Re: Irritation about re-search-backward

[Michael Heerdegen]

Marco Wahl <marcowahlsoft@gmail.com> writes:

> Hi,
>
> with "|" marking point and the following buffer
>
> #v+
> aaaaaaaaaaaa|
> #v-
>
>
> M-: (re-search-backward "a*")
>
> does not change point.
>
> Shouldn't point have been moved to the beginning of the line?

Good question - but it's the intended behavior.  Try

(progn (re-search-backward "a*")
       (message "Matched string: \"%s\"" (match-string 0))
       (sit-for 2))

The docstring once included this sentence:

   The match found is the one starting last in the buffer
   and yet ending before the origin of the search.

but it obviously has been removed.

I would make a bug report, since the documentation is insufficient in
this regard.


Michael.