Script for one-Emacs-frame editing of files

This script allows you to edit files in one, and only one, Emacs frame (window). Save this as an executable somewhere in your path (i.e. as ~/bin/e).

#!/bin/bash
export GDK_NATIVE_WINDOWS=1
if [ "$(pgrep emacs)" ]
then
  exec emacsclient -n "$@" 2>/dev/null
else
  exec emacs "$@" & disown
fi

In addition, you have to call (server-start) in your .emacs file.

You can call this script as an executable (don’t forget to run chmod 755 ~/bin/e) from anywhere you like (e.g. e ~/myfile.txt), and it will open the file for editing in a new or existing Emacs frame. If you call this in a terminal, it won’t wait for the Emacs server, but will immediately return to your terminal session.