Index Commands (Stand-alone GNU Info 6.7)

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## 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.

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