Selecting (i.e., as the region) the current match in incremental search

Question

When searching for a string with C-s, I want to be able to hit some key to exit search mode but still maintain the selection of the match. That way I can immediately start typing and replace the last match.

For example, say I have the following document:

The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog.

If I search for "lazy", emacs will select that word like so (square brackets are selection, pipe is cursor):

The quick brown fox jumps over the [lazy|] dog.

Now, if I press return, emacs will maintain my cursor position, but it will deselect "lazy":

The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy| dog.

Instead of this, I want a shortcut that will exit search mode but maintain the current match selection, like in the second state above.

Answer 1

Here's one approach:

(defun isearch-exit-mark-match ()
  "Exit isearch and mark the current match."
  (interactive)
  (isearch-exit)
  (push-mark isearch-other-end)
  (activate-mark))

(define-key isearch-mode-map (kbd "<C-return>") #'isearch-exit-mark-match)

This binds a different key (C-return) to exit the current isearch and also leave the last match selected. This will work with isearch-forward-regexp as well, which is handy.

Answer 2

Library Isearch+ lets you do that easily, and even toggle it on/off on the fly.

• Non-nil option isearchp-set-region-flag automatically sets the region (selection) around the last search target when you quit isearch.

• Command isearchp-toggle-set-region, bound to M-s M-SPC during isearch toggles option isearchp-set-region-flag.

• Command set-region-around-search-target manually sets the region around the last search target. (So even if the option is not set, so you don't get automatic selection, you can do it manually.)

---

Library Replace+ lets you do the same thing for query-replace etc. It puts the region around (i.e., selects) the last replacement occurrence. It uses the same option, isearchp-set-region-flag, to control this, and command set-region-around-search-target has the same effect.