problem with find-file in --eval from command line

problem with find-file in --eval from command line

[Herbert Sitz]

I'm trying to start emacs from the command line and using an --eval section to
open a file and do some operations.  I'm having a problem with the Linux version.

Here's how I do it without error using the strange quoting in Windows:


--->  emacs --eval ^"( find-file c:/users/myname/somefile.org\^" )^"

In Linux I'm not sure how to do the quoting.  I tried this:

--->  emacs --eval "( find-file "/home/somefile.org" )"

And I get the error:

   Symbols' value as variable is void:  /home/somefile\.org

It seems there's some problem with the period in the filename, but maybe it's
more than that.  Can anyone explain how to properly quote the Linux commandline
version?  (File comes up fine if I just do find-file in a running emacs.)

Thanks,

Herb

Re: problem with find-file in --eval from command line

[Achim Gratz]

Herbert Sitz <hsitz@nwlink.com> writes:
> In Linux I'm not sure how to do the quoting.  I tried this:
>
> --->  emacs --eval "( find-file "/home/somefile.org" )"

Provided you don't use any completely exotic shell, that is what Emacs
gets to see:

( find-file /home/somefile.org )

> And I get the error:
>
>    Symbols' value as variable is void:  /home/somefile\.org
>
> It seems there's some problem with the period in the filename, but maybe it's
> more than that.  Can anyone explain how to properly quote the Linux commandline
> version?  (File comes up fine if I just do find-file in a running emacs.)

A safe way to quote this particular invocation:

emacs --eval '( find-file "/home/somefile.org" )'

This only works in tcsh

emacs --eval "( find-file \\"/home/somefile.org\\" ) "

Bash needs this instead

emacs --eval "( find-file "'"'"/home/somefile.org"'"'" ) "

THere may be other solutions for bash, but I never really got the hang
of their quoting rules.


Regards,
Achim.
-- 
+<[Q+ Matrix-12 WAVE#46+305 Neuron microQkb Andromeda XTk Blofeld]>+

SD adaptations for Waldorf Q V3.00R3 and Q+ V3.54R2:
http://Synth.Stromeko.net/Downloads.html#WaldorfSDada

Re: problem with find-file in --eval from command line

[Herbert Sitz]

Achim Gratz <Stromeko <at> nexgo.de> writes:

> 
> Bash needs this instead
> 
> emacs --eval "( find-file "'"'"/home/somefile.org"'"'" ) "
> 
> THere may be other solutions for bash, but I never really got the hang
> of their quoting rules.
> 
> Regards,
> Achim.


Achim -- 

Thanks a lot, that Bash version works great.  I'll have to check into quoting
rules for the Linux shells.

Regards,

Herb

Re: problem with find-file in --eval from command line

[Viktor Rosenfeld]

Hi,

This works on Bash (tested on 4.2.10) and should be easy to remember:

  emacs --eval "(find-file \"/home/somefile.org\" )"

Cheers,
Viktor

Achim Gratz wrote:

> Bash needs this instead
> 
> emacs --eval "( find-file "'"'"/home/somefile.org"'"'" ) "
> 
> THere may be other solutions for bash, but I never really got the hang
> of their quoting rules.

Re: problem with find-file in --eval from command line

[Herbert Sitz]

Viktor Rosenfeld <listuser36 <at> googlemail.com> writes:
> 
> This works on Bash (tested on 4.2.10) and should be easy to remember:
> 
>   emacs --eval "(find-file \"/home/somefile.org\" )"
> 
> Cheers,
> Viktor

I thought I had tried already that but I hadn't.  Thanks Viktor. 

 -- Herb

Re: problem with find-file in --eval from command line

[Eric S Fraga]

Viktor Rosenfeld <listuser36@googlemail.com> writes:

> Hi,
>
> This works on Bash (tested on 4.2.10) and should be easy to remember:
>
>   emacs --eval "(find-file \"/home/somefile.org\" )"

The even simpler solution worked for me:

  emacs --eval '(find-file "/home/somefile.org")'

with bash (4.1-3) on Debian Linux (testing+unstable).  Not sure why
others have needed so many escapes on quotes...  note that I'm enclosing
the sexp in single quotes.  Has something changed in bash from 4.1 to
4.2?

-- 
: Eric S Fraga (GnuPG: 0xC89193D8FFFCF67D) in Emacs 24.0.50.1
: using Org-mode version 7.7 (release_7.7.205.gce02a)

Re: problem with find-file in --eval from command line

[Achim Gratz]

Eric S Fraga <e.fraga@ucl.ac.uk> writes:
> The even simpler solution worked for me:
>
>   emacs --eval '(find-file "/home/somefile.org")'

...as I had already said (this also has the charm of working in other
shells, like tcsh).

> with bash (4.1-3) on Debian Linux (testing+unstable).  Not sure why
> others have needed so many escapes on quotes...  note that I'm enclosing
> the sexp in single quotes.  Has something changed in bash from 4.1 to
> 4.2?

For this simple example it's a wash, but sometimes you can't use single
quotes (for instance if you want to have variable expansion) and then
you will still need to know how to escape stuff.


Regards,
Achim.
-- 
+<[Q+ Matrix-12 WAVE#46+305 Neuron microQkb Andromeda XTk Blofeld]>+

DIY Stuff:
http://Synth.Stromeko.net/DIY.html

Re: problem with find-file in --eval from command line

[Eric S Fraga]

Achim Gratz <Stromeko@nexgo.de> writes:

> Eric S Fraga <e.fraga@ucl.ac.uk> writes:
>> The even simpler solution worked for me:
>>
>>   emacs --eval '(find-file "/home/somefile.org")'
>
> ...as I had already said (this also has the charm of working in other
> shells, like tcsh).

Ah, sorry, I missed that!

>> with bash (4.1-3) on Debian Linux (testing+unstable).  Not sure why
>> others have needed so many escapes on quotes...  note that I'm enclosing
>> the sexp in single quotes.  Has something changed in bash from 4.1 to
>> 4.2?
>
> For this simple example it's a wash, but sometimes you can't use single
> quotes (for instance if you want to have variable expansion) and then
> you will still need to know how to escape stuff.

Indeed!
-- 
: Eric S Fraga (GnuPG: 0xC89193D8FFFCF67D) in Emacs 24.0.50.1
: using Org-mode version 7.7 (release_7.7.205.gce02a)