30.16 Counting Occurrences; Stopping Search Wraps

Want to see how many times you used the word very in a file? There are a couple of easy ways.

First, tell vi to stop searching when you get to the end of the file. Type the command :set nowrapscan or put it in your .exrc file (4.9).

1. Move to the top of the file with the 1G command. Search for the first very with the command /very (HINT: using the word-limiting regular expression /\<very\> (26.4) instead will keep you from matching words like every). To find the next very, type the n (next) command.

   When vi says Address search hit BOTTOM without matching pattern, you've found all of the words.

2. Use the command:

   :g/very/p

   The matching lines will scroll down your screen.

To find the line numbers, too, type :set number before your searches.