The OCCUR Command in Emacs

Note: the occur command has a synonym: list-matching-lines

M-s o

What it does: Displays lines that match a string as a list in an separate buffer called the occur buffer

It is like doing a grep search but on open buffer(s), rather than on file(s)

You can see an overview of all hits

You do not need to iterate through hits one match at a time

You can edit all hits in one place

M-p M-n reuse strings from previous incremental searches

Context lines can be specified using a prefix argument.

Sometimes context lines are helpful, other times they get in the way.

Note: One can switch to an occur search when isearch is active

Note: Overlapping matches are not identified as a match

Compare searching for:

ababa

with:

abcabcd

Go into the occur buffer

Note that now occur-mode is the major mode

n and p move to next or previous matches

Hits are matched across the two buffers

Accepts universal arguments

Digit keys can be used without prefix arguments. So 2 n moves to the second next match

SPC and DEL scroll the Occur buffer up and down

C-o displays the match in another window but does not switch to the other window

o displays the match in other window and switches to other window

M-g M-n allows you to navigate the hits from the non-occur buffer

q quits the occur buffer (you have to be in it)

e makes the buffer writable and enters Occur Edit Mode

C-c C-c saves the changes and/or exits Occur Edit Mode

One can use macros in this mode and search and replace

(setq list-matching-lines-default-context-lines 2) sets default value of context lines

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