NonGNU ELPA: pinyin-isearch

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pinyin-isearch - Emacs package for toneless pinyin search in pinyin and Chinese characters.

This package allow to search with pinyin without diacritical marks in pinyin text and chinese characters. Accurate regex for search created that match all variants.

Implemented as Emacs Isearch modification.

For example: to find "Shànghǎi" and "上海" in text you just type: C-s shanghai.

Based on Emacs "chinese-sisheng", "chinese-py", "chinese-punct".

Files

pinyin-isearch.el
 ├─ pinyin-isearch-pinyin.el (→ pinyin-isearch-loaders.el)
 ├─ pinyin-isearch-chars.el (→ pinyin-isearch-loaders.el)
 └─ pinyin-isearch-loaders.el
*-tests.el

Emacs versions support

Emacs 28.1 -> 30.2

Demonstation

Featurs

• should not conflict with other isearch modes
• fix isearch jumping without return.
• fallback to search for normal latin text by default
• support for apostraphe ('’), like “zú’ò” 足哦.
• no external dependencies

Features of Chinese characters search

• search from the first character entered.
• punctulation Chinese search with ascii charactes: .,[]<>()$-"` and much more.
• accurate dissasemble to all possible variants.

Features of pinyin search

• white spaces are ignored between syllables
• tone or diacritical mark required only in first syllable in text: Zhēn de ma

Installation

from MELPA

1) Add to ~/.emacs

(require 'package)
(add-to-list 'package-archives '("melpa" . "https://melpa.org/packages/") t)
(add-to-list 'package-archives '("melpa-stable" . "https://stable.melpa.org/packages/") t)
(package-initialize)

2) Install via M-x package-install RET cui RET~ or ~M-x package-list-packages

from GitHub or Codeberg

1) git clone https://repo/user/pinyin-isearch

2) Add to ~/.emacs

(add-to-list 'load-path "/path-to/pinyin-isearch/")
(require 'pinyin-isearch)
(pinyin-isearch-load) ;; force loading (optional) before mode

Usage

Activate: M-x pinyin-isearch-mode

Search: - C-s / C-r — Start forward/backward search - Type Pinyin (e.g., beijing) → highlights: 北京, Běi jīng, beijing - C-n / C-p — Navigate matches - RET — Confirm, jump to match

In other words: 1. M-x pinyin-isearch-mode [Activate] 2. C-s [Start search] 3. "beijing" [Type pinyin] → Highlights: 北京 and Běi jīng and beijing. 4. M-s h [Switch to characters-only] → Filter results to exact character matches only 5. M-s s [Enable strict mode] → More refined, exact-match-only results 6. C-n / C-p [Navigate matches] 7. RET [Confirm, jump to match]

Direct functions: M-x pinyin-isearch-forward/backward

Submode Controls (during search): | Key | Effect | |---------|--------| | M-s h | Characters-only search | | M-s p | Pinyin-only search | | M-s b | Both Pinyin & characters (default) | | M-s s | Toggle strict mode (exact matches only) | | M-s <f1> | Help reference |

Fallback: C-u C-s at any time → standard Emacs isearch (bypass Pinyin entirely)

For file-local activation, add this line at the begining of file:

;-*- mode: pinyin-isearch; -*-

Configuration

M-x customize-group pinyin-isearch

Option	Default	Effect
pinyin-isearch-default-mode	both	Default search type at mode start
pinyin-isearch-strict	nil	Global strictness setting
pinyin-isearch-full-fallback	t	Include Latin letter fallback
pinyin-isearch-fix-jumping-flag	t	Fix search-restart position behavior

Other packages

• Navigation in Dired, Packages, Buffers modes https://github.com/Anoncheg1/firstly-search
• LLM chat blocks for Org-mode https://github.com/Anoncheg1/emacs-cui
• Ediff fix https://github.com/Anoncheg1/ediffnw
• Dired history https://github.com/Anoncheg1/dired-hist
• Selected window contrast https://github.com/Anoncheg1/selected-window-contrast
• Copy link to clipboard https://github.com/Anoncheg1/emacs-org-links
• Solution for "callback hell" https://github.com/Anoncheg1/emacs-async1
• Restore buffer state https://github.com/Anoncheg1/emacs-unmodified-buffer1
• outline.el usage https://github.com/Anoncheg1/emacs-outline-it
• hiding password in cafe https://github.com/Anoncheg1/emacs-hidepass
• TAB key reimplementation https://github.com/Anoncheg1/emacs-indent
• Dates for Org-mode headers https://github.com/Anoncheg1/emacs-org-history

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