Re: isearch-allow-move [Was: isearch-allow-prefix]

[Alan Mackenzie]

Hi, Juri!

On Fri, Jun 07, 2013 at 09:59:49AM +0300, Juri Linkov wrote:
> > But what does it mean to C-f with a prefix arg of -1?  Does it mean
> > "remove the last char from the search string"?  If not, why not?
> > Or maybe a negative prefix argument would cause the command to be ignored.

> > Or maybe C-b would be allowed here to remove the last char from the
> > search string.

> Good idea.  This is implemented now by this patch (cumulative to
> the previously sent one) where `C-b' or `C-u -1 C-f' removes the
> last char from the search string (`M-b' removes the last word,
> `C-M-b' removes the last expression, etc. allowing key sequences like
> `M-s C-b M-b C-M-b'), and eventually stops removing characters at the
> beginning of the current match when the search string becomes empty.
> Is this approach simple enough and intuitive?

I don't think so.  What happens in a regexp search?  Particularly when
the last typed characters are "\)" or "]", or "?", or there's still an
unbalanced "\(" in the string.  What does M-b do then?

My gut feeling is that this proposal will add complexity rather than
reducing it, and the new facility won't be worth that cost.

-- 
Alan Mackenzie (Nuremberg, Germany).