Comment 1 for bug 888222

I am also running into this issue.

I'm on 11.10 (full release, not beta)

Repro steps

1. Launch nautilus
2. Key in the first few letters of a file or directory, until the file / directory is highlighted
3. Press enter
4. At this point, typing a lowercase character does not cause Nautilus to pop up the search text box.
5. If you press Escape, or type an uppcase character, the search box returns. However, the search box is not cleared.
6. At this point, the caret in the search textbox is blinking, therefore it would seem reasonable that pressing backspace would let you clear the box. Instead, Nautilus navigates backwards.t
7. The only way to clear the search box is to right click the box, and click delete.

I may try tackling this bug, since I've wanted to get into development for awhile, but any help / advice is always appreciated.