UNIX for Dummies Questions & Answers

Hi, there. I am using vim to edit some files I am working on from terminal. I occasionally pressed some keys by mistake, and the word just got highlight. Afterward whenever I type in that word, it will be highlight automatically. It is annoying. Could someone tell me how to turn this off?

BTW, using command "syntax off" doesn't solve this problem.

sincerely,

HOUSCOUS

Close that vim window and open again ...
I guess you would have pressed / and that string ...
which is making that string "high lighted".


One more trick : do /string1

where string1 should not be in the file you have opened.
Then "highlight" of the string will go off.

Try that.

I think the following does it as well

:set hls!

By doing the above, that vim session is losing the 'highlight' attribute for not only for that perticular string but also for the string we are going to search.

FYI The vim manual suggests this to clear the last-search pattern:

:let @/=''

But I doubt whether I will use it either. It's just too much typing.

Thanx, guys.

However, I used the command "nohl" and it worked. However, I am wondering if other high light has been disable too, since I have used this command?

If you use ":set nohls", you will disable highlighting for all matches from then on, not just clearing the highlighting for the previous match. ":nohlsearch" seems to be a nice choice though.