Next: Progress, Up: The Echo Area
This section describes the standard functions for displaying messages in the echo area.
This function displays a message in the echo area. format-string is a format string, and arguments are the objects for its format specifications, like in the
format-message
function (see Formatting Strings). The resulting formatted string is displayed in the echo area; if it containsface
text properties, it is displayed with the specified faces (see Faces). The string is also added to the *Messages* buffer, but without text properties (see Logging Messages).Typically grave accent and apostrophe in the format translate to matching curved quotes, e.g., "Missing `%s'" might result in "Missing ‘foo’". See Text Quoting Style, for how to influence or inhibit this translation.
In batch mode, the message is printed to the standard error stream, followed by a newline.
When
inhibit-message
is non-nil
, no message will be displayed in the echo area, it will only be logged to ‘*Messages*’.If format-string is
nil
or the empty string,message
clears the echo area; if the echo area has been expanded automatically, this brings it back to its normal size. If the minibuffer is active, this brings the minibuffer contents back onto the screen immediately.(message "Reverting `%s'..." (buffer-name)) -| Reverting ‘subr.el’... ⇒ "Reverting ‘subr.el’..." ---------- Echo Area ---------- Reverting ‘subr.el’... ---------- Echo Area ----------To automatically display a message in the echo area or in a pop-buffer, depending on its size, use
display-message-or-buffer
(see below).Warning: If you want to use your own string as a message verbatim, don't just write
(message
string)
. If string contains ‘%’, ‘`’, or ‘'’ it may be reformatted, with undesirable results. Instead, use(message "%s"
string)
.
When this variable is non-
nil
,message
and related functions will not use the Echo Area to display messages.
This construct displays a message in the echo area temporarily, during the execution of body. It displays message, executes body, then returns the value of the last body form while restoring the previous echo area contents.
This function displays a message like
message
, but may display it in a dialog box instead of the echo area. If this function is called in a command that was invoked using the mouse—more precisely, iflast-nonmenu-event
(see Command Loop Info) is eithernil
or a list—then it uses a dialog box or pop-up menu to display the message. Otherwise, it uses the echo area. (This is the same criterion thaty-or-n-p
uses to make a similar decision; see Yes-or-No Queries.)You can force use of the mouse or of the echo area by binding
last-nonmenu-event
to a suitable value around the call.
This function displays a message like
message
, but uses a dialog box (or a pop-up menu) whenever that is possible. If it is impossible to use a dialog box or pop-up menu, because the terminal does not support them, thenmessage-box
uses the echo area, likemessage
.
This function displays the message message, which may be either a string or a buffer. If it is shorter than the maximum height of the echo area, as defined by
max-mini-window-height
, it is displayed in the echo area, usingmessage
. Otherwise,display-buffer
is used to show it in a pop-up buffer.Returns either the string shown in the echo area, or when a pop-up buffer is used, the window used to display it.
If message is a string, then the optional argument buffer-name is the name of the buffer used to display it when a pop-up buffer is used, defaulting to *Message*. In the case where message is a string and displayed in the echo area, it is not specified whether the contents are inserted into the buffer anyway.
The optional arguments action and frame are as for
display-buffer
, and only used if a buffer is displayed.