hansen (05/03/83)
One thing about the mini-buffer in Gosling's Emacs is that it is NOT
restrained to a single line. It is a buffer just like any other buffer and
has a window just like any other window. Hence, this window can grow and
shrink just as easily as any other window. There have been many times when I
wanted to type in a long and hairy mlisp expression to "execute-mlisp-line",
so I just typed "ESC-ESC" to get the mini-buffer, then "^U-^X-Z" to enlarge
the mini-buffer's window! No more problem with a too-short line! (If you
want to get a new-line into the mini-buffer, just quote a "^J".)
One little known feature of the mini-buffer is that the key "^\" is bound to
"ESC-prefix", meaning that you can use Meta commands within the mini-buffer,
only using the "^\" key instead of the ESC key. Or you can do as I and many
others have done and add the following to your .emacs_pro file:
(use-global-map "Minibuf-local-NS-map")
(bind-to-key "ESC-prefix" "\e")
(use-global-map "Minibuf-local-map")
(bind-to-key "ESC-prefix" "\e")
(use-global-map "default-global-keymap")
This sets it up so the Meta commands work with the ESC key in the
mini-buffer just like everywhere else.
Tony Hansen
pegasus!hansen