How do I reuse the last search pattern without retyping it in Vim?

Explanation

In Vim, pressing // (two forward slashes) in Normal mode repeats the last search pattern. This saves you from retyping a complex regex when you want to search again, perhaps with a different offset or flag.

How it works

• / — enters search mode
• leaving the pattern empty — Vim reuses the last search pattern

You can combine the empty pattern with search offsets to land at a specific position relative to the match:

• // — jump to next occurrence of last pattern (same as n)
• //e — jump to the end of the next match
• //b+2 — jump 2 characters after the beginning of the next match
• //e-1 — jump 1 character before the end of the next match

Example

After searching for /function, you can run:

//e

This jumps to the end of the next match of function, placing the cursor on the n. Useful for an a (append) command right after the match.

Before: |function myFunc() {
After:   function myFun|c() {   (cursor at end of 'function')

Tips

• //e is handy combined with a to append text immediately after a matched word
• Use ? analogously: ??e searches backward with the last pattern and lands at end of match
• The last search register @/ stores the pattern; you can inspect it with :echo @/