Subject: bug#6232: Suggestion for isearch: in backward search yank to front of search string

From: Lennart Borgman <[email-masked]>
Date: Fri, 21 May 2010 03:18:19 +0200

On Fri, May 21, 2010 at 2:09 AM, Juri Linkov <[email-masked]> wrote:
>> Yanking to the end of the search string in isearh (i.e. C-w etc.) is
>> very practical. However I miss yanking to the front of the search
>> string.
>>
>> My suggestion is to change the semantics a bit and yank to the front
>> of the search string when searching backwards. What do you think?
>
> I think this would be wrong to do because C-w and all other yanking commands
> always yank in the forward direction.

My suggestion to use the normal key bindings but let them act in the
reverse direction is based on reasoning like this:

1) There is a lack of key bindings in isearch-mode.

2) Using the same keybindings make them easy to remember.

3) It does seem rather logical that the yanking is done at the other
end when search direction is reversed.

4) Maybe more important: The marker in isearch that shows the
direction will be at the position where the yanking is done. Or at
least nearly. So the semantics is in a sense the same since yanking is
done forward from that marker.