Next: Syntax of Regular Expressions, Previous: Symbol Search, Up: Searching and Replacement [Contents][Index]
A regular expression (or regexp for short) is a pattern that denotes a class of alternative strings to match. Emacs provides both incremental and nonincremental ways to search for a match for a regexp. The syntax of regular expressions is explained in the next section.
Begin incremental regexp search (isearch-forward-regexp).
Begin reverse incremental regexp search (isearch-backward-regexp).
Incremental search for a regexp is done by typing C-M-s
(isearch-forward-regexp), by invoking C-s with a
prefix argument (whose value does not matter), or by typing M-r
within a forward incremental search. This command reads a
search string incrementally just like C-s, but it treats the
search string as a regexp rather than looking for an exact match
against the text in the buffer. Each time you add text to the search
string, you make the regexp longer, and the new regexp is searched
for. To search backward for a regexp, use C-M-r
(isearch-backward-regexp), C-r with a prefix argument,
or M-r within a backward incremental search.
All of the special key sequences in an ordinary incremental search
(see Special Input for Incremental Search) do similar things in an incremental regexp
search. For instance, typing C-s immediately after starting the
search retrieves the last incremental search regexp used and searches
forward for it. Incremental regexp and non-regexp searches have
independent defaults. They also have separate search rings, which you
can access with M-p and M-n. The maximum number of search
regexps saved in the search ring is determined by the value of
regexp-search-ring-max, 16 by default.
Unlike ordinary incremental search, incremental regexp search
does not use lax space matching by default. To toggle this feature
use M-s SPC (isearch-toggle-lax-whitespace).
Then any SPC typed in incremental regexp search will match
any sequence of one or more whitespace characters. The variable
search-whitespace-regexp specifies the regexp for the lax
space matching. See Special Input for Incremental Search.
Also unlike ordinary incremental search, incremental regexp search cannot use character folding (see Lax Matching During Searching). (If you toggle character folding during incremental regexp search with M-s ', the search becomes a non-regexp search and the search pattern you typed is interpreted as a literal string.)
In some cases, adding characters to the regexp in an incremental regexp search can make the cursor move back and start again. For example, if you have searched for ‘foo’ and you add ‘\|bar’, the cursor backs up in case the first ‘bar’ precedes the first ‘foo’. (The prompt will change to say “Pending” to notify the user that this recalculation has happened.) See Syntax of Regular Expressions.
Forward and backward regexp search are not symmetrical, because regexp matching in Emacs always operates forward, starting with the beginning of the regexp. Thus, forward regexp search scans forward, trying a forward match at each possible starting position. Backward regexp search scans backward, trying a forward match at each possible starting position. These search methods are not mirror images.
Nonincremental search for a regexp is done with the commands
re-search-forward and re-search-backward. You can
invoke these with M-x, or by way of incremental regexp search
with C-M-s RET and C-M-r RET. When you invoke
these commands with M-x, they search for the exact regexp you
specify, and thus don’t support any lax-search features (see Lax Matching During Searching) except case folding.
If you use the incremental regexp search commands with a prefix
argument, they perform ordinary string search, like
isearch-forward and isearch-backward. See Incremental Search.
Next: Syntax of Regular Expressions, Previous: Symbol Search, Up: Searching and Replacement [Contents][Index]