diff --git a/include/ircaux.h b/include/ircaux.h
index 73b60e9..1b30bdc 100644
--- a/include/ircaux.h
+++ b/include/ircaux.h
@@ -132,12 +132,12 @@ char *	base64_encode	(const void *data, size_t size);
 /* From words.c */
 #define SOS -32767
 #define EOS 32767
-char	*BX_strsearch			(register char *, char *, char *, int);
-char	*BX_move_to_word	(const char *, int);
-char	*BX_move_word_rel		(const char *, char **, int);
-char	*BX_extract		(char *, int, int);
-char	*BX_extract2		(const char *, int, int);
-int	BX_wild_match		(const char *, const char *);
+char *BX_strsearch(const char *, const char *, const char *, int);
+char *BX_move_to_word(const char *, int);
+char *BX_move_word_rel(const char *, char **, int);
+char *BX_extract(char *, int, int);
+char *BX_extract2(const char *, int, int);
+int BX_wild_match(const char *, const char *);
 
 /* Used for connect_by_number */
 #define SERVICE_SERVER 0
diff --git a/include/modval.h b/include/modval.h
index 0a1760e..be59a1f 100644
--- a/include/modval.h
+++ b/include/modval.h
@@ -199,7 +199,7 @@ extern Function_ptr *global;
 
 
 /* words.c reg.c */
-#define strsearch (*(char *(*)(char *, char *, char *, int ))global[STRSEARCH])
+#define strsearch (*(char *(*)(const char *, const char *, const char *, int ))global[STRSEARCH])
 #define move_to_word (*(char *(*)(const char *, int))global[MOVE_TO_WORD])
 #define move_word_rel (*(char *(*)(const char *, char **, int ))global[MOVE_WORD_REL])
 #define extract (*(char *(*)(char *, int , int ))global[EXTRACT])
diff --git a/source/words.c b/source/words.c
index 951ce42..ba7b9b5 100644
--- a/source/words.c
+++ b/source/words.c
@@ -15,36 +15,45 @@ CVS_REVISION(words_c)
 #include "ircaux.h"
 #include "modval.h"
 
-/*
- * search() looks for a character forward or backward from mark 
+/* strsearch()
+ *
+ * If how > 0, returns a pointer to the how'th matching character forwards
+ * from mark, in the string starting at start.
+ * If how < 0, returns a pointer to the -how'th matching character backwards
+ * from mark, in the string starting at start.
+ * If how == 0, returns NULL.
+ *
+ * NULL mark begins the search at start.
+ *
+ * A matching character is any character in chars, unless chars starts with ^, 
+ * in which case a matching character is any character NOT in chars.
+ *
+ * If there are insufficient matching characters, NULL is returned.
  */
-extern char	*BX_strsearch(register char *start, char *mark, char *chars, int how)
+extern char	*BX_strsearch(const char *start, const char *mark, const char *chars, int how)
 {
-        if (!mark)
-                mark = start;
+	const char *ptr = NULL;
 
-        if (how > 0)   /* forward search */
-        {
-		mark = sindex(mark, chars);
-		how--;
-		for (; how > 0 && mark && *mark; how--)
-			mark = sindex(mark + 1, chars);
-	}
+	if (!mark)
+		mark = start;
 
-	else if (how == 0)
-		return NULL;
-
-	else  /* how < 0 */
+	if (how > 0)   /* forward search */
 	{
-		mark = rsindex(mark, start, chars, -how);
-#if 0
-		how++;
-		for (;(how < 0) && *mark && **mark;how++)
-			*mark = rsindex(*mark-1, start, chars);
-#endif
+		for (; how > 0 && mark; how--)
+		{
+			ptr = sindex(mark, chars);
+			if (ptr)
+				mark = ptr + 1;
+			else
+				mark = NULL;
+		}
+	}
+	else if (how < 0)
+	{
+		ptr = rsindex(mark, start, chars, -how);
 	}
 
-	return mark;
+	return (char *)ptr;
 }
 
 /* move_to_word()