[vim/vim] Configure star command not to advance to next match (Issue #11050)

jzinn

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Sep 3, 2022, 4:08:33 PM9/3/22

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Why does the star command, *, advance to the next match, rather than to the beginning of the current match (the word under the cursor when star is invoked)?

So often do I immediately back up (using N) to the word my cursor was over when I invoked the star command that I wonder if I can make this the default behavior. Is it possible? Is it misguided to want this?

I briefly grepped the vim source tree but was unable to find if anything for this exists.

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Nick Jensen

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Sep 3, 2022, 4:46:53 PM9/3/22

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Why would you want this? When I use * I want to find other usages of the word under the cursor. If it's about highlighting then you can easily add nnoremap * *N to your personal config.

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jzinn

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Sep 3, 2022, 6:42:50 PM9/3/22

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I want it for example for doing a search and replace in a visually selected range of lines where the I make the selection by using *, V, and N.

For example, typing something like *VNN:s/C-R//replacement. If my cursor is over the word I want to replace, let's call it oldword, I can type * to select oldword as the search term, V to start a visual highlight, NN to select the range of lines that include two more instances of the search term, and type : to go into command mode (which prepopulates :'<,'>), and then do a search and replace by starting with s/, then typing CTRL-R / to paste \<oldword\>, and then complete the command :'<,'>s/\<oldword\>/newword/g.

Usually I want to replace the instance of oldword that my cursor was on when I typed *. So I type * and then immediately back up using N.

Why would you want the current behavior?

Thank you for the nnoremap suggestion. I'll try it.

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lacygoill

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Sep 3, 2022, 7:14:50 PM9/3/22

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How about these mappings:

# bounded search
nnoremap c* <Cmd>call expand('<cword>')->printf('\<%s\>')->setreg('/')<CR>cgn
# UNbounded search
nnoremap cg* <Cmd>call expand('<cword>')->setreg('/')<CR>cgn

Then:

press c* (or cg*) while on the word you want to change
insert the new word
press Escape to get back to normal mode
press . as many times as necessary to replace the next occurrences of the old word

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jzinn

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Sep 3, 2022, 7:49:50 PM9/3/22

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Wow, nice! I'll play with that.

I'll close this issue, though I would still like to know what the motivation is for star to automatically advance to the next match.

I presume it's to make some repeated use nicer, but I just can't think of an example to demonstrate why.

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jzinn

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Sep 3, 2022, 7:49:50 PM9/3/22

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Closed #11050 as completed.

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Nick Jensen

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Sep 3, 2022, 8:06:15 PM9/3/22

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@jzinn as I said, I use it (and I assume this is the original purpose) to find other usages of the word under the cursor. So I'm not interested in staying on the original match, I want to skip to other parts of the document where that word is used. For replacing the word, I use variations on the mappings @lacygoill suggested.

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Bram Moolenaar

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Sep 4, 2022, 7:28:05 AM9/4/22

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> Wow, nice! I'll play with that.
>
> I'll close this issue, though I would still like to know what the
> motivation is for star to automatically advance to the next match.
>
> I presume it's to make some repeated use nicer, but I just can't think
> of an example to demonstrate why.

I nearly always use "*" to find the next instance of a word. And with
'hlsearch' on I can see all instances of it. Usually a variable or
function name.

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Christian Brabandt

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Sep 4, 2022, 7:47:01 AM9/4/22

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If i use the * family of commands, I always want the cursor move to the next/previous instance of the match.