;;; -*- lexical-binding: t -*-
;;
;; this file:
;;   https://dataswamp.org/~incal/emacs-init/get-search-string.el

(require 'string)

(defun get-search-string (ps)
  "Ask for a search string with the prompt string PS.\n
If there is a region, use the region text as default.
Otherwise use the word at point.\n
The default string is killed, so it can be yanked and modified."
  (let*((default-search
          (if (use-region-p)
              (buffer-substring-no-properties (region-beginning) (region-end))
            (let ((point-word (thing-at-point 'symbol t)))
              (if (stringp point-word)
                  (decode-coding-string point-word 'utf-8-emacs-unix)
                "") )))
        (max-len 20)
        (peek
         (if (> (length default-search) max-len)
             (format "%s..." (substring default-search 0 max-len))
           default-search) ))
    (when (string-data-p default-search)
      (kill-new default-search) )
    (read-string (format "%s" (if (string-data-p peek)
                                  (format "%s [%s]: " ps peek)
                                (format "%s: " ps) ))
                 nil nil default-search) ))

(provide 'get-search-string)