(info.info.gz) Info Search

 
 How to search Info documents for specific subjects
 ==================================================
 
    The commands which move between and inside nodes allow you to read
 the entire manual or its large portions.  But what if you need to find
 some information in the manual as fast as you can, and you don't know
 or don't remember in what node to look for it?  This need arises when
 you use a manual as a "reference", or when it is impractical to read
 the entire manual before you start using the programs it describes.
 
    Info has powerful searching facilities that let you find things
 quickly.  You can search either the manual indices or its text.
 
    Since most subjects related to what the manual describes should be
 indexed, you should try the index search first.  The `i' command
 prompts you for a subject and then looks up that subject in the
 indices.  If it finds an index entry with the subject you typed, it
 goes to the node to which that index entry points.  You should browse
 through that node to see whether the issue you are looking for is
 described there.  If it isn't, type `,' one or more times to go through
 additional index entries which match your subject.
 
    The `i' command finds all index entries which include the string you
 typed _as a substring_.  For each match, Info shows in the echo area
 the full index entry it found.  Often, the text of the full index entry
 already gives you enough information to decide whether it is relevant
 to what you are looking for, so we recommend that you read what Emacs
 shows in the echo are before looking at the node it displays.
 
    Since `i' looks for a substring, you can search for subjects even if
 you are not sure how they are spelled in the index.  For example,
 suppose you want to find something that is pertinent to commands which
 complete partial input (e.g., when you type <TAB>).  If you want to
 catch index entries that refer to "complete", "completion", and
 "completing", you could type `icomplet<RET>'.
 
    Info documents which describe programs should index the commands,
 options, and key sequences that the program provides.  If you are
 looking for a description of a command, an option, or a key, just type
 their names when `i' prompts you for a topic.  For example, if you want
 to read the description of what the `C-f' key does, type `iC-f<RET>'.
 Here `C-f' are 3 literal characters `C', `-', and `f', not the
 "Control-f" command key you type inside Emacs to run the command bound
 to `C-f'.
 
    In Emacs, `i' runs the command `Info-index'.
 
    The `s' command allows you to search a whole file for a string.  It
 switches to the next node if and when that is necessary.  You type `s'
 followed by the string to search for, terminated by <RET>.  To search
 for the same string again, just `s' followed by <RET> will do.  The
 file's nodes are scanned in the order they are in in the file, which
 has no necessary relationship to the order that they may be in the tree
 structure of menus and `next' pointers.  But normally the two orders
 are not very different.  In any case, you can always do a `b' to find
 out what node you have reached, if the header is not visible (this can
 happen, because `s' puts your cursor at the occurrence of the string,
 not at the beginning of the node).
 
    In Emacs, `Meta-s' is equivalent to `s'.  That is for compatibility
 with other GNU packages that use `M-s' for a similar kind of search
 command.  Both `s' and `M-s' run in Emacs the command `Info-search'.
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