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Code Editor: Incremental searching

Keystroke = CTRL + E

The Search menu in the IDE contains a menuitem called Incremental Search. The hotkey for this command is CTRL + E. The cool thing about incremental searching is that it works without popping up an annoying dialog box. You simply type into the code editor after starting the search. As soon as you start typing, the Code Editor starts looking for a search match. Often times, you will find what you are looking for after typing only a few keystrokes.

Here are some additional incremental searching tips.

  • Remember the CTRL + E hotkey so you can forget about the mouse.
  • You can push F3 after typing in a few keys to zip to the next match.
  • You can see your search word in the status bar of the Code Editor.
  • Push backspace if you make a typing mistake, the search will actually back up.
  • Press CTRL + HOME followed by CTRL + E to start searching from the begining of a document.
  • Press ENTER or any other key when you are done searching.
  • The search will not allow you to type in a new key if that key produces a word that is not found.
  • The search does not wrap around and start searching from the beginning of the file.

Now that I have become familiar with incremental searching, I rarely use the traditional search dialog. CTRL + E has proven to be the most productive way to find what I'm looking for in the BCB Code Editor. Go ahead and give it a try!



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