Vi search starting from line n --- any trick for this ???


 
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# 1  
Old 06-28-2013
Vi search starting from line n --- any trick for this ???

Hi all,

It does not seem to be possible to use vi to search from text from line n forward or backward or is there a not well known vi trick to do that?

What I am trying to do is for example I am on line 100 and I want to search from line 100 backward or forward for a specific text. Using / and ? seems to either start from the top and from the bottom and not from which line you are currently in.

Can anyone advise if what I am wanting to do is possible or not?

Thanks in advance.
# 2  
Old 06-29-2013
Quote:
Originally Posted by newbie_01
Hi all,

It does not seem to be possible to use vi to search from text from line n forward or backward or is there a not well known vi trick to do that?

What I am trying to do is for example I am on line 100 and I want to search from line 100 backward or forward for a specific text. Using / and ? seems to either start from the top and from the bottom and not from which line you are currently in.

Can anyone advise if what I am wanting to do is possible or not?

Thanks in advance.
The / and ? search commands in vi search forward and backward, respectively from the current line unless you specify a different range to be searched. The commands:
Code:
:line/RE
  and
:line?RE

will search forward and backward, respectively, for the regular expression RE searching from line number line, and the commands:
Code:
cnt/RE
  and
cnt?RE

search forward and backward, respectively, for the cntth occurrence of the regular expression RE searching from the current line.
This User Gave Thanks to Don Cragun For This Post:
# 3  
Old 06-30-2013
Quote:
Originally Posted by Don Cragun
The / and ? search commands in vi search forward and backward, respectively from the current line unless you specify a different range to be searched. The commands:
Code:
:line/RE
  and
:line?RE

will search forward and backward, respectively, for the regular expression RE searching from line number line, and the commands:
Code:
cnt/RE
  and
cnt?RE

search forward and backward, respectively, for the cntth occurrence of the regular expression RE searching from the current line.

Hi Don,

You are absolutely right, I turned on line numbering and it looks like it searches forward to the end and then go back to the top and search for the text.

Thanks again ...
# 4  
Old 06-30-2013
you can also Go to line 100 (makes line 100 your current line)

in command mode :
100G
(if you don't specify a line number, G will bring you at the end of the file)

Then launch your search from there depending whether you want to look forward or backward for your RE:
/RE
or
?RE
 
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