Run Emacs batch scripts on OSX

Question

Hey,

I'm a long time GNU/Linux user. Even though OSX is much like GNU/Linux is many ways, it differs in some. For example, when I install Firefox I expect to be able to run firefox in a shell to start it. But not in OSX.

That gives me some trouble when running Emacs batch scripts. Lets say I have this script:

#!/usr/bin/env emacs --script

(message "Hello world!")

I can run it without any problems. But I'll be using the emacs builtin to OSX. And most of the times that's not possible since the Emacs version is pretty old.

Installing Emacs from scratch made it possible to create a Bash-script, which called some emacs binary file.

But installing Emacs from http://emacsformacosx.com/ I can not make this work. Can anyone think of a solution for this?

Answer 1

Yes, you dig out the path to the Emacs app emacs.

I've got X EMACS on my machine (not an emacs app), but the path will be something like

/Applications/Emacs.app/Contents/bin/emacs

You can find the exact path with ls from the command line.

Answer 2

(1) Launch Emacs.

(2) Open Activity Monitor. (Applications > Utilities > Activity Monitor)

(3) Find Emacs in the list of running processes, under "Process Name".

(4) Select it.

(5) Choose "Inspect" from the Toolbar.

(6) In the window that opens, choose the "Open Files and Ports" tab.

(7) The name of the Emacs executable currently running should be the second line in the list. (The first line should be /Users/yourusername.) In my case it's /Applications/Emacs.app/Contents/MacOS/Emacs, which is pretty standard.