repeating a search a certain number of times

repeating a search a certain number of times

[Timur Aydin]

Hello,

I have been looking for a way to repeat a search a certain number of 
times, and from the documentation i have found the search-forward 
function to do that:

(search-forward "something" nil nil 5)

But unfortunately this isn't bound to a key. The docstring says it is 
bound to <find>, but I don't know what that means. It isn't a lisp 
function. I thought maybe it is a menu item, but can't see that in the 
menu either.

So my question is, how can I bind this to a key so that when I press it, 
it asks me for the string, then the repetition count and then goes ahead 
and finds it?

-- 
Timur

repeating a search a certain number of times

[Timur Aydin]

Hello,

I have been looking for a way to repeat a search a certain number of 
times, and from the documentation i have found the search-forward 
function to do that:

(search-forward "something" nil nil 5)

But unfortunately this isn't bound to a key. The docstring says it is 
bound to <find>, but I don't know what that means. It isn't a lisp 
function. I thought maybe it is a menu item, but can't see that in the 
menu either.

So my question is, how can I bind this to a key so that when I press it, 
it asks me for the string, then the repetition count and then goes ahead 
and finds it?

-- 
Timur

RE: repeating a search a certain number of times

[Drew Adams]

> I have been looking for a way to repeat a search a certain number of
> times, and from the documentation i have found the search-forward
> function to do that:
> 
> (search-forward "something" nil nil 5)
> 
> But unfortunately this isn't bound to a key. The docstring says it is
> bound to <find>, but I don't know what that means. It isn't a lisp
> function. I thought maybe it is a menu item, but can't see that in the
> menu either.
> 
> So my question is, how can I bind this to a key so that when I press it,
> it asks me for the string, then the repetition count and then goes ahead
> and finds it?

`search-forward' is bound to `C-s RET'. Just repeat `C-s RET' to repeat
your search (no need to enter the same input again).

See the Emacs manual, node `Nonincremental Search': `C-h r g noni TAB RET'.

Is there some reason you do not want to use incremental search: `C-s'?
If you do that, then just repeat `C-s'.

See the Emacs manual, node `Incremental Search': `C-h r g incr TAB RET'.

Re: repeating a search a certain number of times

[Marcin Borkowski]

On 2016-01-21, at 18:41, Timur Aydin <ta@taydin.org> wrote:

> Hello,
>
> I have been looking for a way to repeat a search a certain number of 
> times, and from the documentation i have found the search-forward 
> function to do that:
>
> (search-forward "something" nil nil 5)
>
> But unfortunately this isn't bound to a key. The docstring says it is 
> bound to <find>, but I don't know what that means. It isn't a lisp 
> function. I thought maybe it is a menu item, but can't see that in the 
> menu either.
>
> So my question is, how can I bind this to a key so that when I press it, 
> it asks me for the string, then the repetition count and then goes ahead 
> and finds it?

Others will probably chime in, and I don't have the time to write that
function for you, but you might want to read these sections in the Elisp
reference:

(info "(emacs)Rebinding")
(info "(elisp)Using interactive")

(If you're reading this message in Emacs, place the point after any of
the above expressions, and press C-x C-e.)

Best,

-- 
Marcin Borkowski
http://octd.wmi.amu.edu.pl/en/Marcin_Borkowski
Faculty of Mathematics and Computer Science
Adam Mickiewicz University