Vim: highlight all matches in incsearch

Question

I'm using the incsearch and hlsearch options. All matches are highlighted after I press enter, but only the first one as I type. I'd like to highlight all matches as I type.

How can I get that behavior?

Answer 1

You can use the incsearch.vim plugin:

Install with your favourite plugin manager and map your search key(s) to call the plugin's search.

Answer 2

Unfortunately, this isn't possible without writing your own search in Vimscript (capturing each key via getchar(), highlighting via :match), or patching the core Vim source code in C.

The reason this isn't implemented is probably to keep the incsearch snappy and immediate.

Update: Highlighting all matches now is the default behavior starting with Vim 7.4.2259 (with 'incsearch' can only see the next match).