Learning the vi and Vim Editors, 7th Edition

Extended Regular Expressions

We introduced extended regular expressions earlier in the section Extended Regular Expressions. The additional metacharacters available in elvis are:

\|

Indicates alternation.

\(...\)

Used for grouping, to allow the application of additional regular expression operators.

\+

Matches one or more of the preceding regular expressions.

\?

Matches zero or one of the preceding regular expressions.

\@

Matches the word under the cursor.

\=

Indicates where to put the cursor when the text is matched. For instance, hel\=lo would put the cursor on the second l in the next occurrence of hello.

\{...\}

Describes an interval expression, such as x\{1,3\} to match x, xx, or xxx.

POSIX bracket expressions (character classes, etc.) are available.