Emacs: icomplete vs ido mode 👎

Page Obsolete

• This page is for Emacs 28 (date 2022).
• For Emacs 27 (date 2020) or before, see Emacs 27: icomplete vs ido mode 👎.

What is the difference between icomplete vs ido

• icomplete-mode does completion for all prompts
• ido-mode does completion for file/buffer commands only

icomplete-mode does name completion for any command that prompts for a list of choices in minibufer. They include:

• execute-extended-command
• describe-function
• find-file
• switch-to-buffer
• dired

Ido Mode only supports name completion for opening file or switch buffer commands:

• find-file
• switch-to-buffer

There is no config you can set to make other commands use ido completion.

For emacs 28 or later, you should just use icomplete or fido. ido mode is now history.