How to jump to a next or previous specific character ignoring linebreaks and not destroying highlight or overwriting my registry?

Question

I have not found much use for ()[]{}, and so I want to map them so it does a find command, jumping to the previous instance of that particular character.

Thus, ) will jump forward to the next ), placing the cursor on top of it. ( will jump backward to the previous (, again, placing the cursor on top of it.

Problem is, f stops at linebreaks, and ?/ would eliminate my highlight.

Is there a solution for this issue?

Answer 1

You can use the search() command for this. Something like:

nnoremap ) :call search(')')<CR>      "Next
nnoremap ( :call search('(', 'b')<CR> "Previous

Edit: Origial response before edit:

nnoremap ) yl:call search('<C-r>"\C')<CR>      " Next instance
nnoremap ( yl:call search('<C-r>"\C', 'b')<CR> " Previous instance

This will yank the character under the cursor and then use the search command to go to the next instance.

• nnoremap ( Make a non-recursive normal mode mapping for (
• yl Yank character under cursor
• :call search('...') Calls the search command
• <C-r>" Inserts the contents of register " (The character we just yanked)
• \C Makes the search case sensitive
• 'b' Search backwards
• <CR> The Enter key (Simply executes the call)

See :help search() for more info.