Vim: Searching for Whole Words, Highlighting Matches, and Search Options

"/TheLongFunctionName", but that's a lot of typing. And when you make a mistake Vim won't find it. There is an easier way: Position the cursor on the word and use the "*" command. Vim will grab the word under the cursor and use it as the search string. The "#" command does the same in the other direction. You can prepend a count: "3*" searches for the third occurrence of the word under the cursor. SEARCHING FOR WHOLE WORDS If you type "/the" it will also match "there". To only find words that end in "the" use: > /the\> The "\>" item is a special marker that only matches at the end of a word. Similarly "\<" only matches at the beginning of a word. Thus to search for the word "the" only: > /\<the\> This does not match "there" or "soothe". Notice that the "*" and "#" commands use these start-of-word and end-of-word markers to only find whole words (you can use "g*" and "g#" to match partial words). HIGHLIGHTING MATCHES While editing a program you see a variable called "nr". You want to check where it's used. You could move the cursor to "nr" and use the "*" command and press "n" to go along all the matches. Vim will highlight all matches. That is a very good way to see where the variable is used, without the need to type commands. To switch this off: > :set nohlsearch Then you need to switch it on again if you want to use it for the next search command: > :set hlsearch If you only want to remove the highlighting, use this command: > :nohlsearch This doesn't reset the option. Instead, it disables the highlighting. As soon as you execute a search command, the highlighting will be used again. Also for the "n" and "N" commands. TUNING SEARCHES There are a few options that change how searching works. These are the essential ones: > :set nowrapscan This stops the search at the end of the file. Or, when you are searching backwards, it stops the search at the start of the file. The 'wrapscan' option is on by default, thus searching wraps around the end of the file. > :set noincsearch This disables the display of the matches while you are still typing your search. INTERMEZZO If you like one of the options mentioned before, and set it each time you use Vim, you can put the command in your Vim startup file. Edit the file, for example with: > :edit ~/.config/nvim/init.vim Then add a line with the command to set the option, just like you typed it in Vim. Example: > Go:set hlsearch<Esc> "G" moves to the end of the file. "o" starts a new line, where you type the ":set" command. You end insert mode with <Esc>. Then write and close the file: > ZZ If you now start Vim again, the 'hlsearch' option will already be set. ============================================================================== *03.9* Simple search patterns The Vim editor uses regular expressions to specify what to search for. Regular expressions are an extremely powerful and compact way to specify a search pattern. Unfortunately, this power comes at a price, because regular expressions are a bit tricky to specify. In this section we mention only a few essential ones. More about search patterns and commands can be found in chapter 27 |usr_27.txt|. You can find the full explanation here: |pattern|. BEGINNING AND END OF A LINE The ^ character matches the beginning of a line. On an English-US keyboard you find it above the 6. The pattern "include" matches the word include anywhere on the line. But the pattern "^include" matches the word include only if it is at the beginning of a line. The $ character matches the end of a line. Therefore, "was$" matches the word was only if it is at the end of a line. Let's mark the places where "/the" matches in this example line with "x"s: the solder holding one of the chips melted and the ~ xxx xxx xxx Using "/the$" we find this match: the solder holding one of the chips melted and the ~ xxx And with "/^the" we find this one: the

This section explains how to use the '*' and '#' commands for easy searching of words under the cursor, and how to specify whole word searches using '\<' and '\>'. It also covers highlighting search matches using ':set hlsearch', disabling it with ':set nohlsearch', and temporarily removing highlighting with ':nohlsearch'. Furthermore, it discusses tuning searches with options like 'nowrapscan' and 'noincsearch', and provides guidance on adding these settings to the Vim startup file. Finally, it introduces the basics of regular expressions, including using '^' for the beginning of a line and '$' for the end of a line.