created by

Ingo Karkat

script type

utility

description

DESCRIPTION This plugin changes the star command *, so that it doesn't jump to the next match. (Unless you supply a [count], so 1* now restores the old * behavior.) If you issue a star command on the same text as before, the search highlighting is turned off (via :nohlsearch); the search pattern remains set, so a n / N command will turn highlighting on again. With this, you can easily toggle highlighting for the current word / visual selection. With the disabling of the jump to the next match, there is no difference between * and # any more, so the # key can now be used for some other mapping. This plugin also extends the star command to visual mode, where instead of the current word, the selected text is used as the literal search pattern. The auto-search functionality instantly highlights the word under the cursor when typing or moving around. This can be helpful while browsing source code; whenever you position the cursor on an identifier, all other occurrences are instantly highlighted. This functionality is toggled on/off via <Leader>*. You can also :nohlsearch to temporarily disable the highlighting. SEE ALSO - mark.vim (vimscript #2666) can highlight several patterns in different   colors simultaneously. - SearchAlternatives.vim (vimscript #4146) can add and subtract search   alternatives via mappings and commands. - To also show the number of matches when selecting a word (*, g* etc.),   you can append the corresponding command to the <Plug> mapping (see   SearchHighlighting-remap):     nmap <silent> * <Plug>SearchHighlightingStarm`:%s///gn<CR>g`` The SearchPosition.vim plugin (vimscript #2634) provides an extended   version of that command. RELATED WORKS I came up with this on my own; however, the idea can be traced back to francoissteinmetz and da.thompson in the comments of vimtip #1 (now at https://vim.fandom.com/wiki/Search_for_visually_selected_text):     map <silent> <F10> :set invhls<CR>:let @/="<C-r><C-w>"<CR> - highlight_word_under_cursor.vim (vimscript #4287) implements the search   auto-highlighting of the whole and optionally current word. - HiCursorWords (vimscript #4306) highlights the word under the cursor, with   optional delay and limited to certain syntax groups. - Matchmaker (https://github.com/qstrahl/vim-matchmaker) highlights the word   under the cursor with matchadd(), not the current search pattern. - star search (vimscript #4335) changes the behavior of * to not jump to the   next match, and includes the visual search from the next plugin - https://github.com/bronson/vim-visual-star-search provides searching of the   visual selection - visualstar.vim (vimscript #2944) provides searching of the visual selection - select & search (vimscript #4819) can use either n/N or * in the visual   selection, and (like this plugin) can avoid jumping. - vim-cursorword (vimscript #5100) automatically underlines the current word   in the current window (like :SearchAutoHighlighting), but uses :match   instead of search - vim-asterisk (vimscript #5059) is quite similar, providing a z* mapping that   also doesn't jump, visual *, more intuitive smartcase handling, and can keep   the cursor position when jumping (like ,*) - searchant.vim (vimscript #5404) hooks into the built-in search commands and   provides a separate highlighting for the match last jumped to. USAGE *                       Toggle search highlighting for the current whole                         \<word\> on/off. g*                      Toggle search highlighting for the current word                         on/off. {Visual}*               Toggle search highlighting for the selection on/off.                         For a blockwise-visual selection, not just lines                         that match the block's lines on their own are matched,                         but all occurrences that contain the block's text,                         though not just with the same vertical alignment (that                         isn't possible to assert with Vim's regular                         expressions), and only the first line's match is                         highlighted. For example, a match on                             foo                             bar                         will also match all three occurrences in                             foo    my foo is        tell foo                             bar    inside bar               bar                         but not a single                             foo {count}*                Search forward for the {count}'th occurrence of the {count}g*               word nearest to the cursor. {Visual}{count}* ALT-8                   Toggle search highlighting for the current whole                         \_sWORD\_s on/off. With [count]: Search forward for the                         [count]'th occurrence. g_ALT-8                 Toggle search highlighting for the current WORD                         on/off. With [count]: Search forward for the                         [count]'th occurrence. [count],*               Search forward for the [count]'th occurrence of the                         word under the cursor, keeping the cursor at the                         current position within the word's matches (via                         search-offset).                         Observes the new non-jumping behavior of the star                         commands without a [count]. [count],g*              Like above: variants of the searches that keep the ,_ALT-8                 cursor at the current relative match position. ,g_ALT-8                Note that if you have set mapleader to ",", some of                         these would conflict with other plugin mappings; you                         have to define|SearchHighlighting-configuration|                         yourself. [count],n               Repeat the latest "/" search [count] times, keeping                         the cursor at the current position relative to the end                         of the current match (via search-offset).                         Like ,star, but reuses the last search pattern                         instead of searching for the word under the cursor.                         As such, the cursor can also be outside a match (but                         still within the same line), and a corresponding                         offset (the smallest possible if there are several                         nearby matches) is chosen. [count],N               Repeat the latest "?" search [count] times, keeping                         the cursor at the current position relative to the                         start of the current match (via search-offset).                         Note: To avoid another set of mappings, the search                         direction and offset anchor (start or end of match)                         are combined here. The search direction can easily be                         reverted via |n|/|N|, anyway. <Leader>*               Toggle auto-search highlighting (using the last                         {what}; default is "wword"). {Visual}<Leader>*       Toggle auto-search highlighting; when turning on, a                         {what} value of "selection" is used (but the preset                         isn't changed; the original value is used for a later                         non-visual mode auto-search). :SearchAutoHighlighting [{what}]                         Turn on automatic highlighting of occurrences of                         {what} in normal mode, and the selected text in visual                         / select mode. Possible values:                         cchar: current character under cursor                         wword: whole cword, like star; this is the default                         wWORD: whole cWORD, delimited by whitespace                         cword: current word under cursor                         cWORD: current WORD under cursor                         line:  current text in line, excluding indent and                                trailing whitespace                         exactline:  exact current line                         from-cursor:only consider the text from the beginning                                     of the line up to the cursor; ignore text                                     before the cursor                         to-cursor:  only consider the text from the cursor to                                     the end of the line                         selection:  only highlight selected text, in normal                                     mode, nothing is selected                         *-iw:       allow for variations in whitespace (also                                     newline characters, i.e. allow a match                                     distributed over multiple lines), and                                     ignore any comment prefixes (e.g. /*, #),                                     too.                         *-nw:       allow for variations in whitespace and also                                     direct concatenation of lines (i.e. without                                     any whitespace in between) :NoSearchAutoHighlighting[!]                         Turn off automatic highlighting. With [!], also turn                         off all tab page- and window-local ones. :SearchAutoHighlightingWinLocal [{what}] :SearchAutoHighlightingTabLocal [{what}]                         Like :SearchAutoHighlighting, but limit the effect                         to the current window / tab page. Different {what}                         occurrences can be configured for each instance. :NoSearchAutoHighlightingWinLocal[!] :NoSearchAutoHighlightingTabLocal[!]                         Like :NoSearchAutoHighlighting, but only for the                         current window / tab page. With [!], it explicitly                         turns off Auto Search (even if a higher scope still                         has it active), without it, it will still consider the                         higher scopes.

install details

INSTALLATION The code is hosted in a Git repo at     https://github.com/inkarkat/vim-SearchHighlighting You can use your favorite plugin manager, or "git clone" into a directory used for Vim packages. Releases are on the "stable" branch, the latest unstable development snapshot on "master". This script is also packaged as a vimball. If you have the "gunzip" decompressor in your PATH, simply edit the *.vmb.gz package in Vim; otherwise, decompress the archive first, e.g. using WinZip. Inside Vim, install by sourcing the vimball or via the :UseVimball command.     vim SearchHighlighting*.vmb.gz     :so % To uninstall, use the :RmVimball command. DEPENDENCIES - Requires Vim 7.0 or higher. - Requires the ingo-library.vim plugin (vimscript #4433), version 1.040 or   higher. CONFIGURATION If you want to use different mappings, map your keys to the <Plug>SearchHighlighting... mapping targets _before_ sourcing the script (e.g. in your vimrc):     nmap <Leader>&   <Plug>SearchHighlightingWORD     nmap <Leader>&&  <Plug>SearchHighlightingGWORD     nmap <Leader>*.  <Plug>SearchHighlightingCStar     nmap <Leader>**. <Plug>SearchHighlightingCGStar     nmap <Leader>&.  <Plug>SearchHighlightingCWORD     nmap <Leader>&&. <Plug>SearchHighlightingCGWORD     nmap <Leader>**  <Plug>SearchHighlightingAutoSearch If you do not want the new non-jumping behavior of the star commands at all:     let g:SearchHighlighting_NoJump = 0     let g:SearchHighlighting_ExtendStandardCommands = 1 If you want the new non-jumping behavior, but map it to different keys:     let g:SearchHighlighting_ExtendStandardCommands = 1     nmap <Leader>*  <Plug>SearchHighlightingStar     nmap <Leader>g* <Plug>SearchHighlightingGStar     vmap <Leader>*  <Plug>SearchHighlightingStar If you want a mapping to turn off hlsearch, use this:     nmap <A-/> <Plug>SearchHighlightingNohlsearch     vmap <A-/> <Plug>SearchHighlightingNohlsearch To toggle hlsearch (temporarily, so that a new search or n command will automatically re-enable it), use:     nmap <F12> <Plug>SearchHighlightingToggleHlsearch     vmap <F12> <Plug>SearchHighlightingToggleHlsearch

Click on the package to download.

package	script version	date	Vim version	user	release notes
SearchHighlighting-2.11.vmb.gz	2.11	2023-03-14	7.0	Ingo Karkat	- Minor: Also trigger LastSearchPatternChanged during auto-search whenever the search pattern changes. - Trigger separate SearchHighlightingAutoSearch User event for plugins that just want to react on auto highlighting. - Add :SearchAutoHighlighting cchar for the current character
SearchHighlighting-2.10.vmb.gz	2.10	2019-10-31	7.0	Ingo Karkat	- ENH: Add ,n and ,N variants of ,* that reuse the last search pattern, and therefore also allow offsets outside of the match itself. *** You need to update to ingo-library (vimscript #4433) version 1.040! ***
SearchHighlighting-2.01.vmb.gz	2.01	2019-07-11	7.0	Ingo Karkat	- ENH: Add ...-iw / ...-nw variants of exactline, line, selection that match ignoring whitespace differences / and no whitespace. - Trigger LastSearchPatternChanged User event to notify other plugins (e.g. my SearchRepeat.vim plugin (vimscript #4949)) of the change of register /. - :SearchAutoHighlighting commands inform the SearchRepeat.vim plugin that the change in register / is automatic, not initiated by the user, so that the current custom search is kept active instead of reverting back to standard search. - ENH: Add from-cursor and to-cursor (and -iw, -nw variants) for :SearchAutoHighlighting. *** You need to update to ingo-library (vimscript #4433) version 1.036! ***
SearchHighlighting-2.00.vmb.gz	2.00	2017-01-27	7.0	Ingo Karkat	- ENH: Allow tab page- and window-local Auto Search Highlighting via new :SearchAutoHighlightingTabLocal, :SearchAutoHighlightingWinLocal commands. - ENH: Support v:hlsearch (available since Vim 7.4.079) via an alternative set of functions that don't use the s:isSearchOn internal flag. - BUG: Handle "No string under cursor" for ,* mapping correctly by returing the :echoerr call, not 0. - BUG: Off-by-one in ,* on second-to-last character. - ENH: <A-8>, g<A-8> mappings star-like search for [whole] cWORD (instead of cword). - Generalize the ,* mapping to support all four variants of the * mapping (whole / current, cword, cWORD), too. - Only define default ,* etc. mappings when the map leader isn't set to ",", which would make it conflict with the <Leader>* Auto-Search mapping. Thanks to Ilya Tumaykin for raising this issue. - Don't show strange whitespace matches on ":SearchAutoHighlighting wWORD" caused by empty \%(^\|\s\)\zs\ze\%(\s\|$\) pattern. Set completely empty pattern then. - Re-enable search highlighting when switching to a window that has Auto Search. Clear search highlighting when switching from a window that has Auto Search to one that hasn't, and search highlighting was previously turned off. - Save and restore the Auto Search pattern from a selection source when updating. *** You need to update to ingo-library (vimscript #4433) version 1.023! ***
SearchHighlighting-1.22.vmb.gz	1.22	2014-06-19	7.0	Ingo Karkat	- Add <Leader>* visual mode mapping that turns on auto-search only for selected text (without affecting the original {what} default). - Add "selection" value for {what} in :SearchHighlightingAutoSearch that only highlights selected text.
SearchHighlighting-1.21.vmb.gz	1.21	2014-05-23	7.0	Ingo Karkat	- Also abort on :SearchAutoHighlighting error. - Remove duplicate /.*.*/ in pattern for visual blockwise search.
SearchHighlighting-1.20.vmb.gz	1.20	2013-11-29	7.0	Ingo Karkat	- ENH: Add ,* search that keeps the current position within the current word when jumping to subsequent matches. - Correctly emulate * behavior on whitespace-only lines where there's no cword: Issue "E348: No string under cursor". - Add dependency to ingo-library (vimscript #4433). *** You need to separately install ingo-library (vimscript #4433) version 1.015 (or higher)! *** - For a blockwise visual selection, don't just match the block's lines on their own, but also when contained in other text. - BUG: For {Visual}*, a [count] isn't considered.
SearchHighlighting-1.02.vmb.gz	1.02	2013-01-21	7.0	Ingo Karkat	- For a blockwise visual selection, don't just match the block's lines on their own, but also when contained in other text. - BUG: For {Visual}*, a [count] isn't considered.
SearchHighlighting-1.01.vmb.gz	1.01	2012-12-03	7.0	Ingo Karkat	FIX: Prevent repeated error message when an invalid {what} was given to :SearchAutoHighlighting.
SearchHighlighting-1.00.vmb.gz	1.00	2012-11-23	7.0	Ingo Karkat	Initial upload

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