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This section describes some basic functions and variables related to minibuffers.
This command exits the active minibuffer. It is normally bound to keys in minibuffer local keymaps.
This command exits the active minibuffer after inserting the last character typed on the keyboard (found in
last-command-char
; see Command Loop Info).
This command replaces the minibuffer contents with the value of the nth previous (older) history element.
This command replaces the minibuffer contents with the value of the nth more recent history element.
This command replaces the minibuffer contents with the value of the nth previous (older) history element that matches pattern (a regular expression).
This command replaces the minibuffer contents with the value of the nth next (newer) history element that matches pattern (a regular expression).
This function returns the prompt string of the currently active minibuffer. If no minibuffer is active, it returns
nil
.
This function, available starting in Emacs 21, returns the current position of the end of the minibuffer prompt, if a minibuffer is current. Otherwise, it returns the minimum valid buffer position.
This function, available starting in Emacs 21, returns the editable contents of the minibuffer (that is, everything except the prompt) as a string, if a minibuffer is current. Otherwise, it returns the entire contents of the current buffer.
This is like
minibuffer-contents
, except that it does not copy text properties, just the characters themselves. See Text Properties.
This function, available starting in Emacs 21, erases the editable contents of the minibuffer (that is, everything except the prompt), if a minibuffer is current. Otherwise, it erases the entire buffer.
This function returns the current display-width of the minibuffer prompt, if a minibuffer is current. Otherwise, it returns zero.
This is a normal hook that is run whenever the minibuffer is entered. See Hooks.
This is a normal hook that is run whenever the minibuffer is exited. See Hooks.
The current value of this variable is used to rebind
help-form
locally inside the minibuffer (see Help Functions).
This function returns the currently active minibuffer window, or
nil
if none is currently active.
This function returns the minibuffer window used for frame frame. If frame is
nil
, that stands for the current frame. Note that the minibuffer window used by a frame need not be part of that frame—a frame that has no minibuffer of its own necessarily uses some other frame's minibuffer window.
This function returns non-
nil
if window is a minibuffer window.
It is not correct to determine whether a given window is a minibuffer by
comparing it with the result of (minibuffer-window)
, because
there can be more than one minibuffer window if there is more than one
frame.
This function returns non-
nil
if window, assumed to be a minibuffer window, is currently active.
If the value of this variable is non-
nil
, it should be a window object. When the functionscroll-other-window
is called in the minibuffer, it scrolls this window.
Finally, some functions and variables deal with recursive minibuffers (see Recursive Editing):
This function returns the current depth of activations of the minibuffer, a nonnegative integer. If no minibuffers are active, it returns zero.
If this variable is non-
nil
, you can invoke commands (such asfind-file
) that use minibuffers even while the minibuffer window is active. Such invocation produces a recursive editing level for a new minibuffer. The outer-level minibuffer is invisible while you are editing the inner one.If this variable is
nil
, you cannot invoke minibuffer commands when the minibuffer window is active, not even if you switch to another window to do it.
If a command name has a property enable-recursive-minibuffers
that is non-nil
, then the command can use the minibuffer to read
arguments even if it is invoked from the minibuffer. The minibuffer
command next-matching-history-element
(normally M-s in the
minibuffer) uses this feature.