Vim: highlight all matches in incsearch

Question

I\'m using the incsearch and hlsearch options. All matches are highlighted after I press enter, but only the first one as I type. I\'d like to high

Answer 1

Maybe I'm wrong about this because the answer seems deceptively simple, but just enable incsearch and hlsearch at the same time with:

set incsearch
set hlsearch

Answer 2

Unfortunately, this isn't possible without writing your own search in Vimscript (capturing each key via getchar(), highlighting via :match), or patching the core Vim source code in C.

The reason this isn't implemented is probably to keep the incsearch snappy and immediate.

Update: Highlighting all matches now is the default behavior starting with Vim 7.4.2259 (with 'incsearch' can only see the next match).

Answer 3

You can use the incsearch.vim plugin:

Install with your favourite plugin manager and map your search key(s) to call the plugin's search.