How do I get the current search match index and total count programmatically in Vim?

Explanation

The searchcount() function returns a dictionary containing the current search state: which match the cursor is on, how many total matches exist, and whether the count was truncated. It is available in Vim 8.1.1270+ and Neovim, and is especially useful for building custom statuslines that show [3/15]-style search indicators.

How it works

searchcount() returns a dictionary with these keys:

• current — the index of the current match (1-based)
• total — the total number of matches in the buffer
• incomplete — 0 if complete, 1 if search timed out, 2 if count exceeded maxcount
• exact_item — 1 if cursor is on an exact match

Run this from the command line to inspect the live state:

:echo searchcount()

Example

After pressing * on a word that appears 15 times, with the cursor on the 3rd match:

:echo searchcount()

Outputs:

{'current': 3, 'total': 15, 'incomplete': 0, 'exact_item': 1}

You can embed this in a statusline. For example, in a Neovim Lua config:

set statusline+=%{get(searchcount(),'current',0).'/'.get(searchcount(),'total',0)}

Tips

• Pass {'recompute': 1} to force a fresh count: searchcount({'recompute': 1})
• Pass {'maxcount': 0} to count all matches without the default limit of 99
• Works with any active search pattern — set the pattern with :let @/ = 'pattern' before calling it