How do I search for an exact multi-word phrase or special text I've selected?

Explanation

In normal mode, * searches for the word under the cursor with word-boundary anchors. But in visual mode, pressing * searches forward for the exact text you have selected — including multi-word phrases, partial words, and text containing characters that would otherwise confuse a normal-mode * search. Press # to search backward instead.

How it works

1. Enter visual mode (v) and select the text you want to find
2. Press * — Vim escapes the selection, builds a search pattern, and finds the next occurrence
3. Use n / N to cycle through subsequent matches

The visual * trick is particularly valuable for:

• Phrases with spaces (e.g., error connecting to) that normal * cannot match
• Identifiers with dots or hyphens (e.g., my-config.key) where word boundaries break the match
• Any text where typing the pattern manually would require heavy escaping

Example

With this buffer:

fmt.Println("hello world")
fmt.Println("hello world")
fmt.Fprintf(os.Stderr, "hello world")

Visually select fmt.Println (7 chars), then press *. Vim searches for fmt\.Println, jumping to the second occurrence — skipping the fmt.Fprintf line.

Tips

• Works in both character-wise (v) and line-wise (V) visual mode
• After pressing *, you are back in normal mode and n/N navigate matches normally
• The search is case-sensitive by default (respects ignorecase / smartcase)
• Many users map * in visual mode in their config to make this behaviour always available, since it is not enabled in all Vim builds without a mapping