8 The Minibuffer

The minibuffer is where Emacs commands read complicated arguments, such as file names, buffer names, Emacs command names, or Lisp expressions. We call it the “minibuffer” because it’s a special-purpose buffer with a small amount of screen space. You can use the usual Emacs editing commands in the minibuffer to edit the argument text.

• Basic Minibuffer		Basic usage of the minibuffer.
• Minibuffer File		Entering file names with the minibuffer.
• Minibuffer Edit		How to edit in the minibuffer.
• Completion		An abbreviation facility for minibuffer input.
• Minibuffer History		Reusing recent minibuffer arguments.
• Repetition		Re-executing commands that used the minibuffer.
• Passwords		Entering passwords in the echo area.
• Yes or No Prompts		Replying yes or no in the echo area.