I'm using to start the emacs daemon automatically on login:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<!DOCTYPE plist PUBLIC "-//Apple//DTD PLIST 1.0//EN" "http://www.apple.com/DTDs/PropertyList-1.0.dtd">
<plist version="1.0">
  <dict>
    <key>Label</key>
    <string>gnu.emacs.daemon</string>
    <key>ProgramArguments</key>
    <array>
      <string>/usr/local/opt/emacs-mac/bin/emacs</string>
      <string>--daemon</string>
    </array>
    <key>RunAtLoad</key>
    <true/>
    <key>ServiceDescription</key>
    <string>Gnu Emacs Daemon</string>
    <key>UserName</key>
    <string>worace</string>
  </dict>
</plist>

Then I have a couple utility functions for restarting it or stopping it as needed:

function emrestart {
    if pgrep "emacs.*daemon" > /dev/null
    then
        echo "killing emacs daemon process"
        $EMACS_BIN_DIR/emacsclient -e "(kill-emacs)"
    fi
  launchctl unload "$HOME/Library/LaunchAgents/emacsserver.plist" &&
  launchctl load "$HOME/Library/LaunchAgents/emacsserver.plist"
}

function emstop {
    if pgrep "emacs.*daemon" > /dev/null
    then
        echo "killing emacs daemon process"
        $EMACS_BIN_DIR/emacsclient -e "(kill-emacs)"
    fi
}

Would love to know if anyone has figured out the emacsclient thing though. That's the only thing I seem to be able to do with the default homebrew emacs setup that I haven't figured out with emacs-mac.

@worace If you start the server in a running GUI Emacs instance, emacsclient will connect to it.
It would be ideal to be able to start Emacs as a daemon process, and have GUI Emacs connect to it, but unfortunately I haven't gotten that to work.

@tonylotts do you know if it's possible to have the GUI emacs client connect to an already existing emacs daemon instance?

@worace @johnhamelink
My solution to run GUI emacs through emacsclient is checking Emacs.app whether running. The only configuration you should do is add (server-start) to your emacs init.el, you can see details at my gist

#!/bin/bash
BG_RED=`tput setaf 1`
BG_GREEN=`tput setaf 2`
BOLD=`tput bold`
RESET=`tput sgr0`

EMACS='/Applications/Emacs.app'
EMACS_CLIENT='/Applications/Emacs.app/Contents/MacOS/bin/emacsclient'

DEFAULT_EVAL='(switch-to-buffer "*scratch*")'
DEFAULT_ARGS="-e"
NO_WAIT='-n'

function run_client(){
    if [ $# -ne 0 ]
    then
        ${EMACS_CLIENT} ${NO_WAIT} $@
    else
        ${EMACS_CLIENT} ${NO_WAIT} ${DEFAULT_ARGS} "${DEFAULT_EVAL}" &> /dev/null
    fi
}

echo -e "Checking Emacs server status...\c"
if pgrep Emacs &> /dev/null
then
    echo "${BOLD}${BG_GREEN}Active${RESET}"
    echo -e "Connecting...\c"
    run_client $*
    echo "${BOLD}${BG_GREEN}DONE${RESET}"
else
    echo "${BOLD}${BG_RED}Inactive${RESET}"
    echo -e "Emacs server is starting...\c"
    open -a ${EMACS}
    echo "${BOLD}${BG_GREEN}DONE${RESET}"

    echo -e "Trying connecting...\c"
    until run_client $* &> /dev/null;[ $? -eq 0 ]
    do
        sleep 1
    done
    echo "${BOLD}${BG_GREEN}DONE${RESET}"
fi

Tested out @ChillingHsu's method from above across a few different builds on macOS High Sierra 10.13 with Emacs 26, and found the following:

• emacsclient works fine if you use emacs-plus.
• emacsclient also works fine with Aquamacs (normal version installed via brew cask install emacs)
• emacsclient doesn't work with emacs-mac, which doesn't install a /Applications/Emacs.app/Contents/MacOS/bin/emacsclient, and is therefore not available with or without the (server-start) parameter.

I like emacs-mac the most, since it works with my window manager. I currently run it by making EDITOR='open -a /Applications/Emacs.app, which opens the file in the existing window; sort of like having a persistent server.

How to place a hook for when one opens a file via the terminal?

(Using plain Emacs.app - no client/server)

Update: I can confirm either of these works:

(add-hook 'find-file-hook 'xxx)
(advice-add 'pop-to-buffer-same-window :after 'xxx)

@Vvkmnn

• emacsclient doesn't work with emacs-mac, which doesn't install a /Applications/Emacs.app/Contents/MacOS/bin/emacsclient, and is therefore not available with or without the (server-start) parameter.

Hello Vivek, I tried to change /Applications/Emacs.app/Contents/MacOS/bin/emacsclient to /usr/local/bin/emacsclient (emacs-mac). After that, this script would work well.

Hi, would anyone happen to know the current functioning approach for the brew cask install emacs-mac installation?

The default script installed by brew at /usr/local/bin/emacs (without args) doesn't open a background instance of emacs by default, as is my preferred behaviour. I know I could do $ alias emacs='emacs &', but I'm basically a novice in this whole game and:

1. I don't know what negative consequences that might have, and,
2. I'm keen to get my hands on a working current solution as a case-study, and see why the other methods weren't working (or where I'm going wrong) for the sake of education in the ways of the shell.

Maybe someone knows whether me using the Spacemacs distribution or the Zsh shell would break these approaches?
(RE Spacemacs, when I attempted to use @ChillingHsu's approach I tried placing the (server-start) line in init.el, as well as every possible section of my .spacemacs file without luck)

Thanks very much

Maybe someone knows whether me using the Spacemacs distribution or the Zsh shell would break these approaches?
(RE Spacemacs, when I attempted to use @ChillingHsu's approach I tried placing the (server-start) line in init.el, as well as every possible section of my .spacemacs file without luck)

Hi SolidStill, as a fellow spacemacs user I also faced some issues getting this setup.

I've written a short blog post about my emacs/spacemacs installation and setup which hopefully might help you. I used a combination of the code snippets from here but had to change a few things. You will also need to disable all of the spacemacs server variables in your .spacemacs file. I detail this in the post though.

Best of luck.

Just scanned thorugh your blog post @aidanscannell; thanks v much for taking the time to reply - your post touches on a few key additional topics I've been trying to develop a decent understanding of: Latex authoring in emacs on macos, version-controlling emacs setups/configurations.

Funnily enough, I actually graduated from Bristol with a Maths BSci in 2010, never used that education in any meaningful way, and am now training myself up to get a job in data analysis. I'm looking to redevelop a technical mindset/mentality by getting into the guts of (and really understanding) all the tools/methods/theory I encounter along that journey. Your post really nails the kind of efficiently-verbose and well-reasoned exposition that is crucial in really developing understanding in a concept, as opposed to just becoming familiar with a concept.

In all honesty, the temptation to pester you with emacs-related technical support questions is probably going to be too strong to resist. I'm truly glad that I eventually noticed this post, "being less amateur with Github notifications" is def going on my learning-list. Thanks for the inspiration and kudos for helping deliver Skynet to mankind 😛

I wrote an Alfred workflow which supports emacs: https://github.com/willbchang/alfred-open-in-editor

Hi @mwolson, thanks for the update. I believe your starter script works for Nextstep port (although I haven't verify that by myself), but it not works for Mac port. Because Emacs Mac port lacks multi-tty support, which means, emacsclient from mac port can only able to create tty frames but not GUI frames.

@railwaycat This seems outdated. I'm able to open GUI emacs from emacsclient now. Could you update instructions for this? However, the Emacs server in GUI app won't run in the background. C-x C-x the last window closes the app and also the server. This behavior is different from the official Emacs build. Their Emacs.app can run without any window.