Incremental Search Help

Name:	Incremental Search
Version:	1.3
Last update:	2019-08-07 11:33:56

This always-on extension package implements incremental searching in the active window. Incremental searches bypass the normal search dialog and search for the current text after each keystroke. The result is often much faster and less intrusive.
Alpha provides two interfaces for performing incremental searches:

using the Status Bar
using the Find Bar

Incremental searches from the Find Bar

These incremental searches are performed using the Find Bar. The Find Bar can be displayed for any window using the Search ↣ Show Find Bar item. To enable or disable incremental searches for the current window, use the Search ↣ Turn Incremental On or Search ↣ Turn Incremental Off items respectively.
To escape or stop a search, press Return, any of the arrow navigation keys, or the Page Up/Down/etc document navigation keys.

Incremental searches from the Status Bar

These incremental searches are invoked by selecting Search Quick Find or Search ↣ Reverse Quick Find in the Search menu. If you press the option (⌥) key, the item Search ↣ Quick Find is changed into Search ↣ Quick Find Regexp and allows to perform incremental searches using regular expressions.
Start the search by selecting the menu item or by pressing its keyboard shortcut, then start typing the word you are searching for. After each letter you've typed Alpha jumps to the nearest point in the text matching what you have typed so far. The search string is also displayed in the status bar and is updated as you type new characters.
Typing Control-S (⌃S) or Control-R (⌃R) again while an incremental search is in progress causes the search to proceed to the next instance of the current text. Typing Control-W (⌃W) while incremental search is active causes all the characters to the end of the next word boundary to be added to the search.
Pressing the Delete key, or clicking on the window with the mouse will remove the most recent keystroke from the search pattern, and back up the search to the most recent find, acting as an internal Undo command while searching incrementally.
The following sections explain the keyboard shortcuts are also available during interactive searches. Some of the bindings below are available only if the Emacs package is active: they are indicated specifically in the third column.

Matches Navigation

Name	Shortcut	Emacs	Description
Next Match	Command-G (`⌘G`)	Control-S (`⌃S`)	closest occurrence after current match
Previous Match	Command-Shift-G (`⇧⌘G`)	Control-R (`⌃R`)	closest occurrence before current match

Text Navigation

Name	Shortcut	Emacs	Description
Forward Char	Right-Arrow (`Right`)	Control-F (`⌃F`)	aborts and leaves cursor after last match
Backward Char	Left-Arrow	Control-B (`⌃B`)	aborts and leaves cursor before last match
Beginning Of Line	Command-Left-Arrow	Control-A (`⌃A`)	aborts and moves cursors to the start of the line containing the last match
End Of Line	Command-Right-Arrow	Control-E (`⌃E`)	aborts and moves cursors to the end of the line containing the last match
Center Redraw	Control-L (`⌃L`)		moves selection to center, without aborting
Insert To Top	Control-T (`⌃T`)		moves selection to top, without aborting
Add Text	Control-W (`⌃W`)		add the rest of the current word to the search string

Text Manipulation

Name	Shortcut	Emacs	Description
Delete Selection		Control-D (`⌃D`)	aborts and deletes selection
Kill Line		Control-K (`⌃K`)	aborts and deletes from start of selection to end of line

Changing the matching type

Description	Shortcut
Switch the case-sensitivity of the current search	Control-I (`⌃I`)
Toggle interpretation of \n,\r,\t in non-regexp searches	`⌃-Backslash`

No other menu items can be invoked during incremental searches.

Known problems

Please report any problem or bug you encounter to Alpha's Bug Tracker.

License and Disclaimer

Copyright (c) 2001-2019, the Alpha Community.
All rights reserved.
The incrementalSearch package is free software and distributed under the terms of the new BSD license:
Redistribution and use in source and binary forms, with or without modification, are permitted provided that the following conditions are met:

Redistributions of source code must retain the above copyright notice, this list of conditions and the following disclaimer.
Redistributions in binary form must reproduce the above copyright notice, this list of conditions and the following disclaimer in the documentation and/or other materials provided with the distribution.
Neither the name of the Alpha Community nor the names of its contributors may be used to endorse or promote products derived from this software without specific prior written permission.

THIS SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED BY THE COPYRIGHT HOLDERS AND CONTRIBUTORS "AS IS" AND ANY EXPRESS OR IMPLIED WARRANTIES, INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO, THE IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY AND FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE ARE DISCLAIMED. IN NO EVENT SHALL THE ALPHA COMMUNITY BE LIABLE FOR ANY DIRECT, INDIRECT, INCIDENTAL, SPECIAL, EXEMPLARY, OR CONSEQUENTIAL DAMAGES (INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO, PROCUREMENT OF SUBSTITUTE GOODS OR SERVICES; LOSS OF USE, DATA, OR PROFITS; OR BUSINESS INTERRUPTION) HOWEVER CAUSED AND ON ANY THEORY OF LIABILITY, WHETHER IN CONTRACT, STRICT LIABILITY, OR TORT (INCLUDING NEGLIGENCE OR OTHERWISE) ARISING IN ANY WAY OUT OF THE USE OF THIS SOFTWARE, EVEN IF ADVISED OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH DAMAGE.