Question

There is already a question regarding how to copy text in commandline in Vim. There are two alternative answers:

1. ":p, and
2. Ctrl+F, followed by finding the previous command.

But these methods don’t work when the previous command is a search. That is if I enter into command mode with / or ?, then the search term used cannot be accessed with these methods.

Is there a way to copy text for search text as well?

Answer 1

I believe you are looking for the / register. You can use "/p to paste the last search. While on the command-line you can use <c-r> followed by a register to insert the contents of the given register. example: <c-r>/ will paste the last search.

You may also wish to use q/ to do more extensive editing of your previous searches.

:h registers
:h q/
:h c_CTRL-R