How do I clear search highlights without disabling hlsearch permanently?
:nohlsearch
After a search in Vim, matched text is highlighted as long as hlsearch is enabled.
Tag: search
How do I search for a pattern only within a specific range of lines in Vim?
:/start/,/end/s/pattern/replacement/g
You can restrict a substitution to a range defined by two patterns.
How do I change the case of matched text in a Vim substitute command?
\u and \l in :s replacement
Vim's substitute command supports special case modifiers in the replacement string that let you change the case of captured text on the fly.
How do you use lookbehind in Vim search patterns?
/\(foo\)\@<=bar
Use \@<= for positive lookbehind.
How do you replace text with a newline in Vim?
:%s/; /;\r/g
In the replacement part, use \r to insert a newline.
How do you use a function in the replacement of a substitution?
:%s/\d\+/\=submatch(0)*2/g
Use \= to evaluate expressions.
How do you search for a literal string without regex interpretation?
/\Vexact.string
Prefix with \V for very nomagic mode where almost all characters are treated literally.
How do you search through command history?
<C-r>/ or q/
Press q/ to open search history in a window.
How do you highlight search matches in Vim?
set hlsearch
Use set hlsearch to highlight all matches of the last search pattern.
How do you make search case-insensitive by default?
set ignorecase smartcase
Use ignorecase for case-insensitive search.
How do you enable incremental search in Vim?
set incsearch
With set incsearch, Vim shows search matches as you type the pattern.
How do you use a register value in a substitute command?
:%s/<C-r>a/replacement/g
In command-line mode, a inserts the contents of register a.
How do you set the search register programmatically?
:let @/ = 'pattern'
Use :let @/ = 'pattern' to set the search register directly.
How do you paste a register value into the search prompt?
/<C-r>a
While in the search prompt (/), press a to insert the contents of register a.
How do I search with vimgrep only in specific file types?
:vimgrep /pattern/ **/*.py
By specifying a file glob pattern with :vimgrep, you can restrict the search to specific file types.
How do I use non-greedy (lazy) matching in Vim regex?
/pattern\{-}
The \{-} quantifier in Vim regex matches as few characters as possible, unlike which matches as many as possible (greedy).
How do I see the search match count in the statusline?
:set shortmess-=S
The shortmess option controls which messages are shortened.
How do I quickly replace a word and then repeat it elsewhere?
ciw + new text + Esc, then n.
The ciw command followed by new text, combined with and .
What are the useful flags for the substitute command?
:s/pattern/replace/flags
The substitute command supports several flags that modify its behavior.
How do I search and replace with case-preserving substitution?
:%S/old/new/g (vim-abolish)
vim-abolish by Tim Pope provides :%S (Subvert), a substitute command that preserves the case pattern of the original text.