How can you list the matches of Vim's search?

I would like to list the matches, when I hit:

/example

so that I see where all matches are at once.

:g//p

In its longer form:

:global/regular-expression/print

You can leave out the pattern/regex and Vim will re-use the previous search term.

Trivia: The grep tool was named after this command sequence.

You can also do a :

g/pattern/#

that will print the pattern you want and the number of the line.

if you want to look at this list and jump quickly between the matches, consider using

:vimgrep example %

or

:grep example %

This will populate the "error list" with all of the matches so that you can use :copen to list them all in the quickfix buffer, press enter on a particular line to jump to that match, or use commands like :cn and :cp to go back and forth.

for a thorough explanation, see my reply to a similar question

Just learned a new one: the Location List!
Type :lvim foo % to search for foo in the current file and enter all matches containing foo into the location list.
Type :lopen to open the location list in the quickfix window, which is fully navigable as usual.
Use :lnext/:lprevious to to through the list (use tpope/unimpaired mappings for the best experience)

Another possibility is to use the include file search commands.

[I

This will list all occurrences of the word under the cursor. It may be more than you need though, because it will also search any files that are included in the current file.

But the nice thing about this command is that the search result display also shows a count of the number of matches, in addition to the line number of each match.

:help include-search

to see lots of variants.

A note about

:g//p

This can be reduced further to

:g//

because, as others have said, p(rint) is the default action.

you can get a nice quickfix window with the matches form your current search pattern

:vim // %
:copen

super handy if you previously crafted a complex search pattern using just /pattern

Edit: just found out this also works for all open buffers

:bufdo vimgrepadd // %
:copen

Using :set hlsearch will highlight all the matches in yellow allowing you to scan the file easily for matches. That may not be what you want though, after searching, :g//p will give you the listed matches

To elaborate on this ... instead of

/example
:g//p

you can also write directly

:g/example/p

or, as p(rint) is the default action for the :g(lobal) command, this can be shortened to

:g/example

And instead of p(rint), other actions are possible, e.g. d(elete). See :help :global

g/pattern

If you have :set number, the above command displays line numbers as well.

If you haven't :set number, then

g/pattern/#

will display the line numbers.

	" put in your ~/.vimrc file
    " START search related configs and helps
	"
	" ignore case when searching
	set ignorecase

	" search as characters are entered, as you type in more characters, the search is refined
	set incsearch

	" highlight matches, in normal mode try typing * or even g* when cursor on string
	set hlsearch

	" yank those cheat commands, in normal mode type q: than p to paste in the opened cmdline
	" how-to search for a string recursively
	" :grep! "\<doLogErrorMsg\>" . -r
	"
	" how-to search recursively , omit log and git files
	" :vimgrep /srch/ `find . -type f \| grep -v .git \| grep -v .log`
	" :vimgrep /srch/ `find . -type f -name '*.pm' -o -name '*.pl'`
	"
	" how-to search for the "srch" from the current dir recursively in the shell
	" vim -c ':vimgrep /srch/ `find . -type f \| grep -v .git \| grep -v .log`'
	"
	" how-to highlight the after the search the searchable string
	" in normmal mode press g* when the cursor is on a matched string

	" how-to jump between the search matches - open the quick fix window by
	" :copen 22

	" how-to to close the quick fix window
	" :ccl

	" F5 will find the next occurrence after vimgrep
	map <F5> :cp!<CR>

	" F6 will find the previous occurrence after vimgrep
	map <F6> :cn!<CR>

	" F8 search for word under the cursor recursively , :copen , to close -> :ccl
	nnoremap <F8> :grep! "\<<cword>\>" . -r<CR>:copen 33<CR>

	" omit a dir from all searches to perform globally
	set wildignore+=**/node_modules/**

	" use perl regexes - src: http://andrewradev.com/2011/05/08/vim-regexes/
	noremap / /\v
	"
	" STOP  search related configs and helps

I have written a piece of code for this. It actually avoids the problems in vimgrep. It works even with unnamed files. And it is easier to use.

function! Matches(pat)
	let buffer=bufnr("") "current buffer number
	let b:lines=[]
	execute ":%g/" . a:pat . "/let b:lines+=[{'bufnr':" . 'buffer' . ", 'lnum':" . "line('.')" . ", 'text': escape(getline('.'),'\"')}]"
	call setloclist(0, [], ' ', {'items': b:lines}) 
	lopen
endfunction

When you call it with a pattern, it opens the location windows with all the matches.

This could be a command

command! -nargs=1 Mat call Matches(<f-args>)

So all you need to do is to type :Mat pattern

I also use the following mapping to get the matches of the current visual selection.

vnoremap Y "xy:call Matches(@x)<CR>

Ctrl-f to list all search result:

nmap <C-f> :vimgrep /<C-r>//g %<CR> \| !:copen <Enter>