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(elisp)Batch Mode

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Batch Mode
==========

   The command-line option `-batch' causes Emacs to run
noninteractively.  In this mode, Emacs does not read commands from the
terminal, it does not alter the terminal modes, and it does not expect
to be outputting to an erasable screen.  The idea is that you specify
Lisp programs to run; when they are finished, Emacs should exit.  The
way to specify the programs to run is with `-l FILE', which loads the
library named FILE, and `-f FUNCTION', which calls FUNCTION with no
arguments.

   Any Lisp program output that would normally go to the echo area,
either using `message', or using `prin1', etc., with `t' as the stream,
goes instead to Emacs's standard error descriptor when in batch mode.
Similarly, input that would normally come from the minibuffer is read
from the standard input descriptor.  Thus, Emacs behaves much like a
noninteractive application program.  (The echo area output that Emacs
itself normally generates, such as command echoing, is suppressed
entirely.)

 - Variable: noninteractive
     This variable is non-`nil' when Emacs is running in batch mode.