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(emacs)Minibuffer Edit

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Editing in the Minibuffer
=========================

   The minibuffer is an Emacs buffer (albeit a peculiar one), and the
usual Emacs 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 ^'.

   The minibuffer window expands vertically as necessary to hold the
text that you put in the minibuffer, if `resize-mini-windows' is
non-`nil'.  If `resize-mini-windows' is `t', the window is always
resized to fit the size of the text it displays.  If
`resize-mini-windows' is the symbol `grow-only', the window grows when
the size of displayed text increases, but shrinks (back to the normal
size) only when the minibuffer becomes inactive.

   The variable `max-mini-window-height' controls the maximum height
for resizing the minibuffer window: a floating-point number specifies a
fraction of the frame's height; an integer specifies the maximum number
of lines; `nil' means do not resize the minibuffer window
automatically.  The default value is 0.25.

   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 when you display
a buffer listing possible completions.  Note: Other Window.

   Emacs normally disallows most commands that use the minibuffer while
the minibuffer is active.  This rule is to prevent recursive minibuffers
from confusing novice users.  If you want to be able to use such
commands in the minibuffer, set the variable
`enable-recursive-minibuffers' to a non-`nil' value.