How do I jump through several annotation keywords with one search command?

Explanation

When you triage code, jumping among TODO, FIXME, and BUG markers quickly is often more useful than searching each token separately. A single very-magic pattern lets you treat these annotations as one navigation set, so n and N move through all of them in order. This avoids repetitive command-line edits and keeps review flow fast.

How it works

• / starts a forward search
• \v enables very-magic mode, so grouping and alternation need fewer escapes
• < and > apply word boundaries, preventing partial matches inside larger words
• (TODO|FIXME|BUG) is an alternation group: any one of those labels matches

After the first search, repeat with n (next) and N (previous). Because the full pattern is stored in the search register, you can also reuse it in related commands like :vimgrep /\v<(TODO|FIXME|BUG)>/gj **/*.

Example

Given:

line 1: TODO refactor parser
line 2: NOTE benchmark later
line 3: BUG handle null payload
line 4: FIXME remove legacy branch

Run:

/\v<(TODO|FIXME|BUG)>

Cursor jumps to TODO, then n jumps to BUG, then n again jumps to FIXME.

Tips

• Add or remove labels by editing only the alternation group
• Keep labels uppercase for consistency with simple patterns
• Use :set hlsearch while reviewing so all matching markers stay visible