Searching in the index is not documented
Hi, mutt!
mutt 1.5.9i, manual.txt.gz.
This manual, fine though it otherwise be, does not describe how to do
searching within the message index. I'm left to guess or work out by
experiment answers to such questions:
If I type "/foo":
(i) Within what text does mutt search for "foo"? It appears to be more
than the text which the index displays on the screen, but less than
the complete content of the mailbox.
(ii) Is "foo" interpreted literally as text or as a regular expression?
(iii) If there are several instances of "foo", in what order does mutt
find them? I would guess that it would use the order the mails are
currently sorted in.
(iv) Can I somehow search my mailbox for a pattern? (e.g. "~fAlan")?
It Would Be Nice if the manual clarified these things in section 2.3.1
"The Message Index".
It Would Also Be Nice if, in section 4.2 "Patterns", this sentence:
Many of Mutt's commands allow you to specify a pattern to match
(limit, tag-pattern, delete-pattern, etc.).
were amended to include the phrase "search a mail index", even if the
amendment were to be "It is currently not possible to search a mail
index for a pattern.".
Happy birthday to all whose birthday is today!
--
Alan Mackenzie (Munich, Germany)