Function: read-string

read-string is a function defined in minibuf.c.

Signature

(read-string PROMPT &optional INITIAL-INPUT HISTORY DEFAULT-VALUE INHERIT-INPUT-METHOD)

Documentation

Read and return a string from the minibuffer, prompting with PROMPT.

PROMPT is a string, which should normally end with the string ": ".

If non-nil, second arg INITIAL-INPUT is a string to insert before reading. This argument has been superseded by DEFAULT-VALUE and should normally be nil in new code. It behaves as INITIAL-CONTENTS in read-from-minibuffer (which see).

The third arg HISTORY, if non-nil, specifies a history list and optionally the initial position in the list.

See read-from-minibuffer for details of HISTORY argument.

Fourth arg DEFAULT-VALUE is the default value or the list of default values. If non-nil, it is used for history commands, and as the value
(or the first element of the list of default values) to return if the
user enters the empty string.

Fifth arg INHERIT-INPUT-METHOD, if non-nil, means the minibuffer inherits the current input method and the setting of enable-multibyte-characters.

View in manual

Probably introduced at or before Emacs version 16.

Source Code

// Defined in /usr/src/emacs/src/minibuf.c
{
  Lisp_Object val;
  specpdl_ref count = SPECPDL_INDEX ();

  /* Just in case we're in a recursive minibuffer, make it clear that the
     previous minibuffer's completion table does not apply to the new
     minibuffer.
     FIXME: `minibuffer-completion-table' should be buffer-local instead.  */
  specbind (Qminibuffer_completion_table, Qnil);

  val = Fread_from_minibuffer (prompt, initial_input, Qnil,
			       Qnil, history, default_value,
			       inherit_input_method);
  if (STRINGP (val) && SCHARS (val) == 0 && ! NILP (default_value))
    val = CONSP (default_value) ? XCAR (default_value) : default_value;
  return unbind_to (count, val);
}