Emacs: Command Line Options

By Xah Lee. Date: . Last updated: .

here's the most useful emacs command line options.

Do Not Load Init

--no-init-file or -q

Do not load Emacs Init File, nor global users init default.el.

--no-site-file

Do not load the site-wide init file site-start.el

-Q or --quick

same as --no-init-file --no-site-file --no-splash.

Load a Different Init

emacs -q -l InitFilePath

load a different init.

Debug Init

emacs --debug-init

Start emacs to catch possible error in init.

Start emacs without loading previously opened files

--no-desktop

start emacs without loading previously opened files. 〔see Emacs Init: Restore Opened Files (desktop-save-mode)〕

this is useful when you have a corrupt desktop file.

Load Emacs Lisp Files

--load=path or -l path
Run the elisp file at path.
--batch
  • Do not launch emacs as a editor.
  • Do not load user init.
  • Usually used together with --load
--script path

same as --batch and --load

Start emacs in terminal

--no-window-system or -nw

start emacs in terminal.

Reference

Emacs init file topics

Run Elisp Script in Terminal