4.1. Case-Sensitive Search

Use the - modifier to search left and towards the beginning of the file. Use the Q modifier to specify multiple target strings, separating the targets with <eol>. Terminate the last target with an extra <eol>. The search then finds the first occurrence of any of the target strings.

Use the + modifier to wrap around the beginning or end of buffer during the search. The + and - qualifiers can be used in the same search command. The + modifier is useful when you want to find the target string anywhere in the file regardless of the current location. If this modifier is not used, the search is terminated by the beginning or end of the buffer.

4.3. Pattern Search

T with no ! is generally faster but far less flexible than !T.

The command ?!T writes a description of the characters allowed in patterns to CMDLOG. You will probably want to consult this description before using the command, as the list of pattern matching characters is subject to change. Some of the more commonly used characters include:

For example, to look for the strings “this red shoe.” or “these red shoes.”, regardless of how many whitespace characters occur between the words of the phrase, use the search pattern:

(this|these)`@red`@shoe(s|=).

• <eol>: go to the indicated target line and terminate the search.

• A: search for the next match.

• Q: abort the search, but do not terminate any macro being defined or invoked.

• <abort>: abort the search and any macros being defined or invoked.

• 0 (i.e., the digit zero): redisplay the message row.

• Digit in the range 1 through 9: display the digit-th segment of the target line (so that wide lines can be examined). Each segment is 4/5 the width of the screen.

Upper and lower case distinctions are ignored in the search and target strings. If MAINED does not find some target FOO, the cursor is not moved, and MAINED beeps and gives the message:

Did not find "FOO"

The prompt for the search string gives as the default the string(s) last searched for. Type just <eol> to use the default:

Search string ("FOO"): <eol>     (search for FOO)

The RS command inserts the current search strings above the current line, one per line. The search strings are uppercase.

Example: if you have just issued the command Tabc<eol> to search for abc, then RS inserts the string ABC on a new line above the current line.

Example: if you have just issued the command QTabc<eol>def<eol>ghi<eol><eol>, then the RS command inserts three lines above the current line and sets the first to ABC, the second to DEF, and the third to GHI, since these are the current three search strings.

4.6. +R{C,W,L}: Recall {Characters, Words, Lines} into Search Strings

These commands are like the corresponding commands without the + (see Section 7.5), except that instead of inserting the text into the buffer, they use it to set the current search strings. The various modifiers that can be used with the standard R{C,W,L} command, such as ., Q, and a count, also apply here.

Example: if you have just issued DL on a line consisting of “foobar”, then +RL sets the current search strings to the single search string FOOBAR.

Example: if you issue 3DL to delete three lines, say:

this is the first line
followed by the second line
then the third

then +RL results in the three search strings “THIS IS THE FIRST LINE”, “FOLLOWED BY THE SECOND LINE”, and “THEN THE THIRD”.

Example: DW which deletes, say, THEN, followed by +RW, makes THEN the current search string.

Example: Suppose you have two buffers A and B on the screen. A is a buffer of search strings, one per line, that you want to find in buffer B. Initially, put the cursor at the start of the first search string in A, then use .B to move to buffer B (anywhere in it). The following macro can then be used to find the first occurrence in B of the next word in the list:

.B<eol>.DW+RW<eol>.B<eol>1G.T<eol>

The macro works as follows:

• .B<eol> switches from buffer B to buffer A.

• .DW stores the next search word in the word delete buffer.

• +RW pops that word into the search string.

• <eol> moves the cursor to the next search word in buffer A.

• .B<eol> switches from buffer A to buffer B.

• 1G goes to the start of buffer B.

• .T<eol> searches for the current search string(s), which is the just set up by +RW.

Only the final screen is seen after the entire macro has been executed, so the effect is for the cursor to move to the first occurrence in B of the next search word. Additional occurrences of the same word can be found using .T<eol>.