How to preserve helm project search results to iterate through them

Question

I am using spacemacs with vim bindings and doing a search project-wide for something like while \( with SPC s p. I get the results in a helm buffer and can enter transient state to navigate them, but once I open one of the listed files, the search disappears and C-o does not get me back to it. I am forced to repeat the search.

For doing project-wide refactors this is pretty inconvenient. In my situation it's not a simple search and replace. I have to inspect each use and determine if I need to refactor.

Is there any way to preserve the search results so I can go through the results and return to them?

I saw in the help menu C-c o to open results in a new buffer, but that seems to just open a new buffer with the same file I was on, not the results.

Answer 1

You can toggle helm-follow-mode using C-c C-f within a helm buffer, then when cycling through helm you will see previews of the results. You can switch to the results buffer by typing M-1 and then switch back to the helm buffer by typing M-2 or SPC w w.

Also, after you have closed the helm buffer, e.g. by selecting/visiting one of its results by pressing RET on it, you can use M-x helm-resume or SPC r l to reopen the last results in helm.