How can I search in vim for a line that has 2 specific words?

Question

I want to find a line that has both 'foo' and 'bar' in this order but not necessarily next to each other.

I tried the following and it didn't work:

/foo.*bar

Answer 1

Works for me:

/text.*text2

Answer 2

Use:

:set magic
/foo.*bar

The 'magic' setting determines how VIM treats special characters in regular expressions. When it's off VIM treats all chars literally, meaning that the expression you wrote foo.*bar will actually search for that string. However, when 'magic' is on then special regex chars get their special meaning and it works more like you expect. It is recommended to always use :set magic unless dealing with really old Vi scripts, so just add it to your vimrc and you'll be set.