RE: Searching for spaces

[Drew Adams]

> >> C-x-(, C-s-<space>-<space>-<space>-<space>-<space>
> >>
> >> The above would locate each instance of 5 consecutive spaces.
> >> This is no longer the case.  How can I get the old behavior back?
> >
> > M-x customize-option isearch-lax-whitespace
> > M-x customize-option isearch-regexp-lax-whitespace
> 
> Drew: Are these built in? I don't find them on 24.3 w64

Yes, in isearch.el, for Emacs 24.3.  But I was wrong about them
being user options.  They are defvars, so you could use defvar
or setq to change their values.

But it is generally better to use command
`isearch-toggle-lax-whitespace', which is bound to `M-s SPC' during
Isearch.  

You can, however, set those variables in your init file the way you
want them to be at the outset.

(And you can customize option `search-whitespace-regexp'.)