GNU bug report logs - #57160
28.1.91; Info Virtual Index fails on search "two column"

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Message #5 received at submit <at> debbugs.gnu.org (full text, mbox):

From: Van Ly <van.ly <at> sdf.org>
To: bug-gnu-emacs <at> gnu.org
Subject: 28.1.91; Info Virtual Index fails on search "two column"
Date: Fri, 12 Aug 2022 17:11:50 +0000 (UTC)

[Message part 1 (text/plain, inline)]

Inside Emacs at  the infopage for Emacs, the search  term "two column"
finds   no   result,  the   search   term   "column"  finds   in   the
"Info Virtual Index" the result:

 . 2C-two-columns [Command Index]: Two-Column.

Steps to reproduce

 . start "emacs -Q"
 . open Emacs's infopage by "F1 i" and navigating to entry for Emacs
 . search index using "I" and type "two column"
 . echo area says "No 'two column' in index"

Expected result finds

 . 2C-two-columns [Command Index]: Two-Column.

-- 
vl					     GNU Emacs 27.2 NetBSD 9.3

[bug-gnu-emacs-28-1-91.text (text/plain, attachment)]

Message #8 received at 57160 <at> debbugs.gnu.org (full text, mbox):

From: Juri Linkov <juri <at> linkov.net>
To: Van Ly <van.ly <at> sdf.org>
Cc: 57160 <at> debbugs.gnu.org
Subject: Re: bug#57160: 28.1.91; Info Virtual Index fails on search "two
 column"
Date: Fri, 12 Aug 2022 20:42:27 +0300

> Inside Emacs at  the infopage for Emacs, the search  term "two column"
> finds   no   result,  the   search   term   "column"  finds   in   the
> "Info Virtual Index" the result:
>
>  . 2C-two-columns [Command Index]: Two-Column.
>
> Steps to reproduce
>
>  . start "emacs -Q"
>  . open Emacs's infopage by "F1 i" and navigating to entry for Emacs
>  . search index using "I" and type "two column"
>  . echo area says "No 'two column' in index"
>
> Expected result finds
>
>  . 2C-two-columns [Command Index]: Two-Column.

Everything works fine when you type "I two-column".

Message #11 received at 57160 <at> debbugs.gnu.org (full text, mbox):

From: Van Ly <van.ly <at> sdf.org>
To: Juri Linkov <juri <at> linkov.net>
Cc: 57160 <at> debbugs.gnu.org
Subject: Re: bug#57160: 28.1.91; Info Virtual Index fails on search "two
 column"
Date: Fri, 12 Aug 2022 18:01:06 +0000 (UTC)

On Fri, 12 Aug 2022, Juri Linkov wrote:

>>
>> Expected result finds
>>
>>  . 2C-two-columns [Command Index]: Two-Column.
>
> Everything works fine when you type "I two-column".
>

Everyday search engines would accept "two column" and add in the hyphen.

-- 
vl
				 ALPINE 2.24 GNU Emacs 27.2 NetBSD 9.3

Message #14 received at 57160 <at> debbugs.gnu.org (full text, mbox):

From: Drew Adams <drew.adams <at> oracle.com>
To: Van Ly <van.ly <at> sdf.org>, Juri Linkov <juri <at> linkov.net>
Cc: "57160 <at> debbugs.gnu.org" <57160 <at> debbugs.gnu.org>
Subject: RE: [External] : bug#57160: 28.1.91; Info Virtual Index fails on
 search "two column"
Date: Fri, 12 Aug 2022 18:24:29 +0000

> Everyday search engines would accept "two column" and add in the hyphen.

(Not chiming in on whether something should be done in Info.)

Just pointing out that the "everyday search engines" you're thinking of (e.g. PDF searching, web search engines...) typically perform what's called "full-text search" or "indexed search".

They _index_ a set of documents, breaking down words into roots, endings, etc.  So they can match singular/plural and other forms of words that have the same root, and perform other kinds of search (boolean predicates, nearness tests, etc.).

They don't do the kind of searching that Emacs does, in general.  Emacs searching is typically plain-text, and it allows for the use of regexps, for example.

These are two very different search worlds.  Try searching for "two-column" with Google search and not getting hits also for "two column".  Each kind of search has its advantages.  Emacs searching is good for most uses of Emacs.

Message #17 received at 57160 <at> debbugs.gnu.org (full text, mbox):

From: Eli Zaretskii <eliz <at> gnu.org>
To: Van Ly <van.ly <at> sdf.org>
Cc: 57160 <at> debbugs.gnu.org, juri <at> linkov.net
Subject: Re: bug#57160: 28.1.91;
 Info Virtual Index fails on search "two column"
Date: Fri, 12 Aug 2022 21:48:14 +0300

> Cc: 57160 <at> debbugs.gnu.org
> Date: Fri, 12 Aug 2022 18:01:06 +0000 (UTC)
> From: Van Ly <van.ly <at> sdf.org>
> 
> On Fri, 12 Aug 2022, Juri Linkov wrote:
> 
> >> Expected result finds
> >>
> >>  . 2C-two-columns [Command Index]: Two-Column.
> >
> > Everything works fine when you type "I two-column".
> 
> Everyday search engines would accept "two column" and add in the hyphen.

The usual method with Info is to type "two" and then TAB.

Message #20 received at 57160 <at> debbugs.gnu.org (full text, mbox):

From: Van Ly <van.ly <at> sdf.org>
To: Eli Zaretskii <eliz <at> gnu.org>
Cc: 57160 <at> debbugs.gnu.org, juri <at> linkov.net
Subject: Re: bug#57160: 28.1.91; Info Virtual Index fails on search "two
 column"
Date: Fri, 12 Aug 2022 19:28:30 +0000 (UTC)

On Fri, 12 Aug 2022, Eli Zaretskii wrote:

>> Everyday search engines would accept "two column" and add in the hyphen.
>
> The usual method with Info is to type "two" and then TAB.
>

That's  very  impressive.   Findable  documentation on  using  TAB  in
various context all in one  place adds value overall.  Somewhere after
C-h a TAB  will list all the  key completions.  Since I  modify C-h to
backspace

  (keyboard-translate ?\C-h ?\C-?)

I think TAB isn't availabe after  the F1 equivalent to C-h.  The input
method for chinese-ctlaub uses TAB in the same way.

Possibly unrelated to Emacs, I see the following on invoking 'emacs -Q'

```

% /usr/X/Projects/emacs-28.1.91/src/emacs -Q

(emacs:64490): dbind-WARNING **: 05:03:23.806: AT-SPI: Error retrieving accessibility bus address: org.freedesktop.DBus.Error.ServiceUnknown: The name org.a11y.Bus was not provided by any .service files

```

Message #23 received at 57160 <at> debbugs.gnu.org (full text, mbox):

From: Van Ly <van.ly <at> sdf.org>
To: Drew Adams <drew.adams <at> oracle.com>
Cc: "57160 <at> debbugs.gnu.org" <57160 <at> debbugs.gnu.org>,
 Juri Linkov <juri <at> linkov.net>
Subject: RE: [External] : bug#57160: 28.1.91; Info Virtual Index fails on
 search "two column"
Date: Sun, 14 Aug 2022 12:48:42 +0000 (UTC)

[Message part 1 (text/plain, inline)]

On Fri, 12 Aug 2022, Drew Adams wrote:

> These  are two  very  different search  worlds.   Try searching  for
> "two-column" with Google  search and not getting hits  also for "two
> column".  Each kind  of search has its  advantages.  Emacs searching
> is good for most uses of Emacs.

There's a book "introduction to information retrieval" by Manning,
Raghavan, Schütze published by CUP for intuition and guidance.

I often use a search engine to locate the infopage on the web and
navigate there by the infopage node structure to read it.

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