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Question

Answer 1

+25 A:

to disable

set nohlsearch

or to switch

set hlsearch!

nnoremap <F3> :set hlsearch!<CR>

Mykola Golubyev 2009-03-18 09:02:47

thanks ... this was what i was looking for

solomongaby 2009-03-18 09:58:32

or just use type :nohl in cmd mode

Mikeage 2009-03-23 14:27:20

:noh is enough :)

Leonardo Constantino 2009-04-22 05:20:27

I know :) I like explicit things.

Mykola Golubyev 2009-04-22 06:41:45

Answer 2

+26 A:

From the VIM Documentation

To clear the last used search pattern:

    :let @/ = ""

This will not set the pattern to an empty string, because that would match everywhere. The pattern is really cleared, like when starting Vim.

Shaun Bouckaert 2009-03-18 09:12:09

It will disable it forever but not temporary.

Mykola Golubyev 2009-03-18 09:41:27

This doesn't disable the search, it clears the pattern.

Shaun Bouckaert 2009-03-18 09:45:08

...which would be a better solution to his problem as I understand it.

Shaun Bouckaert 2009-03-18 09:46:25

thanks for the answer ... it was not what i was looking for ... but its a nice info

solomongaby 2009-03-18 09:58:02

@Shaun: read a question again.

Mykola Golubyev 2009-03-18 10:00:16

Your answer does indeed answer his question better, by turning the highlight on and off. However, if the issue was only that the last search stayed highlighted after you found what you were looking for, which is how I initially understood the question, then my method allows you too clear the search.

Shaun Bouckaert 2009-03-18 13:05:54

Voted Up. This might not answer his question, but I often find myself wanting to do exactly what your answer does. Thanks

skinp 2009-03-18 13:14:12

@Andy: It is not the answer for the question. How can it be better?

Mykola Golubyev 2009-03-18 17:42:02

Ditto skinp, I didn't know about this. Helpful.

Brian Carper 2009-03-18 18:30:55

@Mykola: I agree that you answered the question perfectly correctly, but your solution requires extra key-presses / steps. e.g. Search, turn off highlighting, turn on highlighting, search again.Shaun's solution will only require me to Search, clear highlighting, search again.

Andy 2009-03-19 10:24:25

@Mykola: Clarification to the above - it's working from the mindset that after I've searched and modified some text, I want to get rid of the search entirely. With my personal workflow I won't want to turn off the search results until I've finished with them.

Andy 2009-03-19 10:31:27

As I understood "then reenable it when nedeed again" is important part of the question. If not that I'd use let @/=""

Mykola Golubyev 2009-03-23 12:46:19

@Mykola I actually thought that he only asked how to disable and re-enable it again because he wasn't sure you could clear the search, so he was looking for the next best option.

Shaun Bouckaert 2009-03-25 00:15:56

This is what I was looking for! I voted it up, the question is slightly vague. This led me to think this is what he wanted: "I now do another search for something gibberish that can't be found". Because that is what I was doing to clear the search, but not disable it so the next search would highlight again.

claytron 2010-08-31 18:42:58

Answer 3

+12 A:

Just to help with completeness, you can also do

:noh

Matt McMinn 2009-03-18 14:26:22

thanks, this was helpful ... any command for returning the highlight ?

solomongaby 2009-03-19 13:47:34

:nohs just shuts off the current highlighting. If you have :set hlsearch then it will continue to highlight your searches.

greyfade 2009-03-19 15:55:07

Answer 4

+5 A:

I found this answer years ago on vim.org:

Add the following to your .vimrc:

"This unsets the "last search pattern" register by hitting return
nnoremap <CR> :noh<CR><CR>

Thus, after your search, just hit return again in command mode, and the highlighting disappears.

2009-03-19 16:22:09

I think this is a *much* better solution than the one that's actually been accepted -- either this one or the other one where it's mapped to <ESC> instead.

Stewart Johnson 2010-09-01 22:49:36

Answer 5

+4 A:

From http://twitter.com/jonbho/status/2194406821

nnoremap <esc> :noh<return><esc>

Baruch Even 2009-06-24 08:53:24

I think this is a *much* better solution than the one that's actually been accepted -- either this one or the other one where it's mapped to <CR> instead.

Stewart Johnson 2010-09-01 22:51:49

Just to be clear, this lets you clear the search highlighting by pressing the Escape key

Gavin Miller 2010-10-12 16:58:55

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