Searching for commands by any part of command name

Searching for commands by any part of command name

[Philip Ganchev]

Hi

Emacs command names can be confusing to newcomers and casual users,
partly because of the word order in command names, and partly because
users don't know how to specify the action (which begins the command
name). For example, to close a window, you delete it.  I think it
would be easier if it was possible to search commands
case-insensitively and by text anywhere in the name, rather than only
the beginning. For example, if a user types

M-x window <tab>

then Emacs would list commands including:

balance-windows
buffer-menu-other-window
clone-indirect-buffer-other-window
compare-windows
delete-other-windows
delete-window

Can Emacs be customized or modified to do that?

Re: Searching for commands by any part of command name

[Philip Ganchev]

Please include my email address explicitly in your replies; I am not
subscribed to the list.

On Thu, Apr 8, 2010 at 1:01 AM, Philip Ganchev <phil.ganchev@gmail.com> wrote:
> Hi
>
> Emacs command names can be confusing to newcomers and casual users,
> partly because of the word order in command names, and partly because
> users don't know how to specify the action (which begins the command
> name). For example, to close a window, you delete it.  I think it
> would be easier if it was possible to search commands
> case-insensitively and by text anywhere in the name, rather than only
> the beginning. For example, if a user types
>
> M-x window <tab>
>
> then Emacs would list commands including:
>
> balance-windows
> buffer-menu-other-window
> clone-indirect-buffer-other-window
> compare-windows
> delete-other-windows
> delete-window
>
> Can Emacs be customized or modified to do that?
>

Re: Searching for commands by any part of command name

[Andrea Crotti]

Philip Ganchev <phil.ganchev@gmail.com> writes:

> Hi
>
> M-x window <tab>
>
> then Emacs would list commands including:
>
> balance-windows
> buffer-menu-other-window
> clone-indirect-buffer-other-window
> compare-windows
> delete-other-windows
> delete-window
>
> Can Emacs be customized or modified to do that?

If I don't remember wrong ido-mode should do something like this.
It does for files and some time ago it was also working for commands for
me, or maybe it was another packaged that I disabled in the meanwhile.

Often here http://emacswiki.org/ there are a lot of infos

Attaching another question, why (I think) C-h a doesn't display all the
possible commands/variable/functions with a particular string inside,
but just some of them?

Thanks

Re: Searching for commands by any part of command name

[Gary .]

On Thu, Apr 8, 2010 at 7:01 AM, Philip Ganchev wrote:
> Emacs command names can be confusing to newcomers and casual users,
> partly because of the word order in command names, and partly because
> users don't know how to specify the action (which begins the command
> name).
...
> For example, if a user types
>
> M-x window <tab>

Maybe I'm not understanding, but what's wrong with
M-x *window <tab>
?

Re: Searching for commands by any part of command name

[William Xu]

Andrea Crotti <andrea.crotti.0@gmail.com> writes:

   If I don't remember wrong ido-mode should do something like this.

That's right.  There's a ido-hacks.el, that enables ido-mode almost
everywhere, like when you do `M-x'.  I'm very fond of it.

-- 
William

http://xwl.appspot.com

RE: Searching for commands by any part of command name

[Drew Adams]

> Emacs command names can be confusing to newcomers and casual users,
> partly because of the word order in command names, and partly because
> users don't know how to specify the action (which begins the command
> name). For example, to close a window, you delete it.  I think it
> would be easier if it was possible to search commands
> case-insensitively and by text anywhere in the name, rather than only
> the beginning. For example, if a user types
> 
> M-x window <tab>
> 
> then Emacs would list commands including:
> 
> balance-windows
> buffer-menu-other-window
> clone-indirect-buffer-other-window
> compare-windows
> delete-other-windows
> delete-window
> 
> Can Emacs be customized or modified to do that?

Several 3rd-party packages allow this, and the latest Emacs vanilla version
allows it out of the box to some extent.

Here is one such package (which I maintain):
http://www.emacswiki.org/emacs/EmacsNewbieWithIcicles

To match against a substring (which is what you describe), use `S-TAB' for
completion instead of `TAB'. By default, `S-TAB' matching is actually regexp
(regular expression) matching, but if you want just substring matching (i.e. you
want to match regexp special chars literally), then just use `C-`' (once) in the
minibuffer - or just customize option `icicle-regexp-quote-flag' to non-nil.

Icicles completion works this way not just for command names but everything else
as well. And you can match multiple substrings without regard to order, so you
can match not only `window' but also `buffer', and thus pick up candidates like
`window-buffer' and `get-buffer-window' for `C-h f'. You do that by separating
the different match patterns with `S-SPC', so: `C-h f window S-SPC buffer
S-TAB'.

Other packages that also match substrings, and more info about completion in
general, are available here:
http://www.emacswiki.org/emacs/CategoryCompletion

RE: Searching for commands by any part of command name

[Drew Adams]

> Attaching another question, why (I think) C-h a doesn't 
> display all the
> possible commands/variable/functions with a particular string inside,
> but just some of them?

C-h a is `apropos-command', which deals only with commands or, with `C-u', with
all functions (but not variables).

What you want is the command `apropos', which is not bound to a key by default:
`M-x apropos'. It is bound by default to menu item `Help > Search Documentation
> Find Any Object by Name'.

RE: Searching for commands by any part of command name

[Drew Adams]

> Maybe I'm not understanding, but what's wrong with
> M-x *window <tab> ?

If he has Emacs 22 or earlier, it doesn't match substrings.

In Emacs 23, there is some support for substring matching, as you indicate.