Index: src/search.c
===================================================================
--- src/search.c	(revision 5249)
+++ src/search.c	(working copy)
@@ -485,6 +485,11 @@
 
     focusing = TRUE;
 
+#ifndef DISABLE_HISTORIES
+    if (last_search[0] == '\0' && searchbot->prev != NULL)
+	last_search = mallocstrcpy(last_search, searchbot->prev->data);
+#endif
+
     if (last_search[0] != '\0') {
 #ifdef HAVE_REGEX_H
 	/* Since answer is "", use last_search! */