Emacs: List/Delete Matching Lines

By Xah Lee. Date: . Last updated: .
Alt+x list-matching-linesAlt+s o】 (alias of occur)
List all lines in the current file that matches a Regex text pattern.
Alt+x copy-matching-lines
Copy lines that matches a regex pattern.
Alt+x count-matches
Count matching lines. (alias of how-many)
Alt+x kill-matching-lines
Copy and delete matching lines
Alt+x delete-matching-lines
Delete lines that match a Regex. Works on text selection or starts at the line your cursor is on. (alias of flush-lines)
Alt+x delete-non-matching-lines
(alias of keep-lines)
Alt+x delete-duplicate-lines
Delete duplicated lines in text selection.
emacs list-matching-lines 2021-07-18
emacs list-matching-lines 2021-07-18

Clicking the line jumps to the match location.

Escape Regex Chars

All these commands use Emacs: Regular Expression to search. So, if you simply want to search plain words or phrases, and if your phrase contains any special regex characters, you need to escape them.

Here's common regex special characters that need backslash before to be considered literal:

. + * \ ? [ ]

Letter Case Sensitivity

List Lines in ALL Buffers

Alt+x multi-occur if you want to list lines in ALL buffers.

Emacs Find Replace