Searching from end of file using VIM

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Searching from end of file using VIM

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How do I search from the end of file using VIM? I want to search for the last occurrence of XXXX in the open file.

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edited Jun 7, 2013 at 11:49

Mat

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asked Oct 12, 2012 at 21:48

Ransom Briggs

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Type G$?XXXX

• G to go to the end of the file
• $ to go to the end of the line
• ? to search backwards
• XXXX being what you want to search for

You could also do gg?XXXX which goes to the start of the file, then searches backwards, wrapping around to the end of the file. However for large files it can be slow to seek to the start of the file and then immediately to the end of the file.

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edited Oct 28, 2013 at 21:06

 

 

answered Oct 12, 2012 at 21:51

David Brown

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My suggestion is to use a range combined with searching backwards via ?.

:1?XXXX

Overview:

• 1?XXXX is the range.
• The 1 means first line of the file.
• ?XXXX means search backwards from the first line (wrapping around) until you find the pattern XXXX

As ZyX mentioned this relies on wrapscan to be set, which it is by default. See :h 'wrapscan' for more information.