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-File: xemacs.info, Node: Minibuffer File, Next: Minibuffer Edit, Prev: Minibuffer, Up: Minibuffer
-
-Minibuffers for File Names
-==========================
-
- Sometimes the minibuffer starts out with text in it. For example,
-when you are supposed to give a file name, the minibuffer starts out
-containing the "default directory", which ends with a slash. This is
-to inform you which directory the file will be found in if you do not
-specify a directory.
-
- For example, the minibuffer might start out with these contents:
-
- Find File: /u2/emacs/src/
-
-where `Find File: ' is the prompt. Typing `buffer.c' specifies the
-file `/u2/emacs/src/buffer.c'. To find files in nearby directories,
-use `..'; thus, if you type `../lisp/simple.el', you will get the file
-named `/u2/emacs/lisp/simple.el'. Alternatively, you can kill with
-`M-<DEL>' the directory names you don't want (*note Words::).
-
- If you don't want any of the default, you can kill it with `C-a
-C-k'. But you don't need to kill the default; you can simply ignore it.
-Insert an absolute file name, one starting with a slash or a tilde,
-after the default directory. For example, to specify the file
-`/etc/termcap', just insert that name, giving these minibuffer contents:
-
- Find File: /u2/emacs/src//etc/termcap
-
-XEmacs gives a special meaning to a double slash (which is not normally
-a useful thing to write): it means, "ignore everything before the
-second slash in the pair." Thus, `/u2/emacs/src/' is ignored in the
-example above, and you get the file `/etc/termcap'.
-
- If you set `insert-default-directory' to `nil', the default
-directory is not inserted in the minibuffer. This way, the minibuffer
-starts out empty. But the name you type, if relative, is still
-interpreted with respect to the same default directory.
-
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-File: xemacs.info, Node: Minibuffer Edit, Next: Completion, Prev: Minibuffer File, Up: Minibuffer
-
-Editing in the Minibuffer
-=========================
-
- The minibuffer is an XEmacs buffer (albeit a peculiar one), and the
-usual XEmacs commands are available for editing the text of an argument
-you are entering.
-
- Since <RET> in the minibuffer is defined to exit the minibuffer, you
-can't use it to insert a newline in the minibuffer. To do that, type
-`C-o' or `C-q C-j'. (Recall that a newline is really the character
-control-J.)
-
- The minibuffer has its own window which always has space on the
-screen but acts as if it were not there when the minibuffer is not in
-use. When the minibuffer is in use, its window is just like the
-others; you can switch to another window with `C-x o', edit text in
-other windows and perhaps even visit more files, before returning to the
-minibuffer to submit the argument. You can kill text in another window,
-return to the minibuffer window, and then yank the text to use it in the
-argument. *Note Windows::.
-
- There are some restrictions on the use of the minibuffer window,
-however. You cannot switch buffers in it--the minibuffer and its
-window are permanently attached. Also, you cannot split or kill the
-minibuffer window. But you can make it taller in the normal fashion with
-`C-x ^'.
-
- If while in the minibuffer you issue a command that displays help
-text of any sort in another window, you can use the `C-M-v' command
-while in the minibuffer to scroll the help text. This lasts until you
-exit the minibuffer. This feature is especially useful if a completing
-minibuffer gives you a list of possible completions. *Note Other
-Window::.
-
- If the variable `minibuffer-confirm-incomplete' is `t', you are
-asked for confirmation if there is no known completion for the text you
-typed. For example, if you attempted to visit a non-existent file, the
-minibuffer might read:
- Find File: chocolate_bar.c [no completions, confirm]
- If you press `Return' again, that confirms the filename. Otherwise,
-you can continue editing it.
-
- XEmacs supports recursive use of the minibuffer. However, it is easy
-to do this by accident (because of autorepeating keyboards, for example)
-and get confused. Therefore, most XEmacs commands that use the
-minibuffer refuse to operate if the minibuffer window is selected. If
-the minibuffer is active but you have switched to a different window,
-recursive use of the minibuffer is allowed--if you know enough to try
-to do this, you probably will not get confused.
-
- If you set the variable `enable-recursive-minibuffers' to a
-non-`nil', recursive use of the minibuffer is always allowed.
-