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+---
+post_date: 2022-07-03
+---
+
+# Better current word search in vim
+
+I noticed something when I was refactoring my vim configs for the Nth time last week, which [I wrote about in a bit more detail here](./neovim-lua.md). It's a bit of vim configuration that I've been copying forward without thinking about it for years and years, never even remotely considering pruning it because it's so useful. I also came up with it myself but havne't ever really put any effort into sharing it, so here we are.
+
+In just a few lines of lua, it's this:
+
+```lua
+vim.keymap.set('n', '*', function()
+  vim.api.nvim_exec('/\\v<' .. vim.fn.expand('<cword>') .. '>', false)
+end)
+vim.keymap.set('n', '#', function()
+  vim.api.nvim_exec('?\\v<' .. vim.fn.expand('<cword>') .. '>', false)
+end)
+```
+
+By default, `*` and `#` do something very similar, they search for the word currently under the cursor. `#` simply searches backwards, while `*` is a forward search.
+
+The mappings above copy that behavior (perform it as you would do it directly, explicitly) but introduce a very useful slight tweak. Executing `/expand(<cword>)` simply searches (`/`) for the word currently under the cursor (`<cword>`). But introducing `<` and `>` around it places word boundaries in the search string.
+
+You see by the default naive cword search, any larger words which fully contain your search term would also show up as results. Try searching for a single letter variable that way and you'll have a bad time.
+
+I think of this as a fantastic example of the utility of programmatic configuration (the sort that's made all the more powerful by using lua over VimL) - you're free to make the editor better in a hundred minor ways to smooth out your editing workflows, and in a way which is itself very much like maintaining code: build yourself a useful abstraction and don't have to think about it too much any more.
+
+> Note: This was ported from my old gemini capsule, still served on gemini at `gemini.ctrl-c.club/~tjp`