How to open a file from bash command line in the already open Emacs instead of a new instance?

Question

How to open a file from bash command line in the already open Emacs instead of a new instance? When I type

$ emacs file.txt

it opens a new Emacs instance, instead of opening the file in the existing Emacs instance. Mac OS X 10.6.8. and

GNU Emacs 23.4.1 (x86_64-apple-darwin10.8.0, NS apple-appkit-1038.36)

of 2012-02-27 on beta.macosforge.org

Answer 1

what you are looking for is emacs server mode. Add this line to your .emacs file:

(server-start)

Then, open the file using emacsclient:

emacsclient foobar.txt

Have a look at this page for more information.