Way back in 2011 I wrote a tip about how easy it is to search for a specific text in all members of a dataset instead of using the SRCHFOR function. I have recently discovered that the same function is available from all ISPF member lists. The function is active in EDIT, VIEW and BROWSE and also in MEMLIST in 3.1 or 3.4.

All you need to do is to type in SRCHFOR thisiswhatIwanttofind in the command line of the member list and press Enter. Right away ISPF starts scanning all the members on the member list for the search string you specified. You may just use SCRHFOR without the search string. A popup will appear where you can enter the search string and choose other options. I will recommend using Any case and Filter list. You can also choose Set EDIT FIND string and Set BROWSE FIND string.

Any case means of course that small and capital letters are treated equal during the search (as you are used to when using find in EDIT/VIEW/BROWSE). Filter list means that a memberlist is displayed only containing the members where the search string are present. It is nice to know that using command REFRESH (short form REF) will take you back to the original member list. The two FIND string options activates FIND when you enter EDIT/VIEW or BROWSE on a member. Just press RFIND (F5) without first having to enter a FIND with the search string.

Now I cannot imagine life without SRCHFOR. It is just clever. Especially the detail about only searching the members on the member list displayed is a fantastic detail. And I got even more excited when I discovered that SRCHFOR also works for LOAD libraries. It it simply world class. The only complaint is that the search speed is still far from Google speed and I do not think think it will ever happen.