Viewing Find/Search results...

[Daniel Molendyke]

Is there a preference setting or plug-in that forces the result of a text search to the top line of the editor? For example, in a large flat text file with record types, if I search for “^0007”, and get to the first one, then click on “next”…I want the next 0007 record to display at the top of the editor display. I want the file to shift up not the highlight to shift down to the next result…

[Andrés Zsögön]

No editor whatsoever has ever done that. Anyway, now that we are on it, none of the 16 Find options implementation are well implemented. For example, the Select and Find won’t even be remembered when switching between documents, you have to manually open the search dialog and type the search term…

[Scott Sumner]

@Andrés-Zsögön said:

none of the 16 Find options implementation are well implemented

What exactly does that mean? Sixteen options?

Select and Find won’t even be remembered when switching between documents

If you mean what I think you mean (“Select and Find Next” functionality), then you are incorrect: It is remembered when switching documents but you have to do it this way (which is not a burden):

• In document #1: Invoke “Select and Find Next”
• Selected text (or text at caret) is found in doc #1
• Make document #2 active
• Invoke “Find Next” (NOT “Select and Find Next”)
• The same text from search in doc #1 is found in doc #2

Note: the above assumes the search succeeds, but whether or not that is true isn’t really relevant to the current discussion

[Andrés Zsögön]

Firstly, thanks for your concern. Let me fully describe the issue here. I’ve been using another editor that with a single option, it replaced 2 poorly implemented options from Npp. It was called: Find Next (F3).

On such editor, when press F3, it finds the next occurrence of the currently selected word. When you switch tabs, and press F3, the same search from the previous tab is repeated (obviously) as long as there is no text selected (the logical behaviour, Mr. Scotty, otherwise it means you’ve started a new search for the newly-selected term). This basic behaviour just doesn’t exists on Npp.

If you use Select and find next in Npp, it forgets about your last search from the other tab and it starts a new search. If the cursor (at the new tab) is in a blank line, it does nothing at all, as if your search from the other tab never existed. To repeat the search, I’m asked to use a different function (Find next) with a different shortcut.

Please let me know what’s the explanation for using two different functions for repeating the same search across tabs, because I just can’t find any remotely logical reason for this implementation. It’s clumsy and inconvenient in all scenarios.

[Scott Sumner]

@Andrés-Zsögön said:

…the logical behaviour, Mr. Scott(y)

Spock? :-D

Yea, okay, so you are fighting what is known as “I’ve used another editor previously, and why can’t what I like from that experience also exist in Notepad++?”. It goes beyond what makes sense and what doesn’t make sense, because you are biased from that prior experience. You can argue that that isn’t true if you want, but it doesn’t really matter because Notepad++ is what it is.

I dealt with this issue when I came to Notepad++ by discovering the Pythonscript plugin, and with that I was able to recreate the behaviors of former editor(s) that I just couldn’t live without. You could certainly do the same, with PS or other options that exist (e.g. LuaScript, or build your own plugin).

[guy038]

Hello, @Andrés-Zsögön, @Scott-Sumner, and All,

May be, I misunderstood you, but, in N++, you can go on searching for the same string, while switching tabs :-D

Andrés, remember that the two ways of searching :

• Find Next and Find Previous

• Select and Find Next and Select and Find Previous

share, exactly, the SAME options of the search dialog !

---

So, if you’re working on multiple files, simultaneously, the simple and unique rule, to remember, is :

As soon as you create a normal selection, to search for :

• Firstly, perform a Select and Find Next operation ( Ctrl + F3 ) to get the next occurrence and memorize this specific search

• Secondly, continue the current search, with the usual Find Next option ( F3 )

• After switching to an other tab, the current search, still, goes on, if you, simply, hit on the F3 key

• If, you change your mind, and decide, from any tab, to search for an other text :

  • Again, select this new text, to search for

  • Hit, ONCE on the Select and Find Next option ( Ctrl + F3 )

  • Go on, hitting, exclusively, on the F3 key, even after switching on other tabs !

Best Regards

guy038

P.S.: For easy testing :

• Uncheck the two options Match whole word only and Match case

• Select the Wrap around option and the Down direction, if necessary

• Set the Normal mode of search

P.P.S. :

You may keep the Find dialog, in the background ( not focused ), just to know the current options set/unset !

[Vasile Caraus]

you should include this feature (such as a console) in a plugin as NppExec. Because I want to see what exactly did I “Replace”, and if I have to perform an undo before saving.

[PeterJones]

This post is deleted!

[PeterJones]

@Vasile-Caraus,

See my PS in your thread about your issue.