Choosing Search Options

AutoLISP Developer's Guide > Using the Visual LISP Environment > Developing Programs with Visual LISP > Using the Text Editor > Searching for Text >

Under the Search heading, indicate the extent of the search you want VLISP to conduct. You can choose one of the following:

Current Selection: Searches only the text highlighted in the editor window.
Current File: Searches through the entire file in the active editor window.
Find in Project: With this option selected, VLISP prompts you to specify the name of the VLISP project you want to search. It will search all the files in this project and display all matches in a new output window. See Finding a String in Project Source Files for more information on this option.
Find in Files: If you select this option, VLISP allows you to specify a Windows directory (folder) to search for the text. Optionally, you can instruct VLISP to search all subdirectories of that directory as well. VLISP will search through all the files and display all matches in a new output window.

When searching for text within the current file, the Direction setting determines where VLISP looks next for the search text. Choose Down to search forward (toward the end of the file) from the cursor position. Choose Up to search backward (toward the beginning of the file) from the cursor position.

The Find dialog box also includes the following options:

Match Whole Word Only: If selected, VLISP will only match complete words. For example, if the search term is ent and VLISP encounters the word enter in the text, VLISP does not consider this a match. However, if the Match Whole Word Only option is not selected, VLISP considers the ent within enter to be a match.
Match Case: If selected, VLISP only matches text set in the same case. In this instance, Ent and ent are not considered a match. If Match Case is not selected, Ent and ent are considered a match.
Mark Instances: If you select this option, the position of the located text will be added to the bookmark ring (see Bookmarking Text). This lets you return quickly to this code position later. Searches that find all occurrences of a string add each position to the bookmark ring.