Emacs: Setup Mouse Click to Highlight Matching Words

By Xah Lee. Date: . Last updated: .

You can set mouse right-click to call isearch-forward-symbol-at-point (highlight clicked word).

Here's the command.

(defun xah-mouse-click-to-search (@click)
  "Mouse click to start `isearch-forward-symbol-at-point' (emacs 24.4) at clicked point.
URL `http://xahlee.info/emacs/emacs/emacs_mouse_click_highlight_word.html'
Version 2016-07-18"
  (interactive "e")
  (let ((p1 (posn-point (event-start @click))))
    (goto-char p1)
    (isearch-forward-symbol-at-point)))

Here's the code to set the mouse (this example is for Linux only):

;; set mouse
(cond
 ((string-equal system-type "windows-nt") ; Windows
  nil
  )
 ((string-equal system-type "gnu/linux")
  (global-set-key (kbd "<mouse-3>") 'xah-click-to-search) ; right button
  )
 ((string-equal system-type "darwin") ; Mac
  nil
  ) )

Note: mouse button and wheel have different syntax on {Microsoft Windows, Mac OS X, Linux}. To find the syntax, Alt+x describe-key, then press the button or wheel. [see Emacs: Mouse Config]


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