Hi gnu/emacs! Thanks a lot for the quick reply I got. I have tried out both: (setq query-replace-read-from-default (lambda () "")) and the  (setq query-replace-read-from-default (lambda () (make-string 0 32))) Unfortunately the irritating (default FROM -> TO) still shows...I also did try to read and follow the code but limited in LISP knowledge and I didn't find anything which I didn't already try. It is rather strange a simple disable variable was missed to implement. This show another aspect of the problem with the current and rather strange implementation:https://emacs.stackexchange.com/questions/19844/how-to-cancel-the-default-in-replace-string It is like emacs is leaving the unix way to keep things simple. /Regards Niclas Olsson, Sweden Den torsdag 24 april 2025 kl. 18:13:43 CEST, Manuel Giraud skrev: Niclas Olsson via "Bug reports for GNU Emacs, the Swiss army knife of text editors" writes: > Hi gnu/emacs, [...] > I have tried all setq on the: [...] Hi, It seems that setting the following does what you want: (setq query-replace-read-from-default (lambda () "")) I found this by reading the code since it is not a well documented custom.  Maybe, we should have one (?) -- Manuel Giraud