diff --git a/pwndbg/commands/search.py b/pwndbg/commands/search.py
index 942f2a4b0..d8a69766c 100644
--- a/pwndbg/commands/search.py
+++ b/pwndbg/commands/search.py
@@ -11,16 +11,7 @@ import pwndbg.search
 import pwndbg.vmmap
 
 
-@pwndbg.commands.Command
-@pwndbg.commands.OnlyWhenRunning
-def search(value):
-    """
-    Search memory for the specified value, provided
-    either as a pointer-width integer, or a string.
-
-    > search 0xdeadbeef
-    > search "/bin/sh"
-    """
+def print_search(value):
     hits = set()
 
     for address in pwndbg.search.search(value):
@@ -32,7 +23,7 @@ def search(value):
 
         hits.add(address)
 
-        vmmap  = pwndbg.vmmap.find(address)
+        vmmap = pwndbg.vmmap.find(address)
         if vmmap:
             region = os.path.basename(vmmap.objfile)
         else:
@@ -47,12 +38,106 @@ def search(value):
 
 @pwndbg.commands.Command
 @pwndbg.commands.OnlyWhenRunning
-def searchmem(value):
+def search(searchtype, value=None):
     """
     Search memory for the specified value, provided
     either as a pointer-width integer, or a string.
 
     > search 0xdeadbeef
     > search "/bin/sh"
+
+    To search 1234 in a character string instead of integer
+    > search/c 1234
+
+    To search for characters using hex values in string
+    > search/x f0f1f2f3
+    > search/x \\xf0\\xf1\\xf2\\xf3
+    > search/x \\\\xf0\\\\xf1\\\\xf2\\\\xf3
+    """
+    if value:
+        searchtype = searchtype[1:]
+    else:
+        value, searchtype = searchtype, value
+
+    if searchtype:
+        if searchtype == 'c' or searchtype == 'x':
+            searchtype = '/' + searchtype
+            searchb(searchtype,value)
+            return
+        else:
+            print(pwndbg.color.red("Invalid option {0}".format(searchtype)))
+            return
+
+    if value.isdigit():
+        value = int(value)
+    elif value.startswith('0x') \
+    and all(c in 'xABCDEFabcdef0123456789' for c in value):
+        value = int(value, 16)
+
+    if isinstance(value, (long, int)):
+        if pwndbg.arch.ptrsize == 4:
+            value = struct.pack('I', value)
+        elif pwndbg.arch.ptrsize == 8:
+            value = struct.pack('L', value)
+
+    print_search(value)
+
+@pwndbg.commands.Command
+@pwndbg.commands.OnlyWhenRunning
+def searchmem(searchtype, searchvalue=None):
+    """
+    Search memory for the specified value, provided
+    either as a pointer-width integer, or a string.
+
+    > searchmem 0xdeadbeef
+    > searchmem "/bin/sh"
+
+    To search 1234 in a character string instead of integer
+    > searchmem/c 1234
+
+    To search for characters using hex values in string
+    > searchmem/x f0f1f2f3
+    > searchmem/x \\xf0\\xf1\\xf2\\xf3
+    > searchmem/x \\\\xf0\\\\xf1\\\\xf2\\\\xf3
+    """
+    return search(searchtype,searchvalue)
+
+@pwndbg.commands.Command
+@pwndbg.commands.OnlyWhenRunning
+def searchb(searchtype, value=None):
+    """
+    Search memory for the specified value, provided
+    as a string of characters or hexadecimal values.
+
+    > searchb 1234
+
+    To search for characters using hex values in string
+    > searchb/x f0f1f2f3
+    > searchb/x \\xf0\\xf1\\xf2\\xf3
+    > searchb/x \\\\xf0\\\\xf1\\\\xf2\\\\xf3
+    """
+    if value:
+        searchtype = searchtype[1:]
+    else:
+        value, searchtype = searchtype, value
+
+    if searchtype == 'x':
+        if '\\x' in value:
+            value = bytes.fromhex(''.join(value.split('\\x')))
+        elif 'x' in value:
+            value = bytes.fromhex(''.join(value.split('x')))
+        else:
+            value = bytes.fromhex(''.join(value[i:i+2]
+                                          for i in range(0, len(value), 2)))
+    print_search(value)
+
+@pwndbg.commands.Command
+@pwndbg.commands.OnlyWhenRunning
+def searchd(value):
+    """
+    Searches memory for the specified value,
+    provided as a pointer-width integer.
+
+    > searchd 0xdeadbeef
     """
     return search(value)
diff --git a/pwndbg/malloc.py b/pwndbg/malloc.py
index 1ed36c799..9e0d379d4 100644
--- a/pwndbg/malloc.py
+++ b/pwndbg/malloc.py
@@ -22,4 +22,4 @@ def chunk2mem(p):
 
 def mem2chunk(mem):
     "conversion from user pointer to malloc header"
-    return p + (2-pwndbg.arch.ptrsize)
+    return mem - (2*pwndbg.arch.ptrsize)
diff --git a/pwndbg/search.py b/pwndbg/search.py
index e87b2e1db..d275bba42 100644
--- a/pwndbg/search.py
+++ b/pwndbg/search.py
@@ -1,7 +1,7 @@
 #!/usr/bin/env python
 # -*- coding: utf-8 -*-
 """
-Search the address space for byte patterns or pointer values.
+Search the address space for byte patterns.
 """
 import struct
 
@@ -16,18 +16,6 @@ def search(searchfor):
     value = searchfor
     size  = None
 
-    if searchfor.isdigit():
-        searchfor = int(searchfor)
-    elif searchfor.startswith('0x') \
-    and all(c in 'xABCDEFabcdef0123456789' for c in searchfor):
-        searchfor = int(searchfor, 16)
-
-    if isinstance(searchfor, (long, int)):
-        if pwndbg.arch.ptrsize == 4:
-            searchfor = struct.pack('I', searchfor)
-        elif pwndbg.arch.ptrsize == 8:
-            searchfor = struct.pack('L', searchfor)
-
     i = gdb.selected_inferior()
 
     maps = pwndbg.vmmap.get()