Re: Isearch interaction model

[dancol@dancol.org]

>> I think the answer is to have one history which records the mode used
>> for
>> each search, so that it is reused correctly.  (When it makes sense, the
>> user can change the search mode after selecting the history element.)
>
> I still don't see how this unified history should work.  Suppose we have
> a history variable like
>
> (setq isearch-history
>   '(((search-string "word") (mode word))
>     ((search-string "regexp") (mode regexp))))
>
> Then after typing ‘C-M-s M-p’ (in regexp search mode) what should it
> do?
> Possible variants:
>
> 1. Take a previous history item with the same search mode,
>    i.e. the string "regexp", skipping the last used search "word".
>
> 2. Take the last history item "word" and toggle the current search mode
>    from regexp mode to word mode.
>
> 3. Take the last history item and adapt it to the current search mode,
>    so turn the search string "word" into the regexp "\<word\>".
>
> 4. Take the last history item and do nothing more.
>    Then what to do when the last search string is a regexp
>    and the current search mode is not regexp mode?

The isearch mode should be attached to the history item. C-M-s M-p and C-s
M-p should have the same effect: the "mode" is only a default for a new
search. If the last search was a regex search, it'll put in you regex
search mode.