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 (Section 17.30).
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\> (Section 32.12) 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.
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.
-- JP
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