VIM, incremental search: How can I jump to the next result and get it highlighted?

Question

When using VIM's incremental search option I usually search and after I got to the first result (it will be highlighted) I use the / key to jump to the next result.

But:

1. For this I need to 'cancel' my search and go back to Normal Mode in order to jump the next result.
2. Pressing / makes VIM jump to the next result but it won't highlight it.

I am wondering if there is a more efficient way to jump between the results using incremental search and get them highlighted.

Judgemade

Answer 1

The customary key for jumping to the next search result is 'n'.

I'm not entirely sure what you mean about highlighting - all search results should be highlighted if hlsearch is set, and for me it makes no difference if I go to the next result with 'n' or with '/'.

Bornie

Matthew, thanks. However, I do incremental search, type (it jumps and highlights) than I press ENTER than use 'n' and the cursor jumps to the next result. But it is not highlighted. Do you think it should act differently? – Judgemade

Mine just highlights all of them straight away - if there are multiple search results visible in the buffer at the same time, I can see they've all got yellow backgrounds. This is the default configuration on my system, and IIRC is controlled by the 'hlsearch' setting. – Bornie

And 'N' to search backwards. – Perlaperle

@MatthewWalton any idea, how i can jump a fixed number of results in search. I mean for example jump to the 10th matching line – Beginning

@GPcyborg Try [number]n? That should perform n [number] times, i.e. go forward n results. – Jinni

Answer 2

With Ctrl-t and Ctrl-g you can move between matches without leaving the search mode

Sepaloid

This is what I was looking for. I wanted to have the currently selected match to be highlighted. – Tripterous

For me this is the answer to the question – Peroneus

Answer 3

If you want to highlight all search hits you should set hlsearch not incsearch.

Majesty

That was the problem. Thanks. – Judgemade

@zoltanctoth: you should really accept the other answer instead, because he was first and told the same actually. – Majesty

You are right. I have missed the hlsearch part in @matthew's answer. Thanks for noticing. – Judgemade