Command Completion (Unix Power Tools, 3rd Edition)

19.6. Command Completion

Emacs has a great feature called command completion. Basically, command completion means that Emacs will let you type the absolute minimum and it will fill in the rest. You can use command completion whenever you're typing a filename, buffer name, command name, or variable name. Simply type enough of the name to be "unique" (usually the first few letters), followed by a TAB. Emacs will fill in the rest of the name for you. If the name isn't unique -- that is, if there are other filenames that start with the same letters -- Emacs will show you the alternatives. Type a few more letters to select the file you want, then press TAB again.

For example, if I'm trying to load the file outline.txt, I can simply give the command CTRL-x CTRL-f out TAB. Providing that there are no other filenames beginning with the letters out, Emacs will fill in the rest of the filename. When I see that it's correct, I press RETURN, and I'm done.

When you use command completion, always make sure that Emacs has successfully found the file you want. If you don't, the results may be strange: you may end up with a partial filename or the wrong file.

Along the same lines as command completion is a feature called dynamic expansion. After typing the first few letters of a word, you can have Emacs search all open buffers for completions of that word. Simply type ESC-/, and emacs will complete the partial word with one you've already typed. You can cycle through all the choices by repeating the keystroke. Warning: this feature is addictive.

--ML and BR