diff --git a/ChangeLog b/ChangeLog
index 4a898b29..abcecb0f 100644
--- a/ChangeLog
+++ b/ChangeLog
@@ -1,4 +1,9 @@
-2015-06-17  Benno Schulenberg  <bensberg@justemail.net>
+2015-06-20  Benno Schulenberg  <bensberg@justemail.net>
+	* src/search.c (do_research): If nothing was searched for yet during
+	this run of nano, take the most recent item from the search history.
+	This makes M-W work also right after startup, like <n> in vim/less.
+
+2015-06-18  Benno Schulenberg  <bensberg@justemail.net>
 	* src/rcfile.c: Allow a tiny nano's ~/.nanorc to enable search and
 	position histories.  Also sort the options more strictly.
 	* src/nano.h: Delete two unused things, and add two comments.
diff --git a/src/search.c b/src/search.c
index e00621d7..b2e08079 100644
--- a/src/search.c
+++ b/src/search.c
@@ -485,6 +485,13 @@ void do_research(void)
 
     focusing = TRUE;
 
+#ifndef DISABLE_HISTORIES
+    /* If nothing was searched for yet during this run of nano, but
+     * there is a search history, take the most recent item. */
+    if (last_search[0] == '\0' && searchbot->prev != NULL)
+	last_search = mallocstrcpy(last_search, searchbot->prev->data);
+#endif
+
     if (last_search[0] != '\0') {
 #ifdef HAVE_REGEX_H
 	/* Since answer is "", use last_search! */