decrease time until "C-x-" shows in echo area after pressing the keys

Question

When I try enter commands via C-x, it takes 1-2 seconds until the echo area shows this prefix key, as C-x-. I'm quite new to Emacs, so this often confuses me, and I get lost.

The ESC key acts similar to this, so when I try to escape out of some half-entered command, I often end up looping pressing ESC and again after 1-2 second I see ESC- in the echo area.

Is there a way to decrease the time it takes to show a reaction in the echo area, am I doing something wrong, or is this somehow intended?

Answer 1

(setq echo-keystrokes 0.01)

will result in near-instantaneous echoing of the keystrokes. Alternatively, you could customize the variable (M-x customize-variable RET echo-keystrokes).

The variable determines the delay, in seconds, before echoing unfinished commands. If the value is 0, then do not echo at all (which is why you need to choose a very short delay, like 0.01 s).