because it stops waiting for more characters to combine, and starts
searching for what you have already entered.
- You can see how to input the character at point by the current input
-using the command @kbd{C-u C-x =}. @xref{Position Info}.
+ To find out how to input the character after point using the current
+input method, type @kbd{C-u C-x =}. @xref{Position Info}.
@vindex input-method-verbose-flag
@vindex input-method-highlight-flag
Meta to be converted to @kbd{ESC} and still be able type 8-bit
characters present directly on the keyboard or using @kbd{Compose} or
@kbd{AltGr} keys. @xref{User Input}.
+
+@kindex C-x 8
+@cindex @code{iso-transl} library
+@cindex compose character
+@cindex dead character
+@item
+For Latin-1 only, you can use the key @kbd{C-x 8} as a ``compose
+character'' prefix for entry of non-@acronym{ASCII} Latin-1 printing
+characters. @kbd{C-x 8} is good for insertion (in the minibuffer as
+well as other buffers), for searching, and in any other context where
+a key sequence is allowed.
+
+@kbd{C-x 8} works by loading the @code{iso-transl} library. Once that
+library is loaded, the @key{ALT} modifier key, if the keyboard has
+one, serves the same purpose as @kbd{C-x 8}: use @key{ALT} together
+with an accent character to modify the following letter. In addition,
+if the keyboard has keys for the Latin-1 ``dead accent characters,''
+they too are defined to compose with the following character, once
+@code{iso-transl} is loaded.
+
+Use @kbd{C-x 8 C-h} to list all the available @kbd{C-x 8} translations.
@end itemize
@node Charsets