---
name: "urxvt-searchable-scrollback"
section: "1"
platform: "linux"
package: "rxvt-unicode"
version: "9.31-11"
release: "Arch Linux 2026-11-01"
platforms: ["linux"]
url: "https://new.carta.tech/urxvt-searchable-scrollback"
---

# urxvt-searchable-scrollback(1)

incremental scrollback search

## NAME

searchable-scrollback - incremental scrollback search

## DESCRIPTION

Adds regex search functionality to the scrollback buffer, triggered by the `"searchable-scrollback:start"` action (bound to `"M-s"` by default). While in search mode, normal terminal input/output is suspended and a regex is displayed at the bottom of the screen.

Inputting characters appends them to the regex and continues incremental search. In addition, the following bindings are recognized:

- "BackSpace"

  Remove a character from the regex.

- "Insert"

  Append the value of the PRIMARY selection to the regex.

- "Up"

  Search for a match upwards.

- "Down"

  Search for a match downwards.

- "Prior"

  Scroll up.

- "Next"

  Scroll down.

- "End"

  Scroll to the bottom.

- "Escape"

  Leave the mode and return to the point where search was started.

- "Enter" or "Return"

  Leave the mode maintaining the current position in the scrollback. Additionally, if the `"Shift"` modifier is active, store the first match in the current line into the primary selection.

The regex defaults to "(?i)", resulting in a case-insensitive search. To get a case-sensitive search you can delete this prefix using `"BackSpace"` or simply use an uppercase character which removes the "(?i)" prefix.

See perlre for more info about perl regular expression syntax.