Search Commands in Vim
From the Vim cheat sheet · Search & Replace · verified Jul 2026
Search Commands
Search and navigation within files
text
/pattern - Search forward for pattern
?pattern - Search backward for pattern
n - Next search result
N - Previous search result
* - Search forward for word under cursor
# - Search backward for word under cursor
g* - Search forward for partial word
g# - Search backward for partial word
/\cpattern - Case insensitive search
/\Cpattern - Case sensitive search
/\<word\> - Search for exact word
:noh or :nohlsearch - Clear search highlighting
:set hlsearch - Enable search highlighting
:set incsearch - Show matches while typing💡 Use * to quickly search for word under cursor
⚡ Add \c for case-insensitive searches
📌 n/N to navigate through search results
🟢 Press / and start typing to search
searchfind