Underneath the editor window is an echo area, identical to the echo area in the other tools. This is used by the Editor to display status messages, and to request more information from you when necessary. The echo area is contained in every view in the Editor.
Whenever you invoke a command which requires further input (for instance, if you search a file for a piece of text, in which case you need to specify the text you want to search for), you are prompted for that input in the echo area. Type any information that is needed by the Editor, and the characters you type are displayed ("echoed") in the echo area.
For many commands, you can save time by using
completion
. When you have partially specified input in the echo area, you can press a key (usually
Tab
,
?
or
Space
, depending on the command) and the Editor attempts to complete what you have typed. If it cannot complete your partial input uniquely, a window appears which lists all the possible alternatives and allows you to select the desired completion. See Completion for detailed instructions.
For example, suppose you have three files in the current directory,
test1.lisp
,
test2.lisp
and
test3.lisp
, and you want to edit
test2.lisp
using keyboard commands. Type
Ctrl+X Ctrl+F
, then type
test
and press
Tab
. A list appears which shows all three files. To edit
test2.lisp
, double-click on the item marked
test2.lisp
in this list. For longer lists, the completion GUI helps you to quickly reduce the choice. See Completion for details.
To see when completion is appropriate and when it is not, experiment by pressing the
Tab
key when typing in the echo area. As a rule, if there are a finite number of things you could meaningfully enter, then completion is appropriate. Thus, when opening a file already on disk, completion is appropriate (there is a finite number of files in the current directory). When specifying a string to search for, however, completion is not appropriate (you could enter any string).