Vim: highlight-select-change flow

Vim (and Emacs Evil) usage tip to make the search/replace flow more visual:

highlight: use * to highlight the text you want to replace
select: select the area for the replacement in visual mode
change: execute :'<,'>s//new_word/g or :d or :g, etc.

In this scenario, we can see the words that will be replaced, and we limit the operation to the selected visual area.

The key is that we highlight the word with * first. Then we can skip the search pattern for :s or other commands, and we see this pattern on the screen.

Note that the :s command does not have to repeat the search pattern: we use the s//replacement form, which automatically uses the last search.

By default, * only highlights the word under the cursor. This code makes it work for a visual selection:

" Visual search
" select text and hit * / # to find it
" http://got-ravings.blogspot.com/2008/07/vim-pr0n-visual-search-mappings.html
" https://github.com/godlygeek/vim-files/blob/master/plugin/vsearch.vim
" Visual mode search
function! s:VSetSearch()
  let temp = @@
  norm! gvy
  let @/ = '\V' . substitute(escape(@@, '\'), '\n', '\\n', 'g')
  " Use this line instead of the above to match matches spanning across lines
  "let @/ = '\V' . substitute(escape(@@, '\'), '\_s\+', '\\_s\\+', 'g')
  call histadd('/', substitute(@/, '[?/]', '\="\\%d".char2nr(submatch(0))', 'g'))
  let @@ = temp
endfunction

" xnoremap - only for visual mode, but not for select mode
xnoremap * :<C-u>call <SID>VSetSearch()<CR>/<CR>N
xnoremap # :<C-u>call <SID>VSetSearch()<CR>?<CR>N

For Emacs Evil:

;; Visual search: select text and hit * / # to search for it literally.
;; Stays on the first match, like the normal-state * / # above.
(use-package evil-visualstar
  :after evil
  :config
  (defun my-evil-visualstar-forward-stay ()
    "Search for the visual selection forward but stay on the first match."
    (interactive)
    (call-interactively 'evil-visualstar/begin-search-forward)
    (evil-ex-search-previous))
  (defun my-evil-visualstar-backward-stay ()
    "Search for the visual selection backward but stay on the first match."
    (interactive)
    (call-interactively 'evil-visualstar/begin-search-backward)
    (evil-ex-search-previous))
  (define-key evil-visual-state-map (kbd "*") 'my-evil-visualstar-forward-stay)
  (define-key evil-visual-state-map (kbd "#") 'my-evil-visualstar-backward-stay))

Tags: vim