Recursive Editing

Recursive editing is the act of editing a file while the current command is still being evaluated. For example, when using the query-replace command (Meta-%) the Ctrl-r command enters a recursive edit to let you edit the buffer, even though you are still doing a query-replace (which will be resumed when the recursive edit finishes).

As the name suggests a recursive edit calls the editor's main command loop recursively from within a command. Any number of recursive edits may be stacked up and then unwound back to the top-level of the editor.

When a recursive edit is in progress the name of the mode being used to edit the buffer is shown in square brackets, not parentheses as in the top-level instance.

The commands for manipulating recursive edits are as follows,

Ctrl-]

Ctrl-Meta-c

Exit the innermost recursive edit, this has no effect at the top-level.

Meta-x top-level

Return to the outermost edit -- the top-level. This is useful when you get "lost" inside a sequence of recursive edits.

Meta-x recursive-edit

Enter a new recursive edit; this command is usually best avoided to save confusion.

In general, recursive editing is rarely used except in unavoidable circumstances (i.e. in the Lisp debugger).

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