Changes: Count number of matches of a pattern

Revision as of 09:38, 28 January 2016

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created 2005 · complexity basic · author Marc Weber · version 7.0

To count the number of matches of a pattern, use the substitute command with the n flag. The following shows the number of times that pattern matches text in the current buffer:

:%s/pattern//gn

Omit g to display the number of lines where the pattern matches:

:%s/pattern//n

To restrict the count to a region of the text, specify a range instead of % (% means all lines). For example, the following counts the number of occurrences in lines 10 to 50 inclusive:

:10,50s/pattern//gn

The following counts the number of occurrences in the lines in the most recent visual selection.

:'<,'>s/pattern//gn

Word under cursor

To count the number of occurrences of the last used search pattern, you can leave out the pattern entirely:

:%s///gn

This makes it easy to count the number of occurrences of the word under the cursor: first press * to search for the current word, then enter :%s///gn to count all occurrences of that word.

@@ Line 6: / Line 6: @@
 |complexity=basic
 |author=Marc Weber
-|version=5.7
+|version=7.0
 |rating=4/19
 |category1=Searching
 |category2=
 }}
-To count the number of matches of a pattern, you could enter a substitute command such as
+To count the number of matches of a pattern, use the [[Search and replace|substitute command]] with the <code>n</code> flag. The following shows the number of times that <code>pattern</code> matches text in the current buffer:
+<pre>
+:%s/pattern//gn
+</pre>
+Omit <code>g</code> to display the number of lines where the pattern matches:
 <pre>
-:%s/pattern/foo/g
+:%s/pattern//n
 </pre>
+To restrict the count to a region of the text, specify a range instead of <code>%</code> (<code>%</code> means all lines). For example, the following counts the number of occurrences in lines 10 to 50 inclusive:
-After viewing the count in the status line, press <tt>u</tt> to undo the change.
+<pre>
+:10,50s/pattern//gn
-However, in recent versions of Vim, there is a better procedure. The following will display the count, but will not change the buffer.
+</pre>
+The following counts the number of occurrences in the lines in the most recent [[visual selection]].
 <pre>
-:%s/pattern//gn
+:'<,'>s/pattern//gn
 </pre>
+==Word under cursor==
-Similarly you can display the number of lines the pattern matches by omitting the g.
+To count the number of occurrences of the last used search pattern, you can leave out the pattern entirely:
 <pre>
-:%s/pattern//n
+:%s///gn
 </pre>
+This makes it easy to count the number of occurrences of the word under the cursor: first press <code>*</code> to [[Searching|search for the current word]], then enter <code>:%s///gn</code> to count all occurrences of that word.
 ==Comments==