7 Index Commands

GNU Info has commands to search through the indices of an Info file, which helps you find areas within an Info file which discuss a particular topic.

i (index-search) ¶

Look up a string in the indices for this Info file, and select a node to which the found index entry points.

I (virtual-index) ¶

Look up a string in the indices for this Info file, and show all the matches in a new virtual node, synthesized on the fly.

, (next-index-match) ¶

Move to the node containing the next matching index item from the last ‘i’ command.

M-x index-apropos ¶

Grovel the indices of all the known Info files on your system for a string, and build a menu of the possible matches.

The most efficient means of finding something quickly in a manual is the ‘i’ command (index-search). This command prompts for a string, and then looks for that string in all the indices of the current Info manual. If it finds a matching index entry, it displays the node to which that entry refers and prints the full text of the entry in the echo area. You can press ‘,’ (next-index-match) to find more matches. A good Info manual has all of its important concepts indexed, so the ‘i’ command lets you use a manual as a reference.

If you don’t know what manual documents something, try the M-x index-apropos command. It prompts for a string and then looks up that string in all the indices of all the Info documents installed on your system. It can also be invoked from the command line; see --apropos.