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To do this to an entire buffer, type M-< M-x replace-regexp <RET> ^ <RET> your text <RET>.
To do this to a region, use
string-insert-rectangle. Set the mark
(C-<SPC>) at the beginning of the first line you
want to prefix, move the cursor to last line to be prefixed, and
type M-x string-insert-rectangle <RET>. To do
this for the whole buffer, type C-x h M-x
string-insert-rectangle <RET>.
If you are trying to prefix a yanked mail message with
‘>’, you
might want to set the variable mail-yank-prefix. In
Message buffers, you can even use M-; to cite yanked
messages (M-; runs the function
comment-region, it is a general-purpose mechanism to
comment regions) (see
Changing the included text prefix).