# TXC.SRCHKEY

> [HTML Version](txc_srchkey.htm)

If this field is not blank, an edit operation (_opco_de TXOP\_CREATE or TXOP\_REEDIT) will start by searching for the specified string, based on the options set in the TXC.SFLAGS parameter. The search starts from the same place that the cursor would ordinarily start (see _flags_ TXF\_EOT and [TXF\_POSCUR](xtext-flags.htm.md#txf_poscur) and parameters TXC.XCOL, TXC.XROW, TXC.XCUROFFSET).

If the search flag TXSF\_EXIT is specified in TXC.SFLAGS, then the operation will return immediately. If successful, the _exitcode_ will be 0 and the cursor position parameters (TXC.XCOL, TXC.XROW, TXC.XCUROFFSET) will be set to indicate the location of the first match. If not successful, _exitcode_ will be set to -49 and the cursor position parameters will remain unchanged. To search for additional occurrences of the string, adjust the TXC.XCOL and/or TXC.XROW parameters by 1 (forwards or backwards, depending on the direction of the search) and repeat the operation.

If the search flag TXSF\_EXIT is not specified, then the normal editing operation will take place after the search.

The following character sequences can be embedded in the search string to search for special control characters:

| **Two-char code in TXC.srchkey** | **Matches special**<br>**char  in control** |
|------|------|
| ^p | Paragraph marker |
| ^t | Tab character |
| ^m | Manual (hard) page break |
| ^+ | Em dash |
| ^- | En dash |
| ^^ | ^ character |