9.5 Repeating Minibuffer Commands
Every command that uses the minibuffer at least once is recorded on a
special history list, together with the values of its arguments, so that
you can repeat the entire command. In particular, every use of
M-x is recorded there, since M-x uses the minibuffer to read
the command name.
- C-x <ESC> <ESC>
- Re-execute a recent minibuffer command (
repeat-complex-command
).
- M-x list-command-history
- Display the entire command history, showing all the commands
C-x <ESC> <ESC> can repeat, most recent first.
C-x <ESC> <ESC> is used to re-execute a recent
minibuffer-using command. With no argument, it repeats the last such
command. A numeric argument specifies which command to repeat; one
means the last one, and larger numbers specify earlier ones.
C-x <ESC> <ESC> works by turning the previous command
into a Lisp expression and then entering a minibuffer initialized with
the text for that expression. If you type just <RET>, the command
is repeated as before. You can also change the command by editing the
Lisp expression. Whatever expression you finally submit is what will be
executed. The repeated command is added to the front of the command
history unless it is identical to the most recently executed command
already there.
Even if you don't understand Lisp syntax, it will probably be obvious
which command is displayed for repetition. If you do not change the
text, it will repeat exactly as before.
Once inside the minibuffer for C-x <ESC> <ESC>, you can
use the minibuffer history commands (M-p, M-n, M-r,
M-s; see Minibuffer History) to move through the history list
of saved entire commands. After finding the desired previous command,
you can edit its expression as usual and then resubmit it by typing
<RET> as usual.
Incremental search does not, strictly speaking, use the minibuffer,
but it does something similar. Although it behaves like a complex command,
it normally does not appear in the history list for C-x
<ESC> <ESC>. You can make it appear in the history by
setting isearch-resume-in-command-history
to a non-nil
value. See Incremental Search.
The list of previous minibuffer-using commands is stored as a Lisp
list in the variable command-history
. Each element is a Lisp
expression which describes one command and its arguments. Lisp programs
can re-execute a command by calling eval
with the
command-history
element.