scroll while writing a substitution

Question

how can I scroll or move around in the code while writing a search or command ?

I want to write a substitution :s/xxx/yyy but I forgot what yyy should be and I need to scroll a little bit to find it, but don't want to leave command line either because it took me a while to type xxx

Answer 1

<C-g> and <C-t> jump to the next and previous match, respectively.

Also, if the mouse is enabled, you can probably use it (opening the command line window first might be necessary: <C-f> if already on :, q: otherwise). Opening the command-line window has some additional benefits, so is worth looking into.

However, if the replacement is difficult to remember, I’d consider this workflow:

1. (Optional: find yyy and yank it into a register)
2. /xxx until you’re happy with the search pattern
3. :s//yyy or :s//<C-r>{reg} (type CTRL-r literally, using the register you yanked yyy into)