Keep cursor at beginning of isearch result
Here's what I use. It moves the cursor to the beginning of the result
every time the result is updated. That way, you can always move to a
precise location when searching forward. The cursor will always be at
the beginning of your search result, and typing more characters to
narrow the result won't change where the cursor lands.
Source: Endless
Parentheses
(defun endless/goto-match-beginning ()
"Go to the start of current isearch match.
Use in `isearch-mode-end-hook'."
(when (and (not (eq this-command 'isearch-exit))
isearch-forward
(number-or-marker-p isearch-other-end)
(not mark-active)
(not isearch-mode-end-hook-quit))
(goto-char isearch-other-end)))
;; Keep cursor at start of search result.
(add-hook 'isearch-update-post-hook
#'endless/goto-match-beginning)
Exiting the search with <return> or an edit command
Once your cursor reaches the desired location, you can exit isearch
with the "<return>" key and make whatever changes you wanted to make
there. In addition, the use of any keybinding which is not in
isearch-mode-map will exit isearch without you having to press
"<return>" at all. So you can jump to a spot and use "C-d", "C-t",
"C-k", etc. without having to explicitly exit isearch-mode first.
One thing I noticed was that "M-c" is bound to
isearch-toggle-case-fold in isearch-mode-map, but that command has
a duplicate binding at "M-s c". "M-c" conflicts with
capitalize-word (or capitalize-dwim if you prefer). So I removed
the "M-c" binding, and now I can exit isearch with any of the
letter-case bindings ("M-u", "M-l" and "M-c").
(define-key isearch-mode-map (kbd "M-c") nil)
As far as I can tell, this leaves "C-w" and "C-y" as the only keys
left in isearch-mode-map that conflict with editing commands bound
in the global-map. So if you want to cut or paste, you'll have to
exit isearch-mode first. But you can do any other type of edit as
soon as the cursor lands there.
Exiting at the beginning or end of the search result
But what if you do want to explicitly exit isearch-mode before
proceeding? And what if sometimes you want to exit with point at the
beginning of the result (which we just ensured), but also sometimes
you want to exit at the end?
Emacs's default approach requires moving to the other end of the
result before exiting the search. But why not do that in one keypress
instead of two?
(defun my-isearch-bor-exit ()
"Ensure point is at beginning of isearch result and exit."
(interactive)
(when (< isearch-other-end (point))
(goto-char isearch-other-end))
(call-interactively 'isearch-exit))
(defun my-isearch-eor-exit ()
"Ensure point is at end of isearch result and exit."
(interactive)
(when (>= isearch-other-end (point))
(goto-char isearch-other-end))
(call-interactively 'isearch-exit))
(define-key isearch-mode-map (kbd "C-m") 'my-isearch-bor-exit) ; left
(define-key isearch-mode-map (kbd "<return>") 'my-isearch-eor-exit) ; right
The "<return>" keybinding will probably not work if you use Emacs in a
terminal, though it works fine in the GUI. In a terminal, "C-m"
represents the return key. So if you will ever use Emacs in a
terminal, pick a different key besides "<return>" for exiting at the
end of the result.
