VIM, incremental search: How can I jump to the next result and get it highlighted?

search vim hotkeys
zoltanctoth picture zoltanctoth · Nov 8, 2011 · Viewed 41.4k times · Source

When using VIM's incremental search option I usually search and after I got to the first result (it will be highlighted) I use the / key to jump to the next result.

But:

  1. For this I need to 'cancel' my search and go back to Normal Mode in order to jump the next result.
  2. Pressing / makes VIM jump to the next result but it won't highlight it.

I am wondering if there is a more efficient way to jump between the results using incremental search and get them highlighted.

Answer

Matthew Walton picture Matthew Walton · Nov 8, 2011

The customary key for jumping to the next search result is 'n'.

I'm not entirely sure what you mean about highlighting - all search results should be highlighted if hlsearch is set, and for me it makes no difference if I go to the next result with 'n' or with '/'.

Related questions

How to do case insensitive search in Vim

I'd like to search for an upper case word, for example COPYRIGHT in a file. I tried performing a search like: /copyright/i # Doesn't work but it doesn't work. I know that in Perl, if I give the i flag …

Read More
How do you make Vim unhighlight what you searched for?

I search for "nurple" in a file. I found it, great. But now, every occurrence of "nurple" is rendered in sick black on yellow. Forever. Forever, that is, until I search for something I know won't be found, such as "…

Read More
How to include forward slash in vi search & replace

I have a file that contains the string usrbin. I want to search for usrbin and replace it with /usr/bin/. I tried :%s/usrbin/usr/bin/g, but it's showing error E488: Trailing characters. How do I include a …

Read More