How to clear the current isearch term without exiting isearch?
reddit / emacs

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Ghosty141 · 2022-10-25 18:26

This seems awfully simple but I can't find how to do this. I just want
to bind S-C-<backspace> to completely clear isearch without exiting
the "prompt" (yes I know it's just the echo area).

Is there any way to do this?

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eleven_cupfuls · 2022-10-25 19:02

It is not available already built in, but fortunately there _is_ a
built-in command, `isearch-del-char`, that can be used to create it,
[like so](https://gitlab.com/woolsweater/dotemacs.d/-
/blob/db0d2d3ca351b6aa63a2ce1cf541661000dfe713/startup/builtin.el#L360
-364):

      (defun isearch-delete-entire-query ()
        "Like `isearch-del-char' but remove the _entire_ search string
at
    once."
        (interactive)
        (isearch-del-char most-positive-fixnum))

Just bind that in `isearch-mode-map`: `(define-key isearch-mode-map
(kbd "S-C-<backspace>") #'isearch-delete-entire-query)`

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Ghosty141 · 2022-10-25 19:48

Oh you can just add an argument, nice! I thought about repeatedly
calling del-char but that seemed *too wrong*.

Thanks!

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jplindstrom · 2022-10-25 21:16

If you type `C-s` to enter isearch, then you can type the usual `C-h
m` to show the mode docs.

That will show you various interesting keys, including

```
Type C-h b to display all Isearch key bindings.
```

So if you type `C-s` and then type `C-h b`, it'll show you other
interesting keys, including

```
M-e             isearch-edit-string
```

So you can use that and then clear the isearch string.