Re: [O] Directly search for Headlines?

[Nick Dokos]

Ken Mankoff <address@hidden> writes:

> On 2014-07-07 at 15:11, Nick Dokos wrote:
>> Ken Mankoff <address@hidden> writes:
>>
>>> On 2014-07-07 at 11:19, Nick Dokos wrote:
>>>> John Durden <address@hidden> writes:
>>>>
>>>>> Can you search directly for headlines in all agenda-files, with the
>>>>> name of the headline, not tags? If so, how? If not, wouldn't this be
>>>>> useful?
>>>>>
>>>>
>>>> Try `s' in the agenda perhaps?
>>
>> Sorry, I meant `s' in the agenda dispatcher:
>>
>>     C-c a s
>>     C-c a S
>>
>
> I use the key combos you suggest all the time, but the OP wanted to just
> search HEADLINES. Maybe the above methods work if you use regex and
> exploit the fact that all headlines have "*" characters in them, but
> this use of regex seems a bit overly complex.
>

Yes, I understand that, but limiting the search space with C-c a s seems
to me to be a good solution for keyword searching. If there are too many
results, you can then do C-s of the same keyword in the resulting
results buffer and step exactly through the headlines that match.

It's not hard to write a more specialized tool either. I think an
application of org-map-entries could easily do what the OP wanted
(although the devil *will* be in the details). The question is whether
it's worth it, or whether the current tools adequately meet the need.

Nick