@end defun
@defun text-property-search-forward prop &optional value predicate not-current
-Search for the next region that has text property @var{prop} set to
-@var{value} according to @var{predicate}.
+Search for the next region of text whose property @var{prop} is a
+match for @var{value} (which defaults to @code{nil}), according to
+@var{predicate}.
-This function is modeled after @code{search-forward} and friends in
-that it moves point, but it returns a structure that describes the
-match instead of returning it in @code{match-beginning} and friends.
+This function is modeled after @code{search-forward} (@pxref{String
+Search}) and friends, in that it moves point, but it also returns a
+structure that describes the match instead of returning it in
+@code{match-beginning} and friends.
-If the text property can't be found, the function returns @code{nil}.
-If it's found, point is placed at the end of the region that has this
-text property match, and a @code{prop-match} structure is returned.
+If the text property whose value is a match can't be found, the
+function returns @code{nil}. If it's found, point is placed at the
+end of the region that has this matching text property, and the
+function returns a @code{prop-match} structure with information about
+the match.
@var{predicate} can either be @code{t} (which is a synonym for
@code{equal}), @code{nil} (which means ``not equal''), or a predicate
-that will be called with two parameters: The first is @var{value}, and
-the second is the value of the text property we're inspecting.
+that will be called with two arguments: @var{value} and the value of
+the text property @var{prop} at the buffer position that is a
+candidate for a match. The function should return non-@code{nil} if
+there's a match, @code{nil} otherwise.
-If @var{not-current}, if point is in a region where we have a match,
-then skip past that and find the next instance instead.
+If @var{not-current} is non-@code{nil}, then if point is already in a
+region where we have a property match, skip past that region and find
+the next region instead.
-The @code{prop-match} structure has the following accessors:
+The @code{prop-match} structure has the following accessor functionss:
@code{prop-match-beginning} (the start of the match),
@code{prop-match-end} (the end of the match), and
@code{prop-match-value} (the value of @var{property} at the start of
the match).
-In the examples below, imagine that you're in a buffer that looks like
-this:
+In the examples below, we use a buffer whose contents is:
-@example
-This is a bold and here's bolditalic and this is the end.
-@end example
+@display
+This is a @b{bold} and here's @b{@i{bolditalic}} and this is the end.
+@end display
That is, the ``bold'' words are the @code{bold} face, and the
``italic'' word is in the @code{italic} face.
@end lisp
This will pick out all the bits that have no face properties, which
-will result in the list @samp{("This is a " "and here's " "and this is
-the end")} (only reversed, since we used @code{push}).
+will result in the list @samp{(@w{"This is a "} @w{"and here's "}
+@w{"and this is the end"})} (only in reverse order, since we used
+@code{push}, @pxref{List Variables}).
@lisp
(while (setq match (text-property-search-forward 'face nil nil))
@defun text-property-search-backward prop &optional value predicate not-current
This is just like @code{text-property-search-forward}, but searches
-backward instead. Point is placed at the beginning of the matched
-region instead of the end, though.
+backward instead, and if a match is found, point is placed at the
+beginning of the matched region instead of the end.
@end defun
(defun text-property-search-forward (property &optional value predicate
not-current)
- "Search for the next region of text where PREDICATE is true.
-PREDICATE is used to decide whether a value of PROPERTY should be
-considered as matching VALUE.
+ "Search for next region of text where PREDICATE returns non-nil for PROPERTY.
+PREDICATE is used to decide whether the value of PROPERTY at a given
+buffer position should be considered as a match for VALUE.
+VALUE defaults to nil if omitted.
If PREDICATE is a function, it will be called with two arguments:
-VALUE and the value of PROPERTY. The function should return
-non-nil if these two values are to be considered a match.
+VALUE and the value of PROPERTY at some buffer position. The function
+should return non-nil if these two values are to be considered a match.
Two special values of PREDICATE can also be used:
-If PREDICATE is t, that means a value must `equal' VALUE to be
-considered a match.
-If PREDICATE is nil (which is the default value), a value will
-match if is not `equal' to VALUE. Furthermore, a nil PREDICATE
-means that the match region is ended if the value changes. For
+If PREDICATE is t, that means the value of PROPERTY must `equal' VALUE
+to be considered a match.
+If PREDICATE is nil (which is the default), the value of PROPERTY will
+match if it is not `equal' to VALUE. Furthermore, a nil PREDICATE
+means that the match region ends where the value changes. For
instance, this means that if you loop with
(while (setq prop (text-property-search-forward \\='face))
...)
-you will get all distinct regions with non-nil `face' values in
+you will get all the distinct regions with non-nil `face' values in
the buffer, and the `prop' object will have the details about the
match. See the manual for more details and examples about how
VALUE and PREDICATE interact.
-If NOT-CURRENT is non-nil, the function will search for the first
-region that doesn't include point and has a value of PROPERTY
-that matches VALUE.
+If NOT-CURRENT is non-nil, current buffer position is not examined for
+matches: the function will search for the first region that doesn't
+include point and has a value of PROPERTY that matches VALUE.
If no matches can be found, return nil and don't move point.
If found, move point to the end of the region and return a
`prop-match' object describing the match. To access the details
of the match, use `prop-match-beginning' and `prop-match-end' for
-the buffer positions that limit the region, and
-`prop-match-value' for the value of PROPERTY in the region."
+the buffer positions that limit the region, and `prop-match-value'
+for the value of PROPERTY in the region."
(interactive
(list
(let ((string (completing-read "Search for property: " obarray)))
(defun text-property-search-backward (property &optional value predicate
not-current)
- "Search for the previous region of text whose PROPERTY matches VALUE.
+ "Search for previous region of text where PREDICATE returns non-nil for PROPERTY.
Like `text-property-search-forward', which see, but searches backward,
and if a matching region is found, place point at the start of the region."