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<title>Searching Commands (Stand-alone GNU Info 6.8)</title>

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<div class="chapter" id="Searching-Commands">
<div class="header">
<p>
Next: <a href="Index-Commands.html" accesskey="n" rel="next">Index Commands</a>, Previous: <a href="Node-Commands.html" accesskey="p" rel="prev">Selecting a Node</a>, Up: <a href="index.html" accesskey="u" rel="up">Stand-alone GNU Info</a> &nbsp; [<a href="index.html#SEC_Contents" title="Table of contents" rel="contents">Contents</a>][<a href="Index.html" title="Index" rel="index">Index</a>]</p>
</div>
<hr>
<span id="Searching-an-Info-File"></span><h2 class="chapter">6 Searching an Info File</h2>
<span id="index-searching"></span>

<p>GNU Info allows you to search for a sequence of characters throughout an
entire Info file.  Here are the commands to do this:
</p>
<dl compact="compact">
<dt id='index-s'><span><kbd>s</kbd> (<code>search</code>)<a href='#index-s' class='copiable-anchor'> &para;</a></span></dt>
<dt><span><kbd>/</kbd></span></dt>
<dd><span id="index-_002f"></span>
<span id="index-search"></span>
<span id="index-regular-expression-search"></span>
<p>Read a string in the echo area and search for it, either as a regular
expression (by default) or a literal string.  If the string includes
upper-case characters, the Info file is searched case-sensitively;
otherwise Info ignores the letter case.  With a numeric argument of
<var>N</var>, search for <var>N</var>th occurrence of the string.  Negative
arguments search backwards.
</p>
</dd>
<dt id='index-_003f'><span><kbd>?</kbd> (<code>search-backward</code>)<a href='#index-_003f' class='copiable-anchor'> &para;</a></span></dt>
<dd><span id="index-search_002dbackward"></span>
<p>Read a string in the echo area and search backward through the Info file
for that string.  If the string includes upper-case characters, the Info
file is searched case-sensitively; otherwise Info ignores the letter
case.  With a numeric argument of <var>N</var>, search for <var>N</var>th
occurrence of the string.  Negative arguments search forward.
</p>
<span id="repeated_002dsearch"></span></dd>
<dt id='index-C_002dx-n'><span><kbd>C-x <kbd>n</kbd></kbd> (<code>search-next</code>)<a href='#index-C_002dx-n' class='copiable-anchor'> &para;</a></span></dt>
<dt><span><kbd>}</kbd></span></dt>
<dd><span id="index-_007d"></span>
<span id="index-search_002dnext"></span>
<span id="index-repeated-search"></span>
<p>Search forwards for the string used for the last search command.
Case sensitivity and use of regular expressions are kept the same.  With
a numeric argument of <var>n</var>, search for <var>n</var>th next occurrence.
</p>
<p>By default, the search starts at the position immediately following
the cursor.  However, if the variable <code>search-skip-screen</code>
(see <a href="Variables.html"><code>search-skip-screen</code></a>) is set, it starts at
the beginning of the next page, thereby skipping all visibly displayed
lines.
</p>
</dd>
<dt id='index-C_002dx-N'><span><kbd>C-x <kbd>N</kbd></kbd> (<code>search-previous</code>)<a href='#index-C_002dx-N' class='copiable-anchor'> &para;</a></span></dt>
<dt><span><kbd>{</kbd></span></dt>
<dd><span id="index-_007b"></span>
<span id="index-search_002dprevious"></span>
<p>Just like <code>search-next</code>, but in reverse.  You can use
<code>search-next</code> and <code>search-previous</code> together to move forward
and backward through matches.  <code>search-previous</code> usually goes to
the place in the file that was displayed before an immediately preceding
<code>search-next</code>, and vice versa.<a id="DOCF3" href="#FOOT3"><sup>3</sup></a>
</p>

</dd>
<dt id='index-R'><span><kbd>R</kbd> (<code>toggle-regexp</code>)<a href='#index-R' class='copiable-anchor'> &para;</a></span></dt>
<dd><span id="index-toggle_002dregexp"></span>
<p>Toggle between using regular expressions and literal strings for
searching.  Info uses so-called &lsquo;extended&rsquo; regular expression syntax
(see <a data-manual="grep" href="../grep/Regular-Expressions.html#Regular-Expressions">Regular Expressions</a> in <cite>GNU Grep</cite>).
</p>
</dd>
<dt id='index-S'><span><kbd>S</kbd> (<code>search-case-sensitively</code>)<a href='#index-S' class='copiable-anchor'> &para;</a></span></dt>
<dd><span id="index-search_002dcase_002dsensitively"></span>
<span id="index-search_002c-case_002dsensitive"></span>
<span id="index-case_002dsensitive-search"></span>
<p>Read a string in the echo area and search for it case-sensitively, even
if the string includes only lower-case letters.  With a numeric argument
of <var>N</var>, search for <var>N</var>th occurrence of the string.  Negative
arguments search backwards.
</p>
</dd>
<dt id='index-C_002ds'><span><kbd>C-s</kbd> (<code>isearch-forward</code>)<a href='#index-C_002ds' class='copiable-anchor'> &para;</a></span></dt>
<dd><span id="index-isearch_002dforward"></span>
<span id="index-incremental-search"></span>
<p>Interactively search forward through the Info file for a string as you
type it.  If the string includes upper-case characters, the search is
case-sensitive; otherwise Info ignores the letter case.
</p>
</dd>
<dt id='index-C_002dr'><span><kbd>C-r</kbd> (<code>isearch-backward</code>)<a href='#index-C_002dr' class='copiable-anchor'> &para;</a></span></dt>
<dd><span id="index-isearch_002dbackward"></span>
<p>Interactively search backward through the Info file for a string as
you type it.  If the string includes upper-case characters, the search
is case-sensitive; otherwise Info ignores the letter case.
</p>
</dd>
<dt id='index-tree_002dsearch'><span><kbd>M-/</kbd> (<code>tree-search</code>)<a href='#index-tree_002dsearch' class='copiable-anchor'> &para;</a></span></dt>
<dd><p>Recursively search this node and any subnodes listed in menus for a 
string.
</p>
</dd>
<dt id='index-tree_002dsearch_002dnext'><span><kbd>M-}</kbd> (<code>tree-search-next</code>)<a href='#index-tree_002dsearch_002dnext' class='copiable-anchor'> &para;</a></span></dt>
<dt><span><kbd>M-{</kbd> (<code>tree-search-previous</code>)</span></dt>
<dd><span id="index-tree_002dsearch_002dprevious"></span>
<p>Go forwards and backwards through the matches for an active tree search.
</p></dd>
</dl>

<p>The most basic searching command is &lsquo;<samp>s</samp>&rsquo; or &lsquo;<samp>/</samp>&rsquo;
(<code>search</code>).  The &lsquo;<samp>s</samp>&rsquo; command prompts you for a string in the
echo area, and then searches the remainder of the Info file for an
occurrence of that string.  If the string is found, the node containing
it is selected, and the cursor is left positioned at the start of the
found string.  Subsequent &lsquo;<samp>s</samp>&rsquo; commands show you the default search
string; pressing <tt class="key">RET</tt> instead of typing a new string will use the
default search string.
</p>
<p><em>Incremental searching</em> is similar to basic searching, but the
string is looked up while you are typing it, instead of waiting until
the entire search string has been specified.
</p>
<p>The tree search can be used from the <code>dir</code> node to search through
all Info files installed on the system.  It can also be used to search 
through a particular chapter of a manual when you are not interested in
matches in other chapters.
</p>
<span id="index-highlight_002dsearches"></span>
<span id="index-clear_002dsearch"></span>
<p>If the <code>highlight-searches</code> variable is set, matches from search
commands will be highlighted.  See <a href="Variables.html"><code>highlight-searches</code></a>.
Use the <kbd>M-x clear-search</kbd> command to clear any search highlights.
</p>
<span id="index-search_002c-and-case_002dsensitivity"></span>
<span id="index-case_002dsensitivity_002c-and-search"></span>
<p>Both incremental and non-incremental search by default ignore the case
of letters when comparing the Info file text with the search string.
However, an uppercase letter in the search string makes the search
case-sensitive.  You can force a case-sensitive non-incremental search,
even for a string that includes only lower-case letters, by using the
&lsquo;<samp>S</samp>&rsquo; command (<code>search-case-sensitively</code>).  The &lsquo;<samp>n</samp>&rsquo; and
&lsquo;<samp>N</samp>&rsquo; commands operate case-sensitively if the last search command
was &lsquo;<samp>S</samp>&rsquo;.
</p>
<p>Normally, the search pattern should not be shorter than some
predefined limit.  By default, this limit is set to 1 character.
See <a href="Variables.html#min_002dsearch_002dlength">min-search-length</a> for more information on this.
</p>

</div>
<div class="footnote">
<hr>
<h4 class="footnotes-heading">Footnotes</h4>

<h5><a id="FOOT3" href="#DOCF3">(3)</a></h5>
<p>This sometimes doesn&rsquo;t
happen when <code>search-skip-screen</code> is <code>On</code>, and the search goes
across nodes.</p>
</div>
<hr>
<div class="header">
<p>
Next: <a href="Index-Commands.html">Index Commands</a>, Previous: <a href="Node-Commands.html">Selecting a Node</a>, Up: <a href="index.html">Stand-alone GNU Info</a> &nbsp; [<a href="index.html#SEC_Contents" title="Table of contents" rel="contents">Contents</a>][<a href="Index.html" title="Index" rel="index">Index</a>]</p>
</div>



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