Mercurial > vim
annotate runtime/doc/pattern.txt @ 32605:831290c20fb7 v9.0.1634
patch 9.0.1634: message is cleared when removing mode message
Commit: https://github.com/vim/vim/commit/800cdbb7caeb5dd4379c6cb071bb12391f20bcf3
Author: Bram Moolenaar <Bram@vim.org>
Date: Thu Jun 15 16:40:02 2023 +0100
patch 9.0.1634: message is cleared when removing mode message
Problem: Message is cleared when removing mode message (Gary Johnson).
Solution: Do not clear the command line after displaying a message.
author | Bram Moolenaar <Bram@vim.org> |
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date | Thu, 15 Jun 2023 17:45:06 +0200 |
parents | a9b5ffbc0428 |
children | 484543479bd7 |
rev | line source |
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32004 | 1 *pattern.txt* For Vim version 9.0. Last change: 2023 Feb 04 |
7 | 2 |
3 | |
4 VIM REFERENCE MANUAL by Bram Moolenaar | |
5 | |
6 | |
7 Patterns and search commands *pattern-searches* | |
8 | |
9 The very basics can be found in section |03.9| of the user manual. A few more | |
10 explanations are in chapter 27 |usr_27.txt|. | |
11 | |
12 1. Search commands |search-commands| | |
13 2. The definition of a pattern |search-pattern| | |
14 3. Magic |/magic| | |
15 4. Overview of pattern items |pattern-overview| | |
16 5. Multi items |pattern-multi-items| | |
17 6. Ordinary atoms |pattern-atoms| | |
18 7. Ignoring case in a pattern |/ignorecase| | |
714 | 19 8. Composing characters |patterns-composing| |
20 9. Compare with Perl patterns |perl-patterns| | |
21 10. Highlighting matches |match-highlight| | |
28010 | 22 11. Fuzzy matching |fuzzy-matching| |
7 | 23 |
24 ============================================================================== | |
3153 | 25 1. Search commands *search-commands* |
7 | 26 |
27 */* | |
28 /{pattern}[/]<CR> Search forward for the [count]'th occurrence of | |
29 {pattern} |exclusive|. | |
30 | |
31 /{pattern}/{offset}<CR> Search forward for the [count]'th occurrence of | |
32 {pattern} and go |{offset}| lines up or down. | |
33 |linewise|. | |
34 | |
35 */<CR>* | |
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36 /<CR> Search forward for the [count]'th occurrence of the |
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37 latest used pattern |last-pattern| with latest used |
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38 |{offset}|. |
7 | 39 |
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40 //{offset}<CR> Search forward for the [count]'th occurrence of the |
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41 latest used pattern |last-pattern| with new |
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42 |{offset}|. If {offset} is empty no offset is used. |
7 | 43 |
44 *?* | |
45 ?{pattern}[?]<CR> Search backward for the [count]'th previous | |
46 occurrence of {pattern} |exclusive|. | |
47 | |
48 ?{pattern}?{offset}<CR> Search backward for the [count]'th previous | |
49 occurrence of {pattern} and go |{offset}| lines up or | |
50 down |linewise|. | |
51 | |
52 *?<CR>* | |
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53 ?<CR> Search backward for the [count]'th occurrence of the |
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54 latest used pattern |last-pattern| with latest used |
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55 |{offset}|. |
7 | 56 |
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57 ??{offset}<CR> Search backward for the [count]'th occurrence of the |
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58 latest used pattern |last-pattern| with new |
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59 |{offset}|. If {offset} is empty no offset is used. |
7 | 60 |
61 *n* | |
62 n Repeat the latest "/" or "?" [count] times. | |
6647 | 63 If the cursor doesn't move the search is repeated with |
64 count + 1. | |
16808 | 65 |last-pattern| |
7 | 66 |
67 *N* | |
68 N Repeat the latest "/" or "?" [count] times in | |
16808 | 69 opposite direction. |last-pattern| |
7 | 70 |
71 *star* *E348* *E349* | |
72 * Search forward for the [count]'th occurrence of the | |
73 word nearest to the cursor. The word used for the | |
74 search is the first of: | |
75 1. the keyword under the cursor |'iskeyword'| | |
76 2. the first keyword after the cursor, in the | |
77 current line | |
78 3. the non-blank word under the cursor | |
79 4. the first non-blank word after the cursor, | |
80 in the current line | |
81 Only whole keywords are searched for, like with the | |
18831 | 82 command "/\<keyword\>". |exclusive| |
7 | 83 'ignorecase' is used, 'smartcase' is not. |
84 | |
85 *#* | |
86 # Same as "*", but search backward. The pound sign | |
87 (character 163) also works. If the "#" key works as | |
88 backspace, try using "stty erase <BS>" before starting | |
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89 Vim (<BS> is CTRL-H or a real backspace). |
7 | 90 |
91 *gstar* | |
92 g* Like "*", but don't put "\<" and "\>" around the word. | |
93 This makes the search also find matches that are not a | |
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94 whole word. |
7 | 95 |
96 *g#* | |
97 g# Like "#", but don't put "\<" and "\>" around the word. | |
98 This makes the search also find matches that are not a | |
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99 whole word. |
7 | 100 |
101 *gd* | |
102 gd Goto local Declaration. When the cursor is on a local | |
103 variable, this command will jump to its declaration. | |
32004 | 104 This was made to work for C code, in other languages |
105 it may not work well. | |
7 | 106 First Vim searches for the start of the current |
107 function, just like "[[". If it is not found the | |
108 search stops in line 1. If it is found, Vim goes back | |
109 until a blank line is found. From this position Vim | |
110 searches for the keyword under the cursor, like with | |
111 "*", but lines that look like a comment are ignored | |
112 (see 'comments' option). | |
113 Note that this is not guaranteed to work, Vim does not | |
114 really check the syntax, it only searches for a match | |
115 with the keyword. If included files also need to be | |
116 searched use the commands listed in |include-search|. | |
117 After this command |n| searches forward for the next | |
118 match (not backward). | |
119 | |
120 *gD* | |
121 gD Goto global Declaration. When the cursor is on a | |
122 global variable that is defined in the file, this | |
123 command will jump to its declaration. This works just | |
124 like "gd", except that the search for the keyword | |
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125 always starts in line 1. |
7 | 126 |
523 | 127 *1gd* |
128 1gd Like "gd", but ignore matches inside a {} block that | |
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129 ends before the cursor position. |
523 | 130 |
131 *1gD* | |
132 1gD Like "gD", but ignore matches inside a {} block that | |
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133 ends before the cursor position. |
523 | 134 |
7 | 135 *CTRL-C* |
136 CTRL-C Interrupt current (search) command. Use CTRL-Break on | |
18972 | 137 MS-Windows |dos-CTRL-Break|. |
7 | 138 In Normal mode, any pending command is aborted. |
30547 | 139 When Vim was started with output redirected and there |
140 are no changed buffers CTRL-C exits Vim. That is to | |
141 help users who use "vim file | grep word" and don't | |
142 know how to get out (blindly typing :qa<CR> would | |
143 work). | |
7 | 144 |
145 *:noh* *:nohlsearch* | |
146 :noh[lsearch] Stop the highlighting for the 'hlsearch' option. It | |
147 is automatically turned back on when using a search | |
148 command, or setting the 'hlsearch' option. | |
149 This command doesn't work in an autocommand, because | |
150 the highlighting state is saved and restored when | |
151 executing autocommands |autocmd-searchpat|. | |
1620 | 152 Same thing for when invoking a user function. |
7 | 153 |
154 While typing the search pattern the current match will be shown if the | |
155 'incsearch' option is on. Remember that you still have to finish the search | |
156 command with <CR> to actually position the cursor at the displayed match. Or | |
157 use <Esc> to abandon the search. | |
158 | |
159 All matches for the last used search pattern will be highlighted if you set | |
160 the 'hlsearch' option. This can be suspended with the |:nohlsearch| command. | |
161 | |
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162 When 'shortmess' does not include the "S" flag, Vim will automatically show an |
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163 index, on which the cursor is. This can look like this: > |
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164 |
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165 [1/5] Cursor is on first of 5 matches. |
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166 [1/>99] Cursor is on first of more than 99 matches. |
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167 [>99/>99] Cursor is after 99 match of more than 99 matches. |
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168 [?/??] Unknown how many matches exists, generating the |
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169 statistics was aborted because of search timeout. |
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170 |
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171 Note: the count does not take offset into account. |
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172 |
3153 | 173 When no match is found you get the error: *E486* Pattern not found |
28010 | 174 Note that for the `:global` command, when used in legacy script, you get a |
175 normal message "Pattern not found", for Vi compatibility. | |
176 In |Vim9| script you get E486 for "pattern not found" or *E538* when the pattern | |
177 matches in every line with `:vglobal`. | |
178 For the |:s| command the "e" flag can be used to avoid the error message | |
179 |:s_flags|. | |
3153 | 180 |
7 | 181 *search-offset* *{offset}* |
182 These commands search for the specified pattern. With "/" and "?" an | |
183 additional offset may be given. There are two types of offsets: line offsets | |
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184 and character offsets. |
7 | 185 |
186 The offset gives the cursor position relative to the found match: | |
187 [num] [num] lines downwards, in column 1 | |
188 +[num] [num] lines downwards, in column 1 | |
189 -[num] [num] lines upwards, in column 1 | |
190 e[+num] [num] characters to the right of the end of the match | |
191 e[-num] [num] characters to the left of the end of the match | |
192 s[+num] [num] characters to the right of the start of the match | |
193 s[-num] [num] characters to the left of the start of the match | |
194 b[+num] [num] identical to s[+num] above (mnemonic: begin) | |
195 b[-num] [num] identical to s[-num] above (mnemonic: begin) | |
667 | 196 ;{pattern} perform another search, see |//;| |
7 | 197 |
198 If a '-' or '+' is given but [num] is omitted, a count of one will be used. | |
199 When including an offset with 'e', the search becomes inclusive (the | |
200 character the cursor lands on is included in operations). | |
201 | |
202 Examples: | |
203 | |
204 pattern cursor position ~ | |
205 /test/+1 one line below "test", in column 1 | |
206 /test/e on the last t of "test" | |
207 /test/s+2 on the 's' of "test" | |
208 /test/b-3 three characters before "test" | |
209 | |
210 If one of these commands is used after an operator, the characters between | |
211 the cursor position before and after the search is affected. However, if a | |
212 line offset is given, the whole lines between the two cursor positions are | |
213 affected. | |
214 | |
215 An example of how to search for matches with a pattern and change the match | |
216 with another word: > | |
217 /foo<CR> find "foo" | |
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218 c//e<CR> change until end of match |
7 | 219 bar<Esc> type replacement |
220 //<CR> go to start of next match | |
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221 c//e<CR> change until end of match |
7 | 222 beep<Esc> type another replacement |
223 etc. | |
224 < | |
225 *//;* *E386* | |
226 A very special offset is ';' followed by another search command. For example: > | |
227 | |
228 /test 1/;/test | |
229 /test.*/+1;?ing? | |
230 | |
231 The first one first finds the next occurrence of "test 1", and then the first | |
232 occurrence of "test" after that. | |
233 | |
234 This is like executing two search commands after each other, except that: | |
235 - It can be used as a single motion command after an operator. | |
236 - The direction for a following "n" or "N" command comes from the first | |
237 search command. | |
238 - When an error occurs the cursor is not moved at all. | |
239 | |
240 *last-pattern* | |
241 The last used pattern and offset are remembered. They can be used to repeat | |
242 the search, possibly in another direction or with another count. Note that | |
24024 | 243 two patterns are remembered: One for "normal" search commands and one for the |
7 | 244 substitute command ":s". Each time an empty pattern is given, the previously |
2725 | 245 used pattern is used. However, if there is no previous search command, a |
246 previous substitute pattern is used, if possible. | |
7 | 247 |
248 The 'magic' option sticks with the last used pattern. If you change 'magic', | |
249 this will not change how the last used pattern will be interpreted. | |
250 The 'ignorecase' option does not do this. When 'ignorecase' is changed, it | |
251 will result in the pattern to match other text. | |
252 | |
253 All matches for the last used search pattern will be highlighted if you set | |
254 the 'hlsearch' option. | |
255 | |
256 To clear the last used search pattern: > | |
257 :let @/ = "" | |
258 This will not set the pattern to an empty string, because that would match | |
259 everywhere. The pattern is really cleared, like when starting Vim. | |
260 | |
133 | 261 The search usually skips matches that don't move the cursor. Whether the next |
7 | 262 match is found at the next character or after the skipped match depends on the |
263 'c' flag in 'cpoptions'. See |cpo-c|. | |
264 with 'c' flag: "/..." advances 1 to 3 characters | |
265 without 'c' flag: "/..." advances 1 character | |
266 The unpredictability with the 'c' flag is caused by starting the search in the | |
267 first column, skipping matches until one is found past the cursor position. | |
268 | |
133 | 269 When searching backwards, searching starts at the start of the line, using the |
270 'c' flag in 'cpoptions' as described above. Then the last match before the | |
271 cursor position is used. | |
272 | |
7 | 273 In Vi the ":tag" command sets the last search pattern when the tag is searched |
274 for. In Vim this is not done, the previous search pattern is still remembered, | |
275 unless the 't' flag is present in 'cpoptions'. The search pattern is always | |
276 put in the search history. | |
277 | |
278 If the 'wrapscan' option is on (which is the default), searches wrap around | |
279 the end of the buffer. If 'wrapscan' is not set, the backward search stops | |
280 at the beginning and the forward search stops at the end of the buffer. If | |
281 'wrapscan' is set and the pattern was not found the error message "pattern | |
282 not found" is given, and the cursor will not be moved. If 'wrapscan' is not | |
283 set the message becomes "search hit BOTTOM without match" when searching | |
284 forward, or "search hit TOP without match" when searching backward. If | |
285 wrapscan is set and the search wraps around the end of the file the message | |
286 "search hit TOP, continuing at BOTTOM" or "search hit BOTTOM, continuing at | |
287 TOP" is given when searching backwards or forwards respectively. This can be | |
288 switched off by setting the 's' flag in the 'shortmess' option. The highlight | |
289 method 'w' is used for this message (default: standout). | |
290 | |
291 *search-range* | |
625 | 292 You can limit the search command "/" to a certain range of lines by including |
293 \%>l items. For example, to match the word "limit" below line 199 and above | |
294 line 300: > | |
295 /\%>199l\%<300llimit | |
296 Also see |/\%>l|. | |
297 | |
298 Another way is to use the ":substitute" command with the 'c' flag. Example: > | |
7 | 299 :.,300s/Pattern//gc |
300 This command will search from the cursor position until line 300 for | |
301 "Pattern". At the match, you will be asked to type a character. Type 'q' to | |
302 stop at this match, type 'n' to find the next match. | |
303 | |
304 The "*", "#", "g*" and "g#" commands look for a word near the cursor in this | |
305 order, the first one that is found is used: | |
306 - The keyword currently under the cursor. | |
307 - The first keyword to the right of the cursor, in the same line. | |
308 - The WORD currently under the cursor. | |
309 - The first WORD to the right of the cursor, in the same line. | |
310 The keyword may only contain letters and characters in 'iskeyword'. | |
311 The WORD may contain any non-blanks (<Tab>s and/or <Space>s). | |
312 Note that if you type with ten fingers, the characters are easy to remember: | |
313 the "#" is under your left hand middle finger (search to the left and up) and | |
314 the "*" is under your right hand middle finger (search to the right and down). | |
315 (this depends on your keyboard layout though). | |
316 | |
14372 | 317 *E956* |
318 In very rare cases a regular expression is used recursively. This can happen | |
15033 | 319 when executing a pattern takes a long time and when checking for messages on |
14372 | 320 channels a callback is invoked that also uses a pattern or an autocommand is |
321 triggered. In most cases this should be fine, but if a pattern is in use when | |
322 it's used again it fails. Usually this means there is something wrong with | |
323 the pattern. | |
324 | |
7 | 325 ============================================================================== |
326 2. The definition of a pattern *search-pattern* *pattern* *[pattern]* | |
327 *regular-expression* *regexp* *Pattern* | |
27036 | 328 *E383* *E476* |
7 | 329 |
330 For starters, read chapter 27 of the user manual |usr_27.txt|. | |
331 | |
332 */bar* */\bar* */pattern* | |
333 1. A pattern is one or more branches, separated by "\|". It matches anything | |
334 that matches one of the branches. Example: "foo\|beep" matches "foo" and | |
335 matches "beep". If more than one branch matches, the first one is used. | |
336 | |
337 pattern ::= branch | |
338 or branch \| branch | |
339 or branch \| branch \| branch | |
340 etc. | |
341 | |
342 */branch* */\&* | |
343 2. A branch is one or more concats, separated by "\&". It matches the last | |
344 concat, but only if all the preceding concats also match at the same | |
345 position. Examples: | |
346 "foobeep\&..." matches "foo" in "foobeep". | |
347 ".*Peter\&.*Bob" matches in a line containing both "Peter" and "Bob" | |
348 | |
349 branch ::= concat | |
350 or concat \& concat | |
351 or concat \& concat \& concat | |
352 etc. | |
353 | |
354 */concat* | |
355 3. A concat is one or more pieces, concatenated. It matches a match for the | |
356 first piece, followed by a match for the second piece, etc. Example: | |
357 "f[0-9]b", first matches "f", then a digit and then "b". | |
358 | |
359 concat ::= piece | |
360 or piece piece | |
361 or piece piece piece | |
362 etc. | |
363 | |
364 */piece* | |
365 4. A piece is an atom, possibly followed by a multi, an indication of how many | |
366 times the atom can be matched. Example: "a*" matches any sequence of "a" | |
367 characters: "", "a", "aa", etc. See |/multi|. | |
368 | |
369 piece ::= atom | |
370 or atom multi | |
371 | |
372 */atom* | |
373 5. An atom can be one of a long list of items. Many atoms match one character | |
374 in the text. It is often an ordinary character or a character class. | |
23164 | 375 Parentheses can be used to make a pattern into an atom. The "\z(\)" |
376 construct is only for syntax highlighting. | |
7 | 377 |
378 atom ::= ordinary-atom |/ordinary-atom| | |
379 or \( pattern \) |/\(| | |
380 or \%( pattern \) |/\%(| | |
381 or \z( pattern \) |/\z(| | |
382 | |
383 | |
5146 | 384 */\%#=* *two-engines* *NFA* |
4444 | 385 Vim includes two regexp engines: |
386 1. An old, backtracking engine that supports everything. | |
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387 2. A new, NFA engine that works much faster on some patterns, possibly slower |
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388 on some patterns. |
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389 *E1281* |
4444 | 390 Vim will automatically select the right engine for you. However, if you run |
391 into a problem or want to specifically select one engine or the other, you can | |
392 prepend one of the following to the pattern: | |
393 | |
394 \%#=0 Force automatic selection. Only has an effect when | |
395 'regexpengine' has been set to a non-zero value. | |
396 \%#=1 Force using the old engine. | |
397 \%#=2 Force using the NFA engine. | |
398 | |
399 You can also use the 'regexpengine' option to change the default. | |
400 | |
401 *E864* *E868* *E874* *E875* *E876* *E877* *E878* | |
402 If selecting the NFA engine and it runs into something that is not implemented | |
403 the pattern will not match. This is only useful when debugging Vim. | |
404 | |
7 | 405 ============================================================================== |
840 | 406 3. Magic */magic* |
407 | |
23466 | 408 Some characters in the pattern, such as letters, are taken literally. They |
409 match exactly the same character in the text. When preceded with a backslash | |
410 however, these characters may get a special meaning. For example, "a" matches | |
411 the letter "a", while "\a" matches any alphabetic character. | |
840 | 412 |
413 Other characters have a special meaning without a backslash. They need to be | |
23466 | 414 preceded with a backslash to match literally. For example "." matches any |
415 character while "\." matches a dot. | |
840 | 416 |
417 If a character is taken literally or not depends on the 'magic' option and the | |
23466 | 418 items in the pattern mentioned next. The 'magic' option should always be set, |
419 but it can be switched off for Vi compatibility. We mention the effect of | |
420 'nomagic' here for completeness, but we recommend against using that. | |
840 | 421 */\m* */\M* |
422 Use of "\m" makes the pattern after it be interpreted as if 'magic' is set, | |
423 ignoring the actual value of the 'magic' option. | |
424 Use of "\M" makes the pattern after it be interpreted as if 'nomagic' is used. | |
425 */\v* */\V* | |
15281 | 426 Use of "\v" means that after it, all ASCII characters except '0'-'9', 'a'-'z', |
427 'A'-'Z' and '_' have special meaning: "very magic" | |
840 | 428 |
23466 | 429 Use of "\V" means that after it, only a backslash and the terminating |
430 character (usually / or ?) have special meaning: "very nomagic" | |
840 | 431 |
432 Examples: | |
433 after: \v \m \M \V matches ~ | |
434 'magic' 'nomagic' | |
23466 | 435 a a a a literal 'a' |
436 \a \a \a \a any alphabetic character | |
437 . . \. \. any character | |
438 \. \. . . literal dot | |
439 $ $ $ \$ end-of-line | |
840 | 440 * * \* \* any number of the previous atom |
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441 ~ ~ \~ \~ latest substitute string |
23466 | 442 () \(\) \(\) \(\) group as an atom |
443 | \| \| \| nothing: separates alternatives | |
840 | 444 \\ \\ \\ \\ literal backslash |
23466 | 445 \{ { { { literal curly brace |
840 | 446 |
447 {only Vim supports \m, \M, \v and \V} | |
448 | |
23466 | 449 If you want to you can make a pattern immune to the 'magic' option being set |
450 or not by putting "\m" or "\M" at the start of the pattern. | |
840 | 451 |
452 ============================================================================== | |
7 | 453 4. Overview of pattern items *pattern-overview* |
4444 | 454 *E865* *E866* *E867* *E869* |
7 | 455 |
456 Overview of multi items. */multi* *E61* *E62* | |
4444 | 457 More explanation and examples below, follow the links. *E64* *E871* |
7 | 458 |
459 multi ~ | |
460 'magic' 'nomagic' matches of the preceding atom ~ | |
461 |/star| * \* 0 or more as many as possible | |
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462 |/\+| \+ \+ 1 or more as many as possible |
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463 |/\=| \= \= 0 or 1 as many as possible |
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464 |/\?| \? \? 0 or 1 as many as possible |
7 | 465 |
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466 |/\{| \{n,m} \{n,m} n to m as many as possible |
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467 \{n} \{n} n exactly |
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468 \{n,} \{n,} at least n as many as possible |
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469 \{,m} \{,m} 0 to m as many as possible |
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470 \{} \{} 0 or more as many as possible (same as *) |
7 | 471 |
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472 |/\{-| \{-n,m} \{-n,m} n to m as few as possible |
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473 \{-n} \{-n} n exactly |
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474 \{-n,} \{-n,} at least n as few as possible |
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475 \{-,m} \{-,m} 0 to m as few as possible |
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476 \{-} \{-} 0 or more as few as possible |
7 | 477 |
478 *E59* | |
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479 |/\@>| \@> \@> 1, like matching a whole pattern |
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480 |/\@=| \@= \@= nothing, requires a match |/zero-width| |
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481 |/\@!| \@! \@! nothing, requires NO match |/zero-width| |
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482 |/\@<=| \@<= \@<= nothing, requires a match behind |/zero-width| |
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483 |/\@<!| \@<! \@<! nothing, requires NO match behind |/zero-width| |
7 | 484 |
485 | |
486 Overview of ordinary atoms. */ordinary-atom* | |
487 More explanation and examples below, follow the links. | |
488 | |
489 ordinary atom ~ | |
490 magic nomagic matches ~ | |
491 |/^| ^ ^ start-of-line (at start of pattern) |/zero-width| | |
492 |/\^| \^ \^ literal '^' | |
493 |/\_^| \_^ \_^ start-of-line (used anywhere) |/zero-width| | |
494 |/$| $ $ end-of-line (at end of pattern) |/zero-width| | |
495 |/\$| \$ \$ literal '$' | |
496 |/\_$| \_$ \_$ end-of-line (used anywhere) |/zero-width| | |
497 |/.| . \. any single character (not an end-of-line) | |
498 |/\_.| \_. \_. any single character or end-of-line | |
499 |/\<| \< \< beginning of a word |/zero-width| | |
500 |/\>| \> \> end of a word |/zero-width| | |
501 |/\zs| \zs \zs anything, sets start of match | |
502 |/\ze| \ze \ze anything, sets end of match | |
503 |/\%^| \%^ \%^ beginning of file |/zero-width| *E71* | |
504 |/\%$| \%$ \%$ end of file |/zero-width| | |
640 | 505 |/\%V| \%V \%V inside Visual area |/zero-width| |
7 | 506 |/\%#| \%# \%# cursor position |/zero-width| |
640 | 507 |/\%'m| \%'m \%'m mark m position |/zero-width| |
7 | 508 |/\%l| \%23l \%23l in line 23 |/zero-width| |
509 |/\%c| \%23c \%23c in column 23 |/zero-width| | |
510 |/\%v| \%23v \%23v in virtual column 23 |/zero-width| | |
511 | |
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512 Character classes: */character-classes* |
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513 magic nomagic matches ~ |
7 | 514 |/\i| \i \i identifier character (see 'isident' option) |
515 |/\I| \I \I like "\i", but excluding digits | |
516 |/\k| \k \k keyword character (see 'iskeyword' option) | |
517 |/\K| \K \K like "\k", but excluding digits | |
518 |/\f| \f \f file name character (see 'isfname' option) | |
519 |/\F| \F \F like "\f", but excluding digits | |
520 |/\p| \p \p printable character (see 'isprint' option) | |
521 |/\P| \P \P like "\p", but excluding digits | |
522 |/\s| \s \s whitespace character: <Space> and <Tab> | |
523 |/\S| \S \S non-whitespace character; opposite of \s | |
524 |/\d| \d \d digit: [0-9] | |
525 |/\D| \D \D non-digit: [^0-9] | |
526 |/\x| \x \x hex digit: [0-9A-Fa-f] | |
527 |/\X| \X \X non-hex digit: [^0-9A-Fa-f] | |
528 |/\o| \o \o octal digit: [0-7] | |
529 |/\O| \O \O non-octal digit: [^0-7] | |
530 |/\w| \w \w word character: [0-9A-Za-z_] | |
531 |/\W| \W \W non-word character: [^0-9A-Za-z_] | |
532 |/\h| \h \h head of word character: [A-Za-z_] | |
533 |/\H| \H \H non-head of word character: [^A-Za-z_] | |
534 |/\a| \a \a alphabetic character: [A-Za-z] | |
535 |/\A| \A \A non-alphabetic character: [^A-Za-z] | |
536 |/\l| \l \l lowercase character: [a-z] | |
537 |/\L| \L \L non-lowercase character: [^a-z] | |
538 |/\u| \u \u uppercase character: [A-Z] | |
539 |/\U| \U \U non-uppercase character [^A-Z] | |
540 |/\_| \_x \_x where x is any of the characters above: character | |
541 class with end-of-line included | |
542 (end of character classes) | |
543 | |
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544 magic nomagic matches ~ |
7 | 545 |/\e| \e \e <Esc> |
546 |/\t| \t \t <Tab> | |
547 |/\r| \r \r <CR> | |
548 |/\b| \b \b <BS> | |
549 |/\n| \n \n end-of-line | |
550 |/~| ~ \~ last given substitute string | |
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551 |/\1| \1 \1 same string as matched by first \(\) |
7 | 552 |/\2| \2 \2 Like "\1", but uses second \(\) |
553 ... | |
554 |/\9| \9 \9 Like "\1", but uses ninth \(\) | |
555 *E68* | |
556 |/\z1| \z1 \z1 only for syntax highlighting, see |:syn-ext-match| | |
557 ... | |
558 |/\z1| \z9 \z9 only for syntax highlighting, see |:syn-ext-match| | |
559 | |
560 x x a character with no special meaning matches itself | |
561 | |
562 |/[]| [] \[] any character specified inside the [] | |
4119 | 563 |/\%[]| \%[] \%[] a sequence of optionally matched atoms |
7 | 564 |
1620 | 565 |/\c| \c \c ignore case, do not use the 'ignorecase' option |
566 |/\C| \C \C match case, do not use the 'ignorecase' option | |
4444 | 567 |/\Z| \Z \Z ignore differences in Unicode "combining characters". |
568 Useful when searching voweled Hebrew or Arabic text. | |
569 | |
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570 magic nomagic matches ~ |
7 | 571 |/\m| \m \m 'magic' on for the following chars in the pattern |
572 |/\M| \M \M 'magic' off for the following chars in the pattern | |
573 |/\v| \v \v the following chars in the pattern are "very magic" | |
574 |/\V| \V \V the following chars in the pattern are "very nomagic" | |
4444 | 575 |/\%#=| \%#=1 \%#=1 select regexp engine |/zero-width| |
7 | 576 |
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577 |/\%d| \%d \%d match specified decimal character (eg \%d123) |
24 | 578 |/\%x| \%x \%x match specified hex character (eg \%x2a) |
579 |/\%o| \%o \%o match specified octal character (eg \%o040) | |
580 |/\%u| \%u \%u match specified multibyte character (eg \%u20ac) | |
581 |/\%U| \%U \%U match specified large multibyte character (eg | |
582 \%U12345678) | |
5901 | 583 |/\%C| \%C \%C match any composing characters |
7 | 584 |
585 Example matches ~ | |
586 \<\I\i* or | |
587 \<\h\w* | |
588 \<[a-zA-Z_][a-zA-Z0-9_]* | |
589 An identifier (e.g., in a C program). | |
590 | |
591 \(\.$\|\. \) A period followed by <EOL> or a space. | |
592 | |
593 [.!?][])"']*\($\|[ ]\) A search pattern that finds the end of a sentence, | |
594 with almost the same definition as the ")" command. | |
595 | |
596 cat\Z Both "cat" and "càt" ("a" followed by 0x0300) | |
597 Does not match "càt" (character 0x00e0), even | |
598 though it may look the same. | |
599 | |
600 | |
601 ============================================================================== | |
602 5. Multi items *pattern-multi-items* | |
603 | |
604 An atom can be followed by an indication of how many times the atom can be | |
605 matched and in what way. This is called a multi. See |/multi| for an | |
606 overview. | |
607 | |
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608 */star* */\star* |
7 | 609 * (use \* when 'magic' is not set) |
610 Matches 0 or more of the preceding atom, as many as possible. | |
611 Example 'nomagic' matches ~ | |
612 a* a\* "", "a", "aa", "aaa", etc. | |
613 .* \.\* anything, also an empty string, no end-of-line | |
614 \_.* \_.\* everything up to the end of the buffer | |
615 \_.*END \_.\*END everything up to and including the last "END" | |
616 in the buffer | |
617 | |
618 Exception: When "*" is used at the start of the pattern or just after | |
619 "^" it matches the star character. | |
620 | |
621 Be aware that repeating "\_." can match a lot of text and take a long | |
622 time. For example, "\_.*END" matches all text from the current | |
623 position to the last occurrence of "END" in the file. Since the "*" | |
624 will match as many as possible, this first skips over all lines until | |
625 the end of the file and then tries matching "END", backing up one | |
626 character at a time. | |
627 | |
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628 */\+* |
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629 \+ Matches 1 or more of the preceding atom, as many as possible. |
7 | 630 Example matches ~ |
631 ^.\+$ any non-empty line | |
632 \s\+ white space of at least one character | |
633 | |
634 */\=* | |
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635 \= Matches 0 or 1 of the preceding atom, as many as possible. |
7 | 636 Example matches ~ |
637 foo\= "fo" and "foo" | |
638 | |
639 */\?* | |
640 \? Just like \=. Cannot be used when searching backwards with the "?" | |
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641 command. |
7 | 642 |
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643 */\{* *E60* *E554* *E870* |
7 | 644 \{n,m} Matches n to m of the preceding atom, as many as possible |
645 \{n} Matches n of the preceding atom | |
646 \{n,} Matches at least n of the preceding atom, as many as possible | |
647 \{,m} Matches 0 to m of the preceding atom, as many as possible | |
648 \{} Matches 0 or more of the preceding atom, as many as possible (like *) | |
649 */\{-* | |
650 \{-n,m} matches n to m of the preceding atom, as few as possible | |
651 \{-n} matches n of the preceding atom | |
652 \{-n,} matches at least n of the preceding atom, as few as possible | |
653 \{-,m} matches 0 to m of the preceding atom, as few as possible | |
654 \{-} matches 0 or more of the preceding atom, as few as possible | |
655 | |
168 | 656 n and m are positive decimal numbers or zero |
1125 | 657 *non-greedy* |
7 | 658 If a "-" appears immediately after the "{", then a shortest match |
659 first algorithm is used (see example below). In particular, "\{-}" is | |
660 the same as "*" but uses the shortest match first algorithm. BUT: A | |
661 match that starts earlier is preferred over a shorter match: "a\{-}b" | |
662 matches "aaab" in "xaaab". | |
663 | |
664 Example matches ~ | |
665 ab\{2,3}c "abbc" or "abbbc" | |
1620 | 666 a\{5} "aaaaa" |
667 ab\{2,}c "abbc", "abbbc", "abbbbc", etc. | |
668 ab\{,3}c "ac", "abc", "abbc" or "abbbc" | |
7 | 669 a[bc]\{3}d "abbbd", "abbcd", "acbcd", "acccd", etc. |
670 a\(bc\)\{1,2}d "abcd" or "abcbcd" | |
671 a[bc]\{-}[cd] "abc" in "abcd" | |
672 a[bc]*[cd] "abcd" in "abcd" | |
673 | |
674 The } may optionally be preceded with a backslash: \{n,m\}. | |
675 | |
676 */\@=* | |
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677 \@= Matches the preceding atom with zero width. |
7 | 678 Like "(?=pattern)" in Perl. |
679 Example matches ~ | |
680 foo\(bar\)\@= "foo" in "foobar" | |
681 foo\(bar\)\@=foo nothing | |
682 */zero-width* | |
683 When using "\@=" (or "^", "$", "\<", "\>") no characters are included | |
684 in the match. These items are only used to check if a match can be | |
685 made. This can be tricky, because a match with following items will | |
686 be done in the same position. The last example above will not match | |
687 "foobarfoo", because it tries match "foo" in the same position where | |
688 "bar" matched. | |
689 | |
690 Note that using "\&" works the same as using "\@=": "foo\&.." is the | |
691 same as "\(foo\)\@=..". But using "\&" is easier, you don't need the | |
23164 | 692 parentheses. |
7 | 693 |
694 | |
695 */\@!* | |
696 \@! Matches with zero width if the preceding atom does NOT match at the | |
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697 current position. |/zero-width| |
3513 | 698 Like "(?!pattern)" in Perl. |
7 | 699 Example matches ~ |
700 foo\(bar\)\@! any "foo" not followed by "bar" | |
3513 | 701 a.\{-}p\@! "a", "ap", "app", "appp", etc. not immediately |
2908 | 702 followed by a "p" |
7 | 703 if \(\(then\)\@!.\)*$ "if " not followed by "then" |
704 | |
705 Using "\@!" is tricky, because there are many places where a pattern | |
706 does not match. "a.*p\@!" will match from an "a" to the end of the | |
707 line, because ".*" can match all characters in the line and the "p" | |
708 doesn't match at the end of the line. "a.\{-}p\@!" will match any | |
3513 | 709 "a", "ap", "app", etc. that isn't followed by a "p", because the "." |
7 | 710 can match a "p" and "p\@!" doesn't match after that. |
711 | |
712 You can't use "\@!" to look for a non-match before the matching | |
713 position: "\(foo\)\@!bar" will match "bar" in "foobar", because at the | |
714 position where "bar" matches, "foo" does not match. To avoid matching | |
715 "foobar" you could use "\(foo\)\@!...bar", but that doesn't match a | |
237 | 716 bar at the start of a line. Use "\(foo\)\@<!bar". |
7 | 717 |
2788 | 718 Useful example: to find "foo" in a line that does not contain "bar": > |
719 /^\%(.*bar\)\@!.*\zsfoo | |
720 < This pattern first checks that there is not a single position in the | |
721 line where "bar" matches. If ".*bar" matches somewhere the \@! will | |
722 reject the pattern. When there is no match any "foo" will be found. | |
723 The "\zs" is to have the match start just before "foo". | |
724 | |
7 | 725 */\@<=* |
726 \@<= Matches with zero width if the preceding atom matches just before what | |
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727 follows. |/zero-width| |
3513 | 728 Like "(?<=pattern)" in Perl, but Vim allows non-fixed-width patterns. |
7 | 729 Example matches ~ |
730 \(an\_s\+\)\@<=file "file" after "an" and white space or an | |
731 end-of-line | |
732 For speed it's often much better to avoid this multi. Try using "\zs" | |
733 instead |/\zs|. To match the same as the above example: | |
734 an\_s\+\zsfile | |
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735 At least set a limit for the look-behind, see below. |
7 | 736 |
737 "\@<=" and "\@<!" check for matches just before what follows. | |
738 Theoretically these matches could start anywhere before this position. | |
739 But to limit the time needed, only the line where what follows matches | |
740 is searched, and one line before that (if there is one). This should | |
741 be sufficient to match most things and not be too slow. | |
6153 | 742 |
743 In the old regexp engine the part of the pattern after "\@<=" and | |
744 "\@<!" are checked for a match first, thus things like "\1" don't work | |
745 to reference \(\) inside the preceding atom. It does work the other | |
746 way around: | |
747 Bad example matches ~ | |
748 \%#=1\1\@<=,\([a-z]\+\) ",abc" in "abc,abc" | |
749 | |
750 However, the new regexp engine works differently, it is better to not | |
751 rely on this behavior, do not use \@<= if it can be avoided: | |
752 Example matches ~ | |
753 \([a-z]\+\)\zs,\1 ",abc" in "abc,abc" | |
7 | 754 |
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755 \@123<= |
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756 Like "\@<=" but only look back 123 bytes. This avoids trying lots |
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757 of matches that are known to fail and make executing the pattern very |
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758 slow. Example, check if there is a "<" just before "span": |
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759 /<\@1<=span |
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760 This will try matching "<" only one byte before "span", which is the |
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761 only place that works anyway. |
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762 After crossing a line boundary, the limit is relative to the end of |
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763 the line. Thus the characters at the start of the line with the match |
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764 are not counted (this is just to keep it simple). |
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765 The number zero is the same as no limit. |
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766 |
7 | 767 */\@<!* |
768 \@<! Matches with zero width if the preceding atom does NOT match just | |
769 before what follows. Thus this matches if there is no position in the | |
770 current or previous line where the atom matches such that it ends just | |
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771 before what follows. |/zero-width| |
3513 | 772 Like "(?<!pattern)" in Perl, but Vim allows non-fixed-width patterns. |
7 | 773 The match with the preceding atom is made to end just before the match |
774 with what follows, thus an atom that ends in ".*" will work. | |
775 Warning: This can be slow (because many positions need to be checked | |
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776 for a match). Use a limit if you can, see below. |
7 | 777 Example matches ~ |
778 \(foo\)\@<!bar any "bar" that's not in "foobar" | |
1620 | 779 \(\/\/.*\)\@<!in "in" which is not after "//" |
7 | 780 |
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781 \@123<! |
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782 Like "\@<!" but only look back 123 bytes. This avoids trying lots of |
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783 matches that are known to fail and make executing the pattern very |
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784 slow. |
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785 |
7 | 786 */\@>* |
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787 \@> Matches the preceding atom like matching a whole pattern. |
1620 | 788 Like "(?>pattern)" in Perl. |
7 | 789 Example matches ~ |
790 \(a*\)\@>a nothing (the "a*" takes all the "a"'s, there can't be | |
791 another one following) | |
792 | |
793 This matches the preceding atom as if it was a pattern by itself. If | |
794 it doesn't match, there is no retry with shorter sub-matches or | |
795 anything. Observe this difference: "a*b" and "a*ab" both match | |
796 "aaab", but in the second case the "a*" matches only the first two | |
797 "a"s. "\(a*\)\@>ab" will not match "aaab", because the "a*" matches | |
798 the "aaa" (as many "a"s as possible), thus the "ab" can't match. | |
799 | |
800 | |
801 ============================================================================== | |
802 6. Ordinary atoms *pattern-atoms* | |
803 | |
804 An ordinary atom can be: | |
805 | |
806 */^* | |
807 ^ At beginning of pattern or after "\|", "\(", "\%(" or "\n": matches | |
808 start-of-line; at other positions, matches literal '^'. |/zero-width| | |
809 Example matches ~ | |
810 ^beep( the start of the C function "beep" (probably). | |
811 | |
812 */\^* | |
22171 | 813 \^ Matches literal '^'. Can be used at any position in the pattern, but |
814 not inside []. | |
7 | 815 |
816 */\_^* | |
817 \_^ Matches start-of-line. |/zero-width| Can be used at any position in | |
22171 | 818 the pattern, but not inside []. |
7 | 819 Example matches ~ |
820 \_s*\_^foo white space and blank lines and then "foo" at | |
821 start-of-line | |
822 | |
823 */$* | |
1620 | 824 $ At end of pattern or in front of "\|", "\)" or "\n" ('magic' on): |
7 | 825 matches end-of-line <EOL>; at other positions, matches literal '$'. |
826 |/zero-width| | |
827 | |
828 */\$* | |
22171 | 829 \$ Matches literal '$'. Can be used at any position in the pattern, but |
830 not inside []. | |
7 | 831 |
832 */\_$* | |
833 \_$ Matches end-of-line. |/zero-width| Can be used at any position in the | |
22171 | 834 pattern, but not inside []. Note that "a\_$b" never matches, since |
835 "b" cannot match an end-of-line. Use "a\nb" instead |/\n|. | |
7 | 836 Example matches ~ |
837 foo\_$\_s* "foo" at end-of-line and following white space and | |
838 blank lines | |
839 | |
840 . (with 'nomagic': \.) */.* */\.* | |
841 Matches any single character, but not an end-of-line. | |
842 | |
843 */\_.* | |
844 \_. Matches any single character or end-of-line. | |
845 Careful: "\_.*" matches all text to the end of the buffer! | |
846 | |
847 */\<* | |
848 \< Matches the beginning of a word: The next char is the first char of a | |
849 word. The 'iskeyword' option specifies what is a word character. | |
850 |/zero-width| | |
851 | |
852 */\>* | |
853 \> Matches the end of a word: The previous char is the last char of a | |
237 | 854 word. The 'iskeyword' option specifies what is a word character. |
7 | 855 |/zero-width| |
856 | |
857 */\zs* | |
22171 | 858 \zs Matches at any position, but not inside [], and sets the start of the |
859 match there: The next char is the first char of the whole match. | |
860 |/zero-width| | |
7 | 861 Example: > |
862 /^\s*\zsif | |
863 < matches an "if" at the start of a line, ignoring white space. | |
864 Can be used multiple times, the last one encountered in a matching | |
237 | 865 branch is used. Example: > |
7 | 866 /\(.\{-}\zsFab\)\{3} |
867 < Finds the third occurrence of "Fab". | |
6180 | 868 This cannot be followed by a multi. *E888* |
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869 {not available when compiled without the |+syntax| feature} |
7 | 870 */\ze* |
22171 | 871 \ze Matches at any position, but not inside [], and sets the end of the |
872 match there: The previous char is the last char of the whole match. | |
873 |/zero-width| | |
7 | 874 Can be used multiple times, the last one encountered in a matching |
875 branch is used. | |
876 Example: "end\ze\(if\|for\)" matches the "end" in "endif" and | |
877 "endfor". | |
6213 | 878 This cannot be followed by a multi. |E888| |
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879 {not available when compiled without the |+syntax| feature} |
7 | 880 |
881 */\%^* *start-of-file* | |
882 \%^ Matches start of the file. When matching with a string, matches the | |
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883 start of the string. |
7 | 884 For example, to find the first "VIM" in a file: > |
885 /\%^\_.\{-}\zsVIM | |
886 < | |
887 */\%$* *end-of-file* | |
888 \%$ Matches end of the file. When matching with a string, matches the | |
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889 end of the string. |
7 | 890 Note that this does NOT find the last "VIM" in a file: > |
891 /VIM\_.\{-}\%$ | |
892 < It will find the next VIM, because the part after it will always | |
893 match. This one will find the last "VIM" in the file: > | |
894 /VIM\ze\(\(VIM\)\@!\_.\)*\%$ | |
895 < This uses |/\@!| to ascertain that "VIM" does NOT match in any | |
896 position after the first "VIM". | |
897 Searching from the end of the file backwards is easier! | |
898 | |
640 | 899 */\%V* |
900 \%V Match inside the Visual area. When Visual mode has already been | |
901 stopped match in the area that |gv| would reselect. | |
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902 This is a |/zero-width| match. To make sure the whole pattern is |
11062 | 903 inside the Visual area put it at the start and just before the end of |
904 the pattern, e.g.: > | |
905 /\%Vfoo.*ba\%Vr | |
11160 | 906 < This also works if only "foo bar" was Visually selected. This: > |
907 /\%Vfoo.*bar\%V | |
11062 | 908 < would match "foo bar" if the Visual selection continues after the "r". |
909 Only works for the current buffer. | |
640 | 910 |
7 | 911 */\%#* *cursor-position* |
912 \%# Matches with the cursor position. Only works when matching in a | |
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913 buffer displayed in a window. |
7 | 914 WARNING: When the cursor is moved after the pattern was used, the |
915 result becomes invalid. Vim doesn't automatically update the matches. | |
916 This is especially relevant for syntax highlighting and 'hlsearch'. | |
917 In other words: When the cursor moves the display isn't updated for | |
918 this change. An update is done for lines which are changed (the whole | |
919 line is updated) or when using the |CTRL-L| command (the whole screen | |
920 is updated). Example, to highlight the word under the cursor: > | |
921 /\k*\%#\k* | |
922 < When 'hlsearch' is set and you move the cursor around and make changes | |
923 this will clearly show when the match is updated or not. | |
924 | |
640 | 925 */\%'m* */\%<'m* */\%>'m* |
926 \%'m Matches with the position of mark m. | |
927 \%<'m Matches before the position of mark m. | |
928 \%>'m Matches after the position of mark m. | |
929 Example, to highlight the text from mark 's to 'e: > | |
930 /.\%>'s.*\%<'e.. | |
931 < Note that two dots are required to include mark 'e in the match. That | |
932 is because "\%<'e" matches at the character before the 'e mark, and | |
933 since it's a |/zero-width| match it doesn't include that character. | |
934 WARNING: When the mark is moved after the pattern was used, the result | |
935 becomes invalid. Vim doesn't automatically update the matches. | |
651 | 936 Similar to moving the cursor for "\%#" |/\%#|. |
640 | 937 |
29533 | 938 */\%l* */\%>l* */\%<l* *E951* *E1204* *E1273* |
7 | 939 \%23l Matches in a specific line. |
625 | 940 \%<23l Matches above a specific line (lower line number). |
941 \%>23l Matches below a specific line (higher line number). | |
27036 | 942 \%.l Matches at the cursor line. |
943 \%<.l Matches above the cursor line. | |
944 \%>.l Matches below the cursor line. | |
25973 | 945 These six can be used to match specific lines in a buffer. The "23" |
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946 can be any line number. The first line is 1. |
7 | 947 WARNING: When inserting or deleting lines Vim does not automatically |
948 update the matches. This means Syntax highlighting quickly becomes | |
25402 | 949 wrong. Also when referring to the cursor position (".") and |
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950 the cursor moves the display isn't updated for this change. An update |
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951 is done when using the |CTRL-L| command (the whole screen is updated). |
7 | 952 Example, to highlight the line where the cursor currently is: > |
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953 :exe '/\%' . line(".") . 'l' |
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954 < Alternatively use: > |
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955 /\%.l |
7 | 956 < When 'hlsearch' is set and you move the cursor around and make changes |
957 this will clearly show when the match is updated or not. | |
958 | |
959 */\%c* */\%>c* */\%<c* | |
960 \%23c Matches in a specific column. | |
961 \%<23c Matches before a specific column. | |
962 \%>23c Matches after a specific column. | |
27036 | 963 \%.c Matches at the cursor column. |
964 \%<.c Matches before the cursor column. | |
965 \%>.c Matches after the cursor column. | |
25973 | 966 These six can be used to match specific columns in a buffer or string. |
967 The "23" can be any column number. The first column is 1. Actually, | |
968 the column is the byte number (thus it's not exactly right for | |
969 multibyte characters). | |
7 | 970 WARNING: When inserting or deleting text Vim does not automatically |
971 update the matches. This means Syntax highlighting quickly becomes | |
25402 | 972 wrong. Also when referring to the cursor position (".") and |
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973 the cursor moves the display isn't updated for this change. An update |
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974 is done when using the |CTRL-L| command (the whole screen is updated). |
7 | 975 Example, to highlight the column where the cursor currently is: > |
27903 | 976 :exe '/\%' .. col(".") .. 'c' |
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977 < Alternatively use: > |
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978 /\%.c |
7 | 979 < When 'hlsearch' is set and you move the cursor around and make changes |
980 this will clearly show when the match is updated or not. | |
981 Example for matching a single byte in column 44: > | |
982 /\%>43c.\%<46c | |
983 < Note that "\%<46c" matches in column 45 when the "." matches a byte in | |
984 column 44. | |
985 */\%v* */\%>v* */\%<v* | |
986 \%23v Matches in a specific virtual column. | |
987 \%<23v Matches before a specific virtual column. | |
988 \%>23v Matches after a specific virtual column. | |
27036 | 989 \%.v Matches at the current virtual column. |
990 \%<.v Matches before the current virtual column. | |
991 \%>.v Matches after the current virtual column. | |
25973 | 992 These six can be used to match specific virtual columns in a buffer or |
993 string. When not matching with a buffer in a window, the option | |
7 | 994 values of the current window are used (e.g., 'tabstop'). |
995 The "23" can be any column number. The first column is 1. | |
996 Note that some virtual column positions will never match, because they | |
1270 | 997 are halfway through a tab or other character that occupies more than |
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998 one screen character. |
7 | 999 WARNING: When inserting or deleting text Vim does not automatically |
283 | 1000 update highlighted matches. This means Syntax highlighting quickly |
25402 | 1001 becomes wrong. Also when referring to the cursor position (".") and |
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1002 the cursor moves the display isn't updated for this change. An update |
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1003 is done when using the |CTRL-L| command (the whole screen is updated). |
1620 | 1004 Example, to highlight all the characters after virtual column 72: > |
7 | 1005 /\%>72v.* |
1006 < When 'hlsearch' is set and you move the cursor around and make changes | |
1007 this will clearly show when the match is updated or not. | |
1008 To match the text up to column 17: > | |
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1009 /^.*\%17v |
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1010 < To match all characters after the current virtual column (where the |
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1011 cursor is): > |
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1012 /\%>.v.* |
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1013 < Column 17 is not included, because this is a |/zero-width| match. To |
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1014 include the column use: > |
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1015 /^.*\%17v. |
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1016 < This command does the same thing, but also matches when there is no |
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1017 character in column 17: > |
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1018 /^.*\%<18v. |
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1019 < Note that without the "^" to anchor the match in the first column, |
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1020 this will also highlight column 17: > |
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1021 /.*\%17v |
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1022 < Column 17 is highlighted by 'hlsearch' because there is another match |
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1023 where ".*" matches zero characters. |
25973 | 1024 |
7 | 1025 |
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1026 Character classes: |
7 | 1027 \i identifier character (see 'isident' option) */\i* |
1028 \I like "\i", but excluding digits */\I* | |
1029 \k keyword character (see 'iskeyword' option) */\k* | |
1030 \K like "\k", but excluding digits */\K* | |
1031 \f file name character (see 'isfname' option) */\f* | |
1032 \F like "\f", but excluding digits */\F* | |
1033 \p printable character (see 'isprint' option) */\p* | |
1034 \P like "\p", but excluding digits */\P* | |
1035 | |
21991 | 1036 NOTE: the above also work for multibyte characters. The ones below only |
7 | 1037 match ASCII characters, as indicated by the range. |
1038 | |
1039 *whitespace* *white-space* | |
1040 \s whitespace character: <Space> and <Tab> */\s* | |
1041 \S non-whitespace character; opposite of \s */\S* | |
1042 \d digit: [0-9] */\d* | |
1043 \D non-digit: [^0-9] */\D* | |
1044 \x hex digit: [0-9A-Fa-f] */\x* | |
1045 \X non-hex digit: [^0-9A-Fa-f] */\X* | |
1046 \o octal digit: [0-7] */\o* | |
1047 \O non-octal digit: [^0-7] */\O* | |
1048 \w word character: [0-9A-Za-z_] */\w* | |
1049 \W non-word character: [^0-9A-Za-z_] */\W* | |
1050 \h head of word character: [A-Za-z_] */\h* | |
1051 \H non-head of word character: [^A-Za-z_] */\H* | |
1052 \a alphabetic character: [A-Za-z] */\a* | |
1053 \A non-alphabetic character: [^A-Za-z] */\A* | |
1054 \l lowercase character: [a-z] */\l* | |
1055 \L non-lowercase character: [^a-z] */\L* | |
1056 \u uppercase character: [A-Z] */\u* | |
3224 | 1057 \U non-uppercase character: [^A-Z] */\U* |
7 | 1058 |
1059 NOTE: Using the atom is faster than the [] form. | |
1060 | |
1061 NOTE: 'ignorecase', "\c" and "\C" are not used by character classes. | |
1062 | |
1063 */\_* *E63* */\_i* */\_I* */\_k* */\_K* */\_f* */\_F* | |
1064 */\_p* */\_P* */\_s* */\_S* */\_d* */\_D* */\_x* */\_X* | |
1065 */\_o* */\_O* */\_w* */\_W* */\_h* */\_H* */\_a* */\_A* | |
1066 */\_l* */\_L* */\_u* */\_U* | |
1067 \_x Where "x" is any of the characters above: The character class with | |
1068 end-of-line added | |
1069 (end of character classes) | |
1070 | |
1071 \e matches <Esc> */\e* | |
1072 \t matches <Tab> */\t* | |
1073 \r matches <CR> */\r* | |
1074 \b matches <BS> */\b* | |
1075 \n matches an end-of-line */\n* | |
1076 When matching in a string instead of buffer text a literal newline | |
1077 character is matched. | |
1078 | |
1079 ~ matches the last given substitute string */~* */\~* | |
1080 | |
1081 \(\) A pattern enclosed by escaped parentheses. */\(* */\(\)* */\)* | |
4444 | 1082 E.g., "\(^a\)" matches 'a' at the start of a line. |
27036 | 1083 There can only be ten of these. You can use "\%(" to add more, but |
1084 not counting it as a sub-expression. | |
4444 | 1085 *E51* *E54* *E55* *E872* *E873* |
7 | 1086 |
1087 \1 Matches the same string that was matched by */\1* *E65* | |
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1088 the first sub-expression in \( and \). |
7 | 1089 Example: "\([a-z]\).\1" matches "ata", "ehe", "tot", etc. |
1090 \2 Like "\1", but uses second sub-expression, */\2* | |
1091 ... */\3* | |
1092 \9 Like "\1", but uses ninth sub-expression. */\9* | |
1093 Note: The numbering of groups is done based on which "\(" comes first | |
1094 in the pattern (going left to right), NOT based on what is matched | |
1095 first. | |
1096 | |
1097 \%(\) A pattern enclosed by escaped parentheses. */\%(\)* */\%(* *E53* | |
1098 Just like \(\), but without counting it as a sub-expression. This | |
1099 allows using more groups and it's a little bit faster. | |
1100 | |
1101 x A single character, with no special meaning, matches itself | |
1102 | |
1103 */\* */\\* | |
1104 \x A backslash followed by a single character, with no special meaning, | |
1105 is reserved for future expansions | |
1106 | |
27036 | 1107 [] (with 'nomagic': \[]) */[]* */\[]* */\_[]* */collection* *E76* |
7 | 1108 \_[] |
23164 | 1109 A collection. This is a sequence of characters enclosed in square |
1110 brackets. It matches any single character in the collection. | |
7 | 1111 Example matches ~ |
1112 [xyz] any 'x', 'y' or 'z' | |
1113 [a-zA-Z]$ any alphabetic character at the end of a line | |
1114 \c[a-z]$ same | |
4073 | 1115 [А-яЁё] Russian alphabet (with utf-8 and cp1251) |
1116 | |
1125 | 1117 */[\n]* |
7 | 1118 With "\_" prepended the collection also includes the end-of-line. |
1119 The same can be done by including "\n" in the collection. The | |
1120 end-of-line is also matched when the collection starts with "^"! Thus | |
1121 "\_[^ab]" matches the end-of-line and any character but "a" and "b". | |
1122 This makes it Vi compatible: Without the "\_" or "\n" the collection | |
1123 does not match an end-of-line. | |
484 | 1124 *E769* |
481 | 1125 When the ']' is not there Vim will not give an error message but |
484 | 1126 assume no collection is used. Useful to search for '['. However, you |
6697 | 1127 do get E769 for internal searching. And be aware that in a |
1128 `:substitute` command the whole command becomes the pattern. E.g. | |
1129 ":s/[/x/" searches for "[/x" and replaces it with nothing. It does | |
1130 not search for "[" and replaces it with "x"! | |
481 | 1131 |
11518 | 1132 *E944* *E945* |
7 | 1133 If the sequence begins with "^", it matches any single character NOT |
1134 in the collection: "[^xyz]" matches anything but 'x', 'y' and 'z'. | |
1135 - If two characters in the sequence are separated by '-', this is | |
1136 shorthand for the full list of ASCII characters between them. E.g., | |
11518 | 1137 "[0-9]" matches any decimal digit. If the starting character exceeds |
1138 the ending character, e.g. [c-a], E944 occurs. Non-ASCII characters | |
1139 can be used, but the character values must not be more than 256 apart | |
1140 in the old regexp engine. For example, searching by [\u3000-\u4000] | |
1141 after setting re=1 emits a E945 error. Prepending \%#=2 will fix it. | |
7 | 1142 - A character class expression is evaluated to the set of characters |
1143 belonging to that character class. The following character classes | |
1144 are supported: | |
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1145 Name Func Contents ~ |
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1146 *[:alnum:]* [:alnum:] isalnum ASCII letters and digits |
32004 | 1147 *[:alpha:]* [:alpha:] isalpha ASCII letters |
1148 *[:blank:]* [:blank:] space and tab | |
1149 *[:cntrl:]* [:cntrl:] iscntrl ASCII control characters | |
1150 *[:digit:]* [:digit:] decimal digits '0' to '9' | |
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1151 *[:graph:]* [:graph:] isgraph ASCII printable characters excluding |
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1152 space |
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1153 *[:lower:]* [:lower:] (1) lowercase letters (all letters when |
7 | 1154 'ignorecase' is used) |
32004 | 1155 *[:print:]* [:print:] (2) printable characters including space |
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1156 *[:punct:]* [:punct:] ispunct ASCII punctuation characters |
32004 | 1157 *[:space:]* [:space:] whitespace characters: space, tab, CR, |
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1158 NL, vertical tab, form feed |
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1159 *[:upper:]* [:upper:] (3) uppercase letters (all letters when |
7 | 1160 'ignorecase' is used) |
32004 | 1161 *[:xdigit:]* [:xdigit:] hexadecimal digits: 0-9, a-f, A-F |
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1162 *[:return:]* [:return:] the <CR> character |
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1163 *[:tab:]* [:tab:] the <Tab> character |
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1164 *[:escape:]* [:escape:] the <Esc> character |
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1165 *[:backspace:]* [:backspace:] the <BS> character |
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1166 *[:ident:]* [:ident:] identifier character (same as "\i") |
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1167 *[:keyword:]* [:keyword:] keyword character (same as "\k") |
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1168 *[:fname:]* [:fname:] file name character (same as "\f") |
23164 | 1169 The square brackets in character class expressions are additional to |
1170 the square brackets delimiting a collection. For example, the | |
1171 following is a plausible pattern for a UNIX filename: | |
1172 "[-./[:alnum:]_~]\+". That is, a list of at least one character, | |
1173 each of which is either '-', '.', '/', alphabetic, numeric, '_' or | |
1174 '~'. | |
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1175 These items only work for 8-bit characters, except [:lower:] and |
21991 | 1176 [:upper:] also work for multibyte characters when using the new |
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1177 regexp engine. See |two-engines|. In the future these items may |
21991 | 1178 work for multibyte characters. For now, to get all "alpha" |
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1179 characters you can use: [[:lower:][:upper:]]. |
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1180 |
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1181 The "Func" column shows what library function is used. The |
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1182 implementation depends on the system. Otherwise: |
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1183 (1) Uses islower() for ASCII and Vim builtin rules for other |
15878 | 1184 characters. |
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1185 (2) Uses Vim builtin rules |
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1186 (3) As with (1) but using isupper() |
168 | 1187 */[[=* *[==]* |
1188 - An equivalence class. This means that characters are matched that | |
2974 | 1189 have almost the same meaning, e.g., when ignoring accents. This |
1190 only works for Unicode, latin1 and latin9. The form is: | |
856 | 1191 [=a=] |
168 | 1192 */[[.* *[..]* |
1193 - A collation element. This currently simply accepts a single | |
1194 character in the form: | |
856 | 1195 [.a.] |
7 | 1196 */\]* |
1197 - To include a literal ']', '^', '-' or '\' in the collection, put a | |
1198 backslash before it: "[xyz\]]", "[\^xyz]", "[xy\-z]" and "[xyz\\]". | |
1199 (Note: POSIX does not support the use of a backslash this way). For | |
1200 ']' you can also make it the first character (following a possible | |
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1201 "^"): "[]xyz]" or "[^]xyz]". |
7 | 1202 For '-' you can also make it the first or last character: "[-xyz]", |
1203 "[^-xyz]" or "[xyz-]". For '\' you can also let it be followed by | |
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1204 any character that's not in "^]-\bdertnoUux". "[\xyz]" matches '\', |
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1205 'x', 'y' and 'z'. It's better to use "\\" though, future expansions |
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1206 may use other characters after '\'. |
4339 | 1207 - Omitting the trailing ] is not considered an error. "[]" works like |
1208 "[]]", it matches the ']' character. | |
7 | 1209 - The following translations are accepted when the 'l' flag is not |
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1210 included in 'cpoptions': |
7 | 1211 \e <Esc> |
1212 \t <Tab> | |
1213 \r <CR> (NOT end-of-line!) | |
1214 \b <BS> | |
1125 | 1215 \n line break, see above |/[\n]| |
24 | 1216 \d123 decimal number of character |
23573 | 1217 \o40 octal number of character up to 0o377 |
24 | 1218 \x20 hexadecimal number of character up to 0xff |
1219 \u20AC hex. number of multibyte character up to 0xffff | |
1220 \U1234 hex. number of multibyte character up to 0xffffffff | |
7 | 1221 NOTE: The other backslash codes mentioned above do not work inside |
1222 []! | |
1223 - Matching with a collection can be slow, because each character in | |
1224 the text has to be compared with each character in the collection. | |
1225 Use one of the other atoms above when possible. Example: "\d" is | |
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1226 much faster than "[0-9]" and matches the same characters. However, |
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1227 the new |NFA| regexp engine deals with this better than the old one. |
7 | 1228 |
1229 */\%[]* *E69* *E70* *E369* | |
24 | 1230 \%[] A sequence of optionally matched atoms. This always matches. |
7 | 1231 It matches as much of the list of atoms it contains as possible. Thus |
1232 it stops at the first atom that doesn't match. For example: > | |
1233 /r\%[ead] | |
1234 < matches "r", "re", "rea" or "read". The longest that matches is used. | |
1235 To match the Ex command "function", where "fu" is required and | |
1236 "nction" is optional, this would work: > | |
1237 /\<fu\%[nction]\> | |
1238 < The end-of-word atom "\>" is used to avoid matching "fu" in "full". | |
1239 It gets more complicated when the atoms are not ordinary characters. | |
1240 You don't often have to use it, but it is possible. Example: > | |
1241 /\<r\%[[eo]ad]\> | |
1242 < Matches the words "r", "re", "ro", "rea", "roa", "read" and "road". | |
1125 | 1243 There can be no \(\), \%(\) or \z(\) items inside the [] and \%[] does |
1244 not nest. | |
1620 | 1245 To include a "[" use "[[]" and for "]" use []]", e.g.,: > |
1246 /index\%[[[]0[]]] | |
1247 < matches "index" "index[", "index[0" and "index[0]". | |
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1248 {not available when compiled without the |+syntax| feature} |
7 | 1249 |
140 | 1250 */\%d* */\%x* */\%o* */\%u* */\%U* *E678* |
24 | 1251 |
1252 \%d123 Matches the character specified with a decimal number. Must be | |
1253 followed by a non-digit. | |
24911 | 1254 \%o40 Matches the character specified with an octal number up to 0o377. |
23573 | 1255 Numbers below 0o40 must be followed by a non-octal digit or a |
1256 non-digit. | |
24 | 1257 \%x2a Matches the character specified with up to two hexadecimal characters. |
1258 \%u20AC Matches the character specified with up to four hexadecimal | |
1259 characters. | |
1260 \%U1234abcd Matches the character specified with up to eight hexadecimal | |
15932 | 1261 characters, up to 0x7fffffff |
7 | 1262 |
1263 ============================================================================== | |
1264 7. Ignoring case in a pattern */ignorecase* | |
1265 | |
1266 If the 'ignorecase' option is on, the case of normal letters is ignored. | |
1267 'smartcase' can be set to ignore case when the pattern contains lowercase | |
1268 letters only. | |
1269 */\c* */\C* | |
1270 When "\c" appears anywhere in the pattern, the whole pattern is handled like | |
1271 'ignorecase' is on. The actual value of 'ignorecase' and 'smartcase' is | |
1272 ignored. "\C" does the opposite: Force matching case for the whole pattern. | |
1273 {only Vim supports \c and \C} | |
1274 Note that 'ignorecase', "\c" and "\C" are not used for the character classes. | |
1275 | |
1276 Examples: | |
1277 pattern 'ignorecase' 'smartcase' matches ~ | |
1278 foo off - foo | |
1279 foo on - foo Foo FOO | |
1280 Foo on off foo Foo FOO | |
1281 Foo on on Foo | |
1282 \cfoo - - foo Foo FOO | |
1283 foo\C - - foo | |
1284 | |
1285 Technical detail: *NL-used-for-Nul* | |
1286 <Nul> characters in the file are stored as <NL> in memory. In the display | |
1287 they are shown as "^@". The translation is done when reading and writing | |
1288 files. To match a <Nul> with a search pattern you can just enter CTRL-@ or | |
1289 "CTRL-V 000". This is probably just what you expect. Internally the | |
1290 character is replaced with a <NL> in the search pattern. What is unusual is | |
1291 that typing CTRL-V CTRL-J also inserts a <NL>, thus also searches for a <Nul> | |
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1292 in the file. |
7 | 1293 |
1294 *CR-used-for-NL* | |
1295 When 'fileformat' is "mac", <NL> characters in the file are stored as <CR> | |
1698 | 1296 characters internally. In the text they are shown as "^J". Otherwise this |
7 | 1297 works similar to the usage of <NL> for a <Nul>. |
1298 | |
1299 When working with expression evaluation, a <NL> character in the pattern | |
1300 matches a <NL> in the string. The use of "\n" (backslash n) to match a <NL> | |
1301 doesn't work there, it only works to match text in the buffer. | |
1302 | |
21991 | 1303 *pattern-multi-byte* *pattern-multibyte* |
1304 Patterns will also work with multibyte characters, mostly as you would | |
7 | 1305 expect. But invalid bytes may cause trouble, a pattern with an invalid byte |
1306 will probably never match. | |
1307 | |
1308 ============================================================================== | |
714 | 1309 8. Composing characters *patterns-composing* |
1310 | |
1311 */\Z* | |
5901 | 1312 When "\Z" appears anywhere in the pattern, all composing characters are |
1313 ignored. Thus only the base characters need to match, the composing | |
1314 characters may be different and the number of composing characters may differ. | |
1315 Only relevant when 'encoding' is "utf-8". | |
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1316 Exception: If the pattern starts with one or more composing characters, these |
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1317 must match. |
5901 | 1318 */\%C* |
1319 Use "\%C" to skip any composing characters. For example, the pattern "a" does | |
1320 not match in "càt" (where the a has the composing character 0x0300), but | |
1321 "a\%C" does. Note that this does not match "cát" (where the á is character | |
1322 0xe1, it does not have a compositing character). It does match "cat" (where | |
1323 the a is just an a). | |
714 | 1324 |
21250 | 1325 When a composing character appears at the start of the pattern or after an |
714 | 1326 item that doesn't include the composing character, a match is found at any |
1327 character that includes this composing character. | |
1328 | |
1329 When using a dot and a composing character, this works the same as the | |
1330 composing character by itself, except that it doesn't matter what comes before | |
1331 this. | |
1332 | |
4681
2eb30f341e8d
Updated runtime files and translations.
Bram Moolenaar <bram@vim.org>
parents:
4444
diff
changeset
|
1333 The order of composing characters does not matter. Also, the text may have |
2eb30f341e8d
Updated runtime files and translations.
Bram Moolenaar <bram@vim.org>
parents:
4444
diff
changeset
|
1334 more composing characters than the pattern, it still matches. But all |
2eb30f341e8d
Updated runtime files and translations.
Bram Moolenaar <bram@vim.org>
parents:
4444
diff
changeset
|
1335 composing characters in the pattern must be found in the text. |
2eb30f341e8d
Updated runtime files and translations.
Bram Moolenaar <bram@vim.org>
parents:
4444
diff
changeset
|
1336 |
2eb30f341e8d
Updated runtime files and translations.
Bram Moolenaar <bram@vim.org>
parents:
4444
diff
changeset
|
1337 Suppose B is a base character and x and y are composing characters: |
2eb30f341e8d
Updated runtime files and translations.
Bram Moolenaar <bram@vim.org>
parents:
4444
diff
changeset
|
1338 pattern text match ~ |
2eb30f341e8d
Updated runtime files and translations.
Bram Moolenaar <bram@vim.org>
parents:
4444
diff
changeset
|
1339 Bxy Bxy yes (perfect match) |
2eb30f341e8d
Updated runtime files and translations.
Bram Moolenaar <bram@vim.org>
parents:
4444
diff
changeset
|
1340 Bxy Byx yes (order ignored) |
2eb30f341e8d
Updated runtime files and translations.
Bram Moolenaar <bram@vim.org>
parents:
4444
diff
changeset
|
1341 Bxy By no (x missing) |
2eb30f341e8d
Updated runtime files and translations.
Bram Moolenaar <bram@vim.org>
parents:
4444
diff
changeset
|
1342 Bxy Bx no (y missing) |
4780 | 1343 Bx Bx yes (perfect match) |
4681
2eb30f341e8d
Updated runtime files and translations.
Bram Moolenaar <bram@vim.org>
parents:
4444
diff
changeset
|
1344 Bx By no (x missing) |
2eb30f341e8d
Updated runtime files and translations.
Bram Moolenaar <bram@vim.org>
parents:
4444
diff
changeset
|
1345 Bx Bxy yes (extra y ignored) |
2eb30f341e8d
Updated runtime files and translations.
Bram Moolenaar <bram@vim.org>
parents:
4444
diff
changeset
|
1346 Bx Byx yes (extra y ignored) |
714 | 1347 |
1348 ============================================================================== | |
1349 9. Compare with Perl patterns *perl-patterns* | |
7 | 1350 |
1351 Vim's regexes are most similar to Perl's, in terms of what you can do. The | |
1352 difference between them is mostly just notation; here's a summary of where | |
1353 they differ: | |
1354 | |
1355 Capability in Vimspeak in Perlspeak ~ | |
1356 ---------------------------------------------------------------- | |
1357 force case insensitivity \c (?i) | |
1358 force case sensitivity \C (?-i) | |
714 | 1359 backref-less grouping \%(atom\) (?:atom) |
7 | 1360 conservative quantifiers \{-n,m} *?, +?, ??, {}? |
1361 0-width match atom\@= (?=atom) | |
1362 0-width non-match atom\@! (?!atom) | |
1363 0-width preceding match atom\@<= (?<=atom) | |
1364 0-width preceding non-match atom\@<! (?<!atom) | |
1365 match without retry atom\@> (?>atom) | |
1366 | |
1367 Vim and Perl handle newline characters inside a string a bit differently: | |
1368 | |
1369 In Perl, ^ and $ only match at the very beginning and end of the text, | |
1370 by default, but you can set the 'm' flag, which lets them match at | |
1371 embedded newlines as well. You can also set the 's' flag, which causes | |
1372 a . to match newlines as well. (Both these flags can be changed inside | |
1373 a pattern using the same syntax used for the i flag above, BTW.) | |
1374 | |
1375 On the other hand, Vim's ^ and $ always match at embedded newlines, and | |
1376 you get two separate atoms, \%^ and \%$, which only match at the very | |
1377 start and end of the text, respectively. Vim solves the second problem | |
1378 by giving you the \_ "modifier": put it in front of a . or a character | |
1379 class, and they will match newlines as well. | |
1380 | |
1381 Finally, these constructs are unique to Perl: | |
1382 - execution of arbitrary code in the regex: (?{perl code}) | |
1383 - conditional expressions: (?(condition)true-expr|false-expr) | |
1384 | |
1385 ...and these are unique to Vim: | |
1386 - changing the magic-ness of a pattern: \v \V \m \M | |
1387 (very useful for avoiding backslashitis) | |
1388 - sequence of optionally matching atoms: \%[atoms] | |
1389 - \& (which is to \| what "and" is to "or"; it forces several branches | |
1390 to match at one spot) | |
1391 - matching lines/columns by number: \%5l \%5c \%5v | |
714 | 1392 - setting the start and end of the match: \zs \ze |
7 | 1393 |
1394 ============================================================================== | |
714 | 1395 10. Highlighting matches *match-highlight* |
7 | 1396 |
1397 *:mat* *:match* | |
1398 :mat[ch] {group} /{pattern}/ | |
1399 Define a pattern to highlight in the current window. It will | |
1400 be highlighted with {group}. Example: > | |
1401 :highlight MyGroup ctermbg=green guibg=green | |
1402 :match MyGroup /TODO/ | |
1403 < Instead of // any character can be used to mark the start and | |
1404 end of the {pattern}. Watch out for using special characters, | |
1405 such as '"' and '|'. | |
699 | 1406 |
7 | 1407 {group} must exist at the moment this command is executed. |
699 | 1408 |
1409 The {group} highlighting still applies when a character is | |
1326 | 1410 to be highlighted for 'hlsearch', as the highlighting for |
1411 matches is given higher priority than that of 'hlsearch'. | |
1412 Syntax highlighting (see 'syntax') is also overruled by | |
1413 matches. | |
699 | 1414 |
7 | 1415 Note that highlighting the last used search pattern with |
1416 'hlsearch' is used in all windows, while the pattern defined | |
1417 with ":match" only exists in the current window. It is kept | |
1418 when switching to another buffer. | |
699 | 1419 |
1420 'ignorecase' does not apply, use |/\c| in the pattern to | |
1421 ignore case. Otherwise case is not ignored. | |
1422 | |
1620 | 1423 'redrawtime' defines the maximum time searched for pattern |
1424 matches. | |
1425 | |
1125 | 1426 When matching end-of-line and Vim redraws only part of the |
1427 display you may get unexpected results. That is because Vim | |
1428 looks for a match in the line where redrawing starts. | |
1429 | |
1620 | 1430 Also see |matcharg()| and |getmatches()|. The former returns |
1326 | 1431 the highlight group and pattern of a previous |:match| |
1432 command. The latter returns a list with highlight groups and | |
1433 patterns defined by both |matchadd()| and |:match|. | |
1434 | |
1435 Highlighting matches using |:match| are limited to three | |
5968 | 1436 matches (aside from |:match|, |:2match| and |:3match| are |
1326 | 1437 available). |matchadd()| does not have this limitation and in |
1438 addition makes it possible to prioritize matches. | |
819 | 1439 |
7 | 1440 Another example, which highlights all characters in virtual |
1441 column 72 and more: > | |
1442 :highlight rightMargin term=bold ctermfg=blue guifg=blue | |
1443 :match rightMargin /.\%>72v/ | |
1444 < To highlight all character that are in virtual column 7: > | |
1445 :highlight col8 ctermbg=grey guibg=grey | |
1446 :match col8 /\%<8v.\%>7v/ | |
1447 < Note the use of two items to also match a character that | |
1448 occupies more than one virtual column, such as a TAB. | |
1449 | |
1450 :mat[ch] | |
1451 :mat[ch] none | |
1452 Clear a previously defined match pattern. | |
1453 | |
699 | 1454 |
819 | 1455 :2mat[ch] {group} /{pattern}/ *:2match* |
699 | 1456 :2mat[ch] |
1457 :2mat[ch] none | |
819 | 1458 :3mat[ch] {group} /{pattern}/ *:3match* |
699 | 1459 :3mat[ch] |
1460 :3mat[ch] none | |
1461 Just like |:match| above, but set a separate match. Thus | |
1462 there can be three matches active at the same time. The match | |
1463 with the lowest number has priority if several match at the | |
1464 same position. | |
1465 The ":3match" command is used by the |matchparen| plugin. You | |
1466 are suggested to use ":match" for manual matching and | |
1467 ":2match" for another plugin. | |
1468 | |
24636 | 1469 ============================================================================== |
28010 | 1470 11. Fuzzy matching *fuzzy-matching* |
24636 | 1471 |
1472 Fuzzy matching refers to matching strings using a non-exact search string. | |
1473 Fuzzy matching will match a string, if all the characters in the search string | |
1474 are present anywhere in the string in the same order. Case is ignored. In a | |
1475 matched string, other characters can be present between two consecutive | |
1476 characters in the search string. If the search string has multiple words, then | |
1477 each word is matched separately. So the words in the search string can be | |
1478 present in any order in a string. | |
1479 | |
1480 Fuzzy matching assigns a score for each matched string based on the following | |
1481 criteria: | |
1482 - The number of sequentially matching characters. | |
1483 - The number of characters (distance) between two consecutive matching | |
1484 characters. | |
1485 - Matches at the beginning of a word | |
25402 | 1486 - Matches at a camel case character (e.g. Case in CamelCase) |
1487 - Matches after a path separator or a hyphen. | |
24636 | 1488 - The number of unmatched characters in a string. |
1489 The matching string with the highest score is returned first. | |
1490 | |
1491 For example, when you search for the "get pat" string using fuzzy matching, it | |
1492 will match the strings "GetPattern", "PatternGet", "getPattern", "patGetter", | |
1493 "getSomePattern", "MatchpatternGet" etc. | |
1494 | |
1495 The functions |matchfuzzy()| and |matchfuzzypos()| can be used to fuzzy search | |
1496 a string in a List of strings. The matchfuzzy() function returns a List of | |
1497 matching strings. The matchfuzzypos() functions returns the List of matches, | |
1498 the matching positions and the fuzzy match scores. | |
1499 | |
1500 The "f" flag of `:vimgrep` enables fuzzy matching. | |
1501 | |
1502 | |
14421 | 1503 vim:tw=78:ts=8:noet:ft=help:norl: |