20.10 Minibuffer Commands

This section describes some commands meant for use in the minibuffer.

command exit-minibuffer

This command exits the active minibuffer. It is normally bound to keys in minibuffer local keymaps.

command self-insert-and-exit

This command exits the active minibuffer after inserting the last character typed on the keyboard (found in last-command-event; see Command Loop Info).

command previous-history-element n

This command replaces the minibuffer contents with the value of the nth previous (older) history element.

command next-history-element n

This command replaces the minibuffer contents with the value of the nth more recent history element. The position in the history can go beyond the current position and invoke “future history" (see Text from Minibuffer).

command previous-matching-history-element pattern n

This command replaces the minibuffer contents with the value of the nth previous (older) history element that matches pattern (a regular expression).

command next-matching-history-element pattern n

This command replaces the minibuffer contents with the value of the nth next (newer) history element that matches pattern (a regular expression).

command previous-complete-history-element n

This command replaces the minibuffer contents with the value of the nth previous (older) history element that completes the current contents of the minibuffer before the point.

command next-complete-history-element n

This command replaces the minibuffer contents with the value of the nth next (newer) history element that completes the current contents of the minibuffer before the point.

command goto-history-element nabs

This function puts element of the minibuffer history in the minibuffer. The argument nabs specifies the absolute history position in descending order, where 0 means the current element and a positive number n means the nth previous element. NABS being a negative number -n means the nth entry of “future history."