[search] Search for string and get count in vi editor

I want to search for a string and find the number of occurrences in a file using the vi editor.

Short answer:

:%s/string-to-be-searched//gn

For learning:

There are 3 modes in VI editor as below

• : you are entering from Command to Command-line mode. Now, whatever you write after : is on CLI(Command Line Interface)
• %s specifies all lines. Specifying the range as % means do substitution in the entire file. Syntax for all occurrences substitution is :%s/old-text/new-text/g
• g specifies all occurrences in the line. With the g flag , you can make the whole line to be substituted. If this g flag is not used then only first occurrence in the line only will be substituted.
• n specifies to output number of occurrences
• //double slash represents omission of replacement text. Because we just want to find.

Once got the number of occurrences, you can Press N Key to see occurrences one-by-one.

For finding and counting in particular range of line number 1 to 10:

:1,10s/hello//gn

• Please note, % for whole file is repleaced by , separated line numbers.

For finding and replacing in particular range of line number 1 to 10:

:1,10s/helo/hello/gn

(similar as Gustavo said, but additionally: )

For any previously search, you can do simply:

:%s///gn

A pattern is not needed, because it is already in the search-register (@/).

"%" - do s/ in the whole file
"g" - search global (with multiple hits in one line)
"n" - prevents any replacement of s/ -- nothing is deleted! nothing must be undone!
(see: :help s_flag for more informations)

(This way, it works perfectly with "Search for visually selected text", as described in vim-wikia tip171)

THE way is

:%s/pattern//gn

:%s/string/string/g will give the answer.

I suggest doing:

1. Search either with * to do a "bounded search" for what's under the cursor, or do a standard /pattern search.
2. Use :%s///gn to get the number of occurrences. Or you can use :%s///n to get the number of lines with occurrences.

** I really with I could find a plug-in that would giving messaging of "match N of N₁ on N₂ lines" with every search, but alas.

Note: Don't be confused by the tricky wording of the output. The former command might give you something like 4 matches on 3 lines where the latter might give you 3 matches on 3 lines. While technically accurate, the latter is misleading and should say '3 lines match'. So, as you can see, there really is never any need to use the latter ('n' only) form. You get the same info, more clearly, and more by using the 'gn' form.

You need the n flag. To count words use:

:%s/\i\+/&/gn   

and a particular word:

:%s/the/&/gn        

See count-items documentation section.

If you simply type in:

%s/pattern/pattern/g

then the status line will give you the number of matches in vi as well.

use

:%s/pattern/\0/g

when pattern string is too long and you don't like to type it all again.