RE: propose: dired-isearch.el --- isearch in Dired

[Drew Adams]

> >> FWIW, my guess is that most people will end up leaving those fields
> >> invisible much of the time, once they find out about dired-details.
> >
> > In OSes like Windows XP, maybe this is true. But in *nix, i think
> > those "details" are still very valuable to be visible.
>
> Even in *nix, `ls' without options or with `-1' lists just file names.
> But I agree that in Dired the best default is to list details and allow
> isearch to search everything.

I agree with those defaults.

> I regularly use isearch to search
> filenames, but sometimes also need to search file sizes and dates.

I too want normal isearch, not just file-name search. And with the normal
isearch bindings. It's no problem to have an additional search command for
file names, if people want that, but it shouldn't use C-s (or C-M-s).

> I have one idea: if the initial point position before search is on the
> filename, then search filenames only.  If the initial position is on the
> date, then search dates only, and so on for other ls columns.

I don't like that; it's too restrictive. I don't want to have to position
the cursor just to make sure I get the right kind of search. That's far more
difficult than hitting a key to hide everything but the file names.

However, if people think it is useful to have field-specific searches
(beyond just file names), then we could have commands for that. They could
have other bindings than the standard isearch ones, and they could be added
to a Dired menu. They could even be accessible from isearch (e.g. C-s
<some-key>). But plain old isearch should be available in Dired too, with
its standard bindings.