Re: Documentation bug for isearch?

[Kevin Rodgers]

Matthieu Lemerre wrote:
> I use Emacs for more than 7 year and I just found out that C-s sets
> the mark automatically when you start an isearch. The problem with
> Emacs is that it's so long to use it optimally, that you get used to
> bad automatisms :)
>
> This fact is not written in the documentation string for
> isearch-forward; there is a hint "Mark saved where search started",
> but I tend not to see them using emacs in full-screen;
>
> I think I would have found it earlier if I could have read it in the
> doc string of isearch; my suggestion is to put it in the doc string.

Actually, the mark is set when you _exit_ isearch, as explained in the
Emacs manual:

,----
|    When you exit the incremental search, it sets the mark where point
| _was_ before the search.  That is convenient for moving back there.  In
| Transient Mark mode, incremental search sets the mark without
| activating it, and does so only if the mark is not already active.
`----

I think that text is too long to include in the doc string of the
various isearch commands, and shortening it would leave out the really
useful information.

--
Kevin Rodgers
Denver, Colorado, USA