Incremental find

In computing, incremental find, or inline find/progressive find, is a feature that can be found in various applications that involves the searching of text string. Usually, in contrast to traditional find, no modal window is used. A keyboard shortcut, usually "/", is assigned to invoke the find function.

As user types, the matched text is found (and usually highlighted). It can also find next/previous matched text. This is more robust than traditional find as finding is done immediately when typing starts. Also, it is better in terms of usability as no modal window is used. In the case of modal find, the user may need to move the modal window around, as it can block the part of the screen which contains the matched text.

Non-modal incremental find is not only found in most modern web browsers like Mozilla, Mozilla Firefox, Opera and Konqueror, but also some text applications like Emacs and Eclipse. In Mozilla jargon, it is coined as "Find as you type".

External links

• Keyboard Feature: Find As You Type — Mozilla.
• Day Thirteen: Real Fast Find — Opera.
• Hour 7: Searching for Text in a Buffer — Emacs.
• Using Incremental Find — Eclipse.