How do I highlight trailing whitespace with a custom color in Vim?
highlight TrailingWhitespace ctermbg=red and match TrailingWhitespace /\s\+$/
How it works Vim's highlight and match commands let you create custom visual indicators.
Tag: search
How do I use a register value as the replacement string in a substitution?
:%s/pattern/\=@a/g
How it works In Vim's substitute command, the replacement string can be a Vimscript expression when prefixed with \=.
How do I search for text I just yanked using the register?
/<C-r>0
How it works After yanking text, you can use it directly as a search pattern by inserting the yank register contents into the search prompt.
How do I enable smart case-sensitive searching in Vim?
:set ignorecase smartcase
How it works By setting both ignorecase and smartcase, Vim uses an intelligent case sensitivity rule for searches: If your search pattern is all lowercase, the
How do I search for a pattern only within specific columns of a line?
/\%>5c\%<20cpattern
How it works Vim's search patterns support column position constraints using the \%c family of atoms.
How do I search and replace only whole words and not partial matches in Vim?
:%s/\<word\>/replacement/g
How it works In Vim's regular expressions, \ are word boundary anchors: \ matches the end of a word.
How do I match a pattern but only highlight or capture part of it using \zs and \ze?
\zs and \ze
How it works Vim's \zs (set start) and \ze (set end) atoms let you define which portion of a pattern counts as the actual match, even though the full pattern is
How do I copy all lines matching a pattern to the end of the file?
:g/pattern/t$
How it works The :g (global) command combined with :t (copy) lets you duplicate all lines matching a pattern to a specific location.
How do I list all lines in the current file matching the word under my cursor?
[I
How it works The [I command searches the current file (and included files) for the word under the cursor and displays a list of all matching lines with their li
What are Vim's built-in character class shortcuts for search patterns?
\d \w \s \a \l \u
How it works Vim provides shorthand character classes that save you from writing out full bracket expressions.
How do I perform a non-greedy (minimal) match in Vim search?
.\{-}
How it works In most regex engines, ? or +? make quantifiers non-greedy (matching as little as possible).
How do I search for multiple alternative patterns at once in Vim?
/foo\|bar
How it works The \ operator in Vim's search pattern works like a logical OR, letting you match any one of several alternatives.
How do I browse and reuse my previous search patterns in Vim?
q/
How it works Vim keeps a history of all your search patterns.
How do I search case-insensitively in Vim without changing global settings?
/\cpattern
How it works By default, Vim searches are case-sensitive: /Hello will not match hello or HELLO.
How do I run a global command only on lines within a visual selection?
:'<,'>g/pattern/command
How it works The :g (global) command is one of Vim's most powerful features.
How do I record a macro that performs a search and replace on each line?
qa:s/old/new/g<CR>jq
How it works You can combine Ex commands like :s (substitute) with macro recording to create powerful repeatable find-and-replace operations that go beyond what
How do I do a live fuzzy search across all files with Telescope in Neovim?
:Telescope live_grep
Telescope's livegrep picker provides real-time regex search across your entire project as you type.
How do I replace text using a custom Vimscript function in a substitution?
:%s/pattern/\=MyFunc(submatch(0))/g
The \= prefix in Vim's substitute replacement invokes the expression register, which can call any Vimscript function.
How do I use yanked text as the replacement in a substitute command?
:%s/pattern/\=@0/g
The \=@0 replacement expression inserts the contents of register 0 (last yank) as the replacement text.
How do I search for a pattern and land on a specific line offset from the match?
/pattern/+N or /pattern/-N
Vim's search command accepts an offset that places your cursor on a line relative to the match.