Searching for expressions which include slashes

Tip 1672 Printable Monobook Previous Next

created March 29, 2011 · complexity basic · author Giotti · version 7.0

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This tip explains how to search for a path of the form /abc/def/ghi/ without needing to manually escape each slash (using the normal / command would require the example path to be entered as \/abc\/def\/ghi\/). In addition, a command is shown to allow searching for text while treating all special search characters as just text (so you can easily search for text like a*b or ^ab without needing to enter a\*b or \^ab).

Searching for slash as normal text

The following alternative commands allow searching for text which includes a slash, with no need to escape each slash in the command. Other special characters have their usual meaning (for example, the pattern ^abc finds abc, but only at the start of a line).

Place the following in your vimrc:

command! -nargs=1 Ss let @/ = <q-args>

to define a new command Ss which allows easy searching for text which includes slashes. For example:

:Ss /abc/def/ghi/	Set search register (@/) to '/abc/def/ghi/'.
n	Search for next occurrence of text in search register.

This alternative sets the search register and enables search highlighting so hits are immediately visible:

command! -nargs=1 Ss let @/ = <q-args>|set hlsearch

This alternative sets the search register and searches for that text:

command! -nargs=1 Ss let @/ = escape(<q-args>, '/')|normal! /<C-R>/<CR>

In the last example, <C-R>/ represents Ctrl-R then / which enters the value of the search register into the search command (the first /). The escape() function is required to prefix any slashes with a backslash because the text is used in a / command (where a search pattern is terminated by an unescaped slash). Since the command performs an actual search, the pattern is placed in the search history.

Searching for all characters as normal text

Place the following in your vimrc:

command! -nargs=1 SS let @/ = '\V'.escape(<q-args>, '\')

to define a new command SS which allows easy searching for text which includes characters that normally have a special meaning in a search pattern. For example:

:SS ^abc/def\[ghi\]x*y	Set search register to '\V^abc/def\\[ghi\\]x*y'.
n	Search for next occurrence (will find the exact text entered).

This alternative sets the search register and enables search highlighting so hits are immediately visible:

command! -nargs=1 SS let @/ = '\V'.escape(<q-args>, '\')|set hlsearch

This alternative sets the search register and searches for that text:

command! -nargs=1 SS let @/ = '\V'.escape(<q-args>, '/\')|normal! /<C-R>/<CR>

For example, with the last alternative, the command :SS ^abc/def\[ghi\] would find text ^abc/def\[ghi\] (the same text that was entered).

Manually assigning the search

If you have copied a path like /abc/def/ghi/ into the clipboard, you can search for that text with these commands:

:let @/=@+	Set search register to value from clipboard (@+).
n	Search for next occurrence.

If the path has been copied into the default yank register, use this:

:let @/=@@	Set search register to value from yank register (@@).
n	Search for next occurrence.

Or, just set the text directly:

:let @/='/abc/def/ghi/'	Set search register to specified text.
n	Search for next occurrence.

Reverse searching

An alternative when searching for text that includes slashes is to search backwards with "?". A reverse search treats slashes in the pattern as normal characters. After searching backwards, you can press n to continue searching in the same direction (backwards), or N to search in the reverse direction (forwards). Or, you can search forwards with / and no pattern, which will use the previous pattern:

?/abc/def/ghi/
/

Now, pressing n will search forwards for the next occurrence, and N will search backwards.

See also

• Searching how to search
• Search patterns regex information and examples
• Search for visually selected text search for selected text; finds targets on multiple lines