3.19 Searching and replacing

3.19.1 Searching

Most of the search commands perform straight forward searches, but there are two useful commands (Incremental Search andReverse Incremental Search) which perform incremental searches. This means that the search is started as soon as the first character is typed.

Incremental Search

Editor Command

Arguments: string
Key sequence:Ctrl+Sstring

Searches forward, starting from the current point, for the search string that is input, beginning the search as soon as each character is typed in. When a match is found for the search string, the current point is moved to the end of the matched string. If the search string is not found between the current point and the end of the buffer, an error is signalled.

The search can be controlled by entering one of the following key sequences at any time during the search.

Ctrl+S

If the search string is empty, repeats the last incremental search, otherwise repeats a forward search for the current search string.

If the search string cannot be found, starts the search from the beginning of the buffer (wrap-around search).

Ctrl+R

Changes to a backward (reverse) search.

Delete

Cancels the last character typed.

Esc

If the search string is empty, invokes a non-incremental search, otherwise exits the search, leaving the current point at the last find.

Ctrl+G

Aborts the search, returning the current point to its original location.

If the search string cannot be found, cancels the last character typed (equivalent toDelete).

Ctrl+Q

Quotes the next character typed.

Reverse Incremental Search

Editor Command

Arguments: string
Key sequence:Ctrl+Rstring

Searches backward, starting from the current point, for the search string that is input, beginning the search as soon as each character is provided. When a match is found for the search string, the current point is moved to the start of the matched string. If the search string is not found between the current point and the beginning of the buffer, an error is signalled.

The search can be controlled by entering one of the following key sequences at any time during the search.

Ctrl+R

If the search string is empty, repeats the last incremental search, otherwise repeats a backward search for the current search string.

If the search string cannot be found, starts the search from the end of the buffer (wrap-around search).

Ctrl+S

Changes to a forward search.

Delete

Cancels the last character typed.

Esc

If the search string is empty, invokes a non-incremental search, otherwise exits the search, leaving the current point at the last find.

Ctrl+G

Aborts the search, returning the current point to its original location.

If the search string cannot be found, cancels the last character typed (equivalent toDelete).

Ctrl+Q

Quotes the next character typed.

Forward Search

Editor Command

: Arguments: string
Key sequence:Ctrl+S Escstring

editor:forward-search-command p &optional string the-point

: Searches forwards from the current point for string. When a match is found, the current point is moved to the end of the matched string. In contrast with Incremental Search, the search string must be terminated with a carriage return before any searching is done. If an empty string is provided, the last search is repeated.
: The argument the-point is the point from which to start the search. The default is the current point.

Reverse Search

Editor Command

: Arguments: string
Key sequence:Ctrl+R Escstring

editor:reverse-search-command p &optional string the-point

: Searches backwards from the current point for string. When a match is found, the current point is moved to the start of the matched string. In contrast withReverse Incremental Search, the search string must be terminated with a carriage return before any searching is done. If an empty string is provided, the last search is repeated.
: the-point is the point from which to start the search. The default is the current point.

List Matching Lines

Editor Command

: Arguments: string
Key sequence: None

editor:list-matching-lines-command p &optional string

: Lists all lines after the current point that contain string, in a Matches window.
: A prefix argument causes the appropriate number of lines before and after each matching line to be listed also.

Delete Matching Lines

Editor Command

: Arguments: string
Key sequence: None

editor:delete-matching-lines-command p &optional string

: Deletes all lines after the current point that match string.

Delete Non-Matching Lines

Editor Command

: Arguments: string
Key sequence: None

editor:delete-non-matching-lines-command p &optional string

: Deletes all lines after the current point that do not match string.

Search All Buffers

Editor Command

: Arguments: string
Key sequence: None
: Searches all the buffers for string. If only one buffer contains string, it becomes the current one, with the cursor positioned at the start of the string. If more than one buffer contains the string, a popup window displays a list of those buffers. A buffer may then be selected from this list.

Directory Search

Editor Command

: Arguments: directory string
Key sequence: None
: Searches files in directory for string. Only files with the suffix.lisp or.lsp are searched. The current working directory is offered as a default for directory. A non-nil prefix argument causes all files to be searched, except for those ending with one of the strings in the listsystem:*ignorable-file-suffices*. Use the key sequence +, to find subsequent definitions of the search string.

System Search

Editor Command

: Arguments: system string
Key sequence: None
: Searches system for string. Use the key sequence +, to find subsequent definitions of the search string.

Default-Search-Kind

Editor Variable

: Default value::string-insensitive
: Defines the default method of searching. By default, all searching (including regexp searching) ignores case. If you want searching to be case-sensitive, the value of this variable should be set to:string-sensitive usingSet Variable.

Count Occurrences string

Editor Command

: Arguments: None
Default binding: None

editor:count-occurrences-command p &optional string

: Counts the number of occurrences of string.

It is also possible to search a set of files programatically using theseach-files function: