Mercurial > emacs
changeset 74845:5fffe049d3bf
(Regexp Search): Explain why forward and reverse regexp
search are not mirror images.
| author | Richard M. Stallman <rms@gnu.org> |
|---|---|
| date | Sat, 23 Dec 2006 17:30:03 +0000 |
| parents | 2cd58794c743 |
| children | 6bc0603419f7 |
| files | man/search.texi |
| diffstat | 1 files changed, 7 insertions(+), 0 deletions(-) [+] |
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--- a/man/search.texi Sat Dec 23 10:29:59 2006 +0000 +++ b/man/search.texi Sat Dec 23 17:30:03 2006 +0000 @@ -488,6 +488,13 @@ you have searched for @samp{foo} and you add @samp{\|bar}, the cursor backs up in case the first @samp{bar} precedes the first @samp{foo}. + Forward and backward regexp search are not symmetrical, because +regexp matching in Emacs always operates forward, starting with the +beginning of the regexp. Thus, forward regexp search scans forward, +trying a forward match at each possible starting position. Backward +regexp search scans backward, trying a forward match at each possible +starting position. These search methods are not mirror images. + @findex re-search-forward @findex re-search-backward Nonincremental search for a regexp is done by the functions