Get or update the last search count, like what is displayed without the "S" flag in 'shortmess'. This works even if 'shortmess' does contain the "S" flag. This returns a |Dictionary|. The dictionary is empty if the previous pattern was not set and "pattern" was not specified. key type meaning ~ current |Number| current position of match; 0 if the cursor position is before the first match exact_match |Boolean| 1 if "current" is matched on "pos", otherwise 0 total |Number| total count of matches found incomplete |Number| 0: search was fully completed 1: recomputing was timed out 2: max count exceeded For {options} see further down. To get the last search count when |n| or |N| was pressed, call this function with recompute: 0 . This sometimes returns wrong information because |n| and |N|'s maximum count is 99. If it exceeded 99 the result must be max count + 1 (100). If you want to get correct information, specify recompute: 1: " result == maxcount + 1 (100) when many matches let result = searchcount(#{recompute: 0}) " Below returns correct result (recompute defaults " to 1) let result = searchcount() The function is useful to add the count to |statusline|: function! LastSearchCount() abort let result = searchcount(#{recompute: 0}) if empty(result) return '' endif if result.incomplete ==# 1 " timed out return printf(' /%s [?/??]', @/) elseif result.incomplete ==# 2 " max count exceeded if result.total > result.maxcount && \ result.current > result.maxcount return printf(' /%s [>%d/>%d]', @/, \ result.current, result.total) elseif result.total > result.maxcount return printf(' /%s [%d/>%d]', @/, \ result.current, result.total) endif endif return printf(' /%s [%d/%d]', @/, \ result.current, result.total) endfunction let &statusline .= '%{LastSearchCount()}' " Or if you want to show the count only when " 'hlsearch' was on " let &statusline .= " \ '%{v:hlsearch ? LastSearchCount() : ""}' You can also update the search count, which can be useful in a |CursorMoved| or |CursorMovedI| autocommand: autocmd CursorMoved,CursorMovedI * \ let s:searchcount_timer = timer_start( \ 200, function('s:update_searchcount')) function! s:update_searchcount(timer) abort if a:timer ==# s:searchcount_timer call searchcount(#{ \ recompute: 1, maxcount: 0, timeout: 100}) redrawstatus endif endfunction This can also be used to count matched texts with specified pattern in the current buffer using "pattern": " Count '<foo>' in this buffer " (Note that it also updates search count) let result = searchcount(#{pattern: '<foo>'}) " To restore old search count by old pattern, " search again call searchcount() {options} must be a |Dictionary|. It can contain: key type meaning ~ recompute |Boolean| if |TRUE|, recompute the count like |n| or |N| was executed. otherwise returns the last computed result (when |n| or |N| was used when "S" is not in 'shortmess', or this function was called). (default: |TRUE|) pattern |String| recompute if this was given and different with |@/|. this works as same as the below command is executed before calling this function let @/ = pattern (default: |@/|) timeout |Number| 0 or negative number is no timeout. timeout milliseconds for recomputing the result (default: 0) maxcount |Number| 0 or negative number is no limit. max count of matched text while recomputing the result. if search exceeded total count, "total" value becomes maxcount + 1 (default: 99) pos |List| [lnum, col, off] value when recomputing the result. this changes "current" result value. see |cursor()|, |getpos()| (default: cursor's position)