editing, searching minibuffer content [was: Feeling lost without tabs]

[Drew Adams <drew.adams@oracle.com>]

> When I started using Emacs I didn't know that I can use isearch in
> minibuffer.  When I found that possibility, things became simpler.  I
> frequently think that things like that probably should be mentioned in
> manual / tutorial somewhere near the beginning...

Yes.  It is not as well known as it could be that you can generally
edit the contents of the minibuffer.  And that includes Isearch.

There are only a few keys that have other than their usual meanings
in the minibuffer keymaps.

Unfortunately some of those few keys are commonly used for editing,
and some of them are even normally self-inserting.  They could be
(and except for `RET' _should_ be, IMO) just self-inserting in the
minibuffer also: `?', `SPC', `C-j' (newline).

(After a few decades Emacs finally allowed `SPC' to self-insert,
but only for file-name completion.)

Add to this the fact that some people use Ido or similar, which
reduces normal editing of minibuffer content even further, and
it is little wonder that many users do not realize that the
minibuffer is an editable buffer - a place where you can edit
text in many of the usual ways.