To search the string say /a/b/c/d/e/f/g/h/i in a file, is there a way to do
it without going to each / and escaping it to \/
:let @/ = escape('string with /slashes/, \backslashes\, .periods.,
*asterisks* etc.', '/\.*')
n
Building on Tony's good suggestion...it's a good one, and an
aircraft-carrier of a solution, swatting many more problems that
are possible to arise, scaling to a full assault on the problem
that consists of arbitrary escaping of any metacharacter.
However, if you want to *just* include forward-slashes, you can
search *backwards* for them, and then reverse your direction:
?/a/b/c/d/e/f/g/h/i
N
A slightly lazier way to do it with far less typing. :)
Or a hybrid approach:
:let @/='/a/b/c/d/e/f/g/h/i'
n
Once you've done either my first suggestion, you can use the
regular "/" command and then use control+P to bring up the last
search...magicomysteriously pre-escaped for you. :) This makes
it handy to reverse the direction/meaning of n/N for future
searches. I'm not sure why the second variant doesn't get
remembered in the search history.
-tim
