text object for highlighted text

Question

If I have a file that contains

this_is_the_first_underscore_phrase
this_is_the_first_underscore_phrase

I search for "first" /first and my cursor is placed onto the start of the word "first".

I know I can change this word by doing ct_ but I wonder if there's a different way, is there a way to "change inside currently highlighted text" ?

Answer 1

You can do:

gnc

gn will do a visual selection of the search result, then c is, as you know, change.

Also, cgn works (change the next occurence of the search result).