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(emacs)Symbol Completion

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Completion for Symbol Names
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   In Emacs, completion is something you normally do in the minibuffer.
But one kind of completion is available in all buffers: completion for
symbol names.

   The character `M-<TAB>' runs a command to complete the partial
symbol before point against the set of meaningful symbol names.  This
command inserts at point any additional characters that it can
determine from the partial name.

   If the partial name in the buffer has multiple possible completions
that differ in the very next character, so that it is impossible to
complete even one more character, `M-<TAB>' displays a list of all
possible completions in another window.

   In most programming language major modes, `M-<TAB>' runs the command
`complete-symbol', which provides two kinds of completion.  Normally it
does completion based on a tags table (Note: Tags); with a numeric
argument (regardless of the value), it does completion based on the
names listed in the Info file indexes for your language.  Thus, to
complete the name of a symbol defined in your own program, use
`M-<TAB>' with no argument; to complete the name of a standard library
function, use `C-u M-<TAB>'.  Of course, Info-based completion works
only if there is an Info file for the standard library functions of
your language, and only if it is installed at your site.

   In Emacs-Lisp mode, the name space for completion normally consists
of nontrivial symbols present in Emacs--those that have function
definitions, values or properties.  However, if there is an
open-parenthesis immediately before the beginning of the partial symbol,
only symbols with function definitions are considered as completions.
The command which implements this is `lisp-complete-symbol'.

   In Text mode and related modes, `M-<TAB>' completes words based on
the spell-checker's dictionary.  Note: Spelling.