How can I emulate Vim's * search in GNU Emacs?

Question

In Vim the * key in normal mode searches for the word under the cursor. In GNU Emacs the closest native equivalent would be:

C-s C-w

But th

Answer 1

I have not tried it but there is some code here called Grep-O-Matic.

Answer 2

The highlight symbol emacs extension provides this functionality. In particular, the recommend .emacsrc setup:

(require 'highlight-symbol)

(global-set-key [(control f3)] 'highlight-symbol-at-point)
(global-set-key [f3] 'highlight-symbol-next)
(global-set-key [(shift f3)] 'highlight-symbol-prev)

Allows jumping to the next symbol at the current point (F3), jumping to the previous symbol (Shift+F3) or highlighting symbols matching the one under the cursor (Ctrl+F3). The commands continue to do the right thing if your cursor is mid-word.

Unlike vim's super star, highlighting symbols and jumping between symbols are bound to two different commands. I personally don't mind the separation, but you could bind the two commands under the same keystroke if you wanted to precisely match vim's behaviour.

Answer 3

With this you should be able to do C-* while in isearch mode.

(define-key isearch-mode-map [?\C-*] 'kmk-isearch-yank-thing)

(defun kmk-isearch-yank-thing ()
  "Pull next thing from buffer into search string."
  (interactive)
  (let ((string (regexp-quote (thing-at-point 'word))))
    (setq isearch-string 
      (concat isearch-string "\\")
      isearch-message
      (concat isearch-message
          (mapconcat 'isearch-text-char-description
                 string ""))
      ;; Don't move cursor in reverse search.
      isearch-yank-flag t))
  (setq isearch-regexp t isearch-word nil isearch-success t isearch-adjusted t)
  (isearch-search-and-update))

Answer 4

;Here is my version: Emulates Visual Studio/Windows key bindings 
; C-F3 - Start searching the word at the point
; F3 searches forward and Shift F3 goes reverse

(setq my-search-wrap nil)

(defun my-search-func (dir)
  (interactive)
  (let* ((text (car search-ring)) newpoint)
        (when my-search-wrap  
             (goto-char (if (= dir 1) (point-min) (point-max)))
             (setq my-search-wrap nil))
        (setq newpoint (search-forward text nil t dir))
        (if newpoint
          (set-mark (if (= dir 1) (- newpoint (length text))
                         (+ newpoint (length text))))
          (message "Search Failed: %s" text) (ding)
          (setq my-search-wrap text))))

(defun my-search-fwd () (interactive) (my-search-func 1))
(defun my-search-bwd () (interactive) (my-search-func -1))

(defun yank-thing-into-search ()
   (interactive)
   (let ((text (if mark-active
          (buffer-substring-no-properties (region-beginning)(region-end))
                 (or (current-word) ""))))
     (when (> (length text) 0) (isearch-update-ring text) (setq my-search-wrap nil)
            (my-search-fwd))))
(global-set-key (kbd "")    'my-search-fwd)            ; Visual Studio like search keys
(global-set-key (kbd "")  'my-search-bwd)
(global-set-key (kbd "")  'yank-thing-into-search)

Answer 5

Mickey of Mastering Emacs blog reintroduced a cool "Smart Scan" lib that gives global bindings of M-n and M-p for navigating symbols under the cursor in the buffer. Doesn't affect search register so it's not a * replacement as is, but a clever and usable alternative to the navigation problem.

Answer 6

scottfrazer's answer works well for me, except for words that end in '_' (or perhaps other non-word characters?). I found that the code for light-symbol mode was using a different regex for word boundary depending on the version of emacs, and that fixed it for me. Here is the modified code:

(defconst my-isearch-rx-start
  (if (< emacs-major-version 22)
      "\\<"
    "\\_<")
  "Start-of-symbol regular expression marker.")

(defconst my-isearch-rx-end
  (if (< emacs-major-version 22)
      "\\>"
    "\\_>")
  "End-of-symbol regular expression marker.")

(defun my-isearch-word-at-point ()
  (interactive)
  (call-interactively 'isearch-forward-regexp))

(defun my-isearch-yank-word-hook ()
  (when (equal this-command 'my-isearch-word-at-point)
    (let ((string (concat my-isearch-rx-start
                          (buffer-substring-no-properties
                           (progn (skip-syntax-backward "w_") (point))
                           (progn (skip-syntax-forward "w_") (point)))
                          my-isearch-rx-end)))
      (if (and isearch-case-fold-search
               (eq 'not-yanks search-upper-case))
          (setq string (downcase string)))
      (setq isearch-string string
            isearch-message
            (concat isearch-message
                    (mapconcat 'isearch-text-char-description
                               string ""))
            isearch-yank-flag t)
      (isearch-search-and-update))))

(add-hook 'isearch-mode-hook 'my-isearch-yank-word-hook)