How do I jump to the next search result in a different window?

Question

Sometimes I have two windows open and I search for a word that appears in both. Hitting n only cycles through the results in the active window.

It'd be really convenient to somehow jump to the next search result in all open windows.

Answer 1

You can use :vimgrep to do your search over the windows and use 'switchbuf' with a value of at least useopen.

execute 'vimgrep //j ' . join(map(range(1, winnr('$')), '"#".winbufnr(v:val)'), ' ')
set switchbuf+=useopen

Now you can use the quickfix list to jump between matches you searched via :cnext/:cprev (I suggest mapping these) or by using the quickfix window, :copen.

Personally, I can't really see myself using this kind of search. I typically need to search more files so I use :vimgrep or :grep (I use ripgrep as my 'grepprg'). I use my own :Cfilter command to grep/filter the quickfix list.

function! s:cfilter(list, bang, pat)
  let [bool, operator] = a:bang ? ['&&', '!~'] : ['||', '=~']
  let pat = a:pat =~ '^/.*/$' ? a:pat[1:-2] : a:pat
  let pat = pat == '' ? @/ : pat
  call call('set'.a:list.'list', [(filter(call('get'.a:list.'list', []), "bufname(v:val.bufnr) ".operator." pat ".bool." v:val.text ".operator." pat"))])
  echo 'Filtered list: '.(a:bang ? 'not ' : '').'matching '.a:pat.' ('.len(call('get'.a:list.'list', [])).' items)'
endfunction
command! -nargs=1 -bang Cfilter call <SID>cfilter('qf', <bang>0, <q-args>)
command! -nargs=1 -bang Lfilter call <SID>cfilter('loc', <bang>0, <q-args>)

:Cfilter foo will filter the list for only entries with foo and :Cfilter! foo will filter the list with only entries without foo.

For more helps see:

:h :vimgrep
:h :_#n
:h join()
:h map()
:h range()
:h winnr()
:h winbufnr()
:h v:val
:h :execute
:h 'swb'