[danielweber]

I use C-r constantly. But sometimes I need to find a command, and then edit it before running it. What is the proper way to exit "search mode" and go into the normal "edit" mode?

[morsch]

Any movement key will do the trick. I usually use cursor-right or the end key.

It's so ingrained I had to actually do it in a shell to know what it was I did.

[danielweber]

ISTR pressing one of those keys would obliterate the part of my line where I was writing, putting in ^B characters.

I can't replicate it now on my test box; it works exactly the way you say it should. It may be a terminal issue; I'm currently on Windows using cygwin to ssh to Linux.

[aatos]

C-g (as in quit https://www.gnu.org/software/emacs/manual/html_node/emacs/Qu...) is the 'proper' way but yeah, not the only one.

[danielweber]

That just wipes out the whole line (on my test box).

[platz]

C-e ?