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+#+TITLE: Interactive Reverse Variable Search in Emacs
+#+DATE: 2020-09-16T00:04:06-04:00
+#+DRAFT: true
+#+DESCRIPTION:
+#+TAGS[]: emacs
+#+KEYWORDS[]:
+#+SLUG:
+#+SUMMARY:
+
+I don't remember where I read it, but while I was first learning about
+how elisp works, someone had mentioned the fact that it could perform
+reverse variable searches. I remember thinking that idea was
+incredibly interesting.
+
+I'd tried looking that capability at the time and coming up short.
+Every link I'd looked at only talked about reverse I-search and xref
+capabilities. I pretty soon after forgot about it.
+
+The thought crossed my mind again today, out of the blue, and I
+decided that I would once and for all get to the bottom of it. I
+stumbled across the answer in [[https://github.com/lepisma/til-emacs][this]] github repo which contains various
+Emacs tips. Apparently this reverse variable search is performed
+through the =apropos-value= command. I had to say, I was quite
+disappointed with the result.
+
+The command provides a lackluster interface to say the least, with the
+only input being the ability to enter a search string in the
+minibuffer. It's results are also fairly disappointing, often not even
+returning a result, with the error message =condition-case: Apparently
+circular structure being printed=. When the results do appear, they
+are usually hard to understand, with the search term being deep in a
+list.
+
+To quench my thirst for an interactive reverse variable lookup that
+provided accurate results, I decided to make my own. I called it
+[[https://github.com/dantecatalfamo/helm-atoms][helm-atoms]]. It's both completely interactive, using the [[https://emacs-helm.github.io/helm/][helm]]
+completion and narrowing framework, and incredibly fast.
+
+The way it works is quite simple.
+
+There's a function in Emacs called =mapatoms=, which takes a function as
+one of its parameters. Without a second parameter, it traverses Emacs'
+standard =obarray=, which is a table which holds most of the interned
+symbols in Emacs. If you're curious about how symbols and interning
+work in Emacs, you can check out the info page on [[https://www.gnu.org/software/emacs/manual/html_node/elisp/Creating-Symbols.html][Creating and
+Interning Symbols]].