Find a non-regular expression tag in a specific tags file

Question

I have a tags plugin that I'm adding features to. In order to test that it is working correctly, I need to examine the tags inside a tags file. I am trying to make sure the correct tags appear in the file and they are not there too many times. My test code is in VimL/Vimscript, so this is a VimL question.

One way to do this is to have the tags file open in a Vim buffer, and then use the search() function to search for that text. Then I just check to see if it appears at the beginning of the line. The problem is search() accepts a regular expression, which is not what I am providing it.

I could bring in each line as a string and examine them one at a time, but that sounds slow and like more work compared to getting search() to work for me.

How can I get search() to work without regular expressions, or in some other way find the tags matching a non-regular expression search in a tags file?

Answer 1

You can use a function, that would search for the string literally. Something like this should work:

func! SearchLiterally(pat, flags)
    return search('\V'.escape(a:pat, '\\'), a:flags)
endfunc

You can even do that:

func! ReplaceSearch()
    let cmd=getcmdtype()
    if cmd =~# '[?/]'
        return SearchLiterally(getcmdline(), cmd)
    else
        return getcmdline()
    endif
endfunc

func! SearchLiterally(pat, search)
    return '\V'.escape(a:pat, '\\'. a:search)
endfunc

cmap <F7> <C-\>eReplaceSearch()<CR>