TopolearnSearch is the fastest way to move to anything you can see or remember, and it powers substitution.
Type / followed by a pattern and Enter to search forward, ? to search backward. Then:
njumps to the next match in the same direction,Nin the opposite direction.*searches forward for the whole word under the cursor,#backward./followed by just Enter repeats the last search.
The pattern is a Vim regular expression: /^def finds lines starting with def, /foo\|bar finds either word (in Vim's default "magic" mode, | needs a backslash). \< and \> match word boundaries, which is what * adds for you.
A few options make search much nicer; put them in your vimrc:
set incsearchshows the match while you type.set hlsearchhighlights all matches;:nohlsearch(:noh) clears the highlight until the next search.set ignorecase smartcasemakes searches case-insensitive unless you type a capital letter.
Search is also a motion, so it combines with operators: d/end deletes up to (not including) the next end, and c/) changes everything up to the next parenthesis. Every jump you make with search is recorded in the jump list; Ctrl-o takes you back to where you were and Ctrl-i forward again.
Example
/TODO " jump to the next 'TODO'
n " next match
N " previous match
* " search the word under the cursor
/\<id\> " whole word 'id' only, not 'width'
d/return " delete from cursor up to 'return'
Ctrl-o " jump back to where you started
:noh " clear the search highlightRemember
- / forward, ? backward, n/N next/previous, * word under cursor
- set incsearch hlsearch ignorecase smartcase
- Ctrl-o jumps back after a search took you somewhere
Watch out for
- Forgetting that . and * are regex characters: /a.b also matches axb. Escape them as \. when you mean a literal dot.