Is it possible to get the matched string after calling :search()?

Question

In a vimscript-function, I need to assign a matched string to a variable l:matched after calling search() and I am wondering if there is a shorter way than what I am currently doing:

let l:pattern   = '\v^Foo: \zs.*'
let l:line      = search(l:pattern)
let l:line_text = getline(l:line)
let l:matched   = matchstr(l:line, l:pattern)

Ideally, I'd want something like

let l:matched = search_text(l:pattern)

without resorting to getline(). Is there such a vim function that I seem unable to find?

Answer 1

Since the cursor is placed on the 1st letter of the match, you could probably do a :normal! y$ after the search, and get the register content in your local variable.

Another approach, which I think would work here very well, would be to use :substitute with the n flag (i.e. without an actual substitution):

function! ActOn(match)
    " do something with the match
    echo a:match
    " [...]
endfunction

function! FindAndCall(regex, func_name)
    execute ':keeppatterns %s/' . a:regex . '/\=' . a:func_name. '(submatch(0))/gn'
endfunction

... and which you call like this:

:call FindAndCall('^Foo: \zs.*', 'ActOn')

This practically makes ActOn a callback function - it will be evaluated for each match.