Add selection at next match: a handy keybind

[ArthaTi]

In my config, under [keys.normal] and [keys.select] I added two bindings:

"A-n"   = ["search_selection", "extend_search_next"]
"S-A-n" = ["search_selection", "extend_search_prev"]

This makes Alt+N search for the next occurrence of whatever is under the cursor, and create a new selection for this occurrence. This is very similar to VSCode's Ctrl+D "Add Selection To Next Find Match".

fluid-and-then.mp4

The next best thing is that sometimes you need to skip a match. No binds are needed, a regular N press does the job:

helix-alt-n.mp4

I'm a bit surprised the above two aren't defaults. It's worth nothingAlt+N is normally bound to "Select next sibling node in syntax tree (TS)," but it's not something have I ever used.

[willbush]

Isn't that similar to how select mode works with n / N?

Accessed by typing v in normal mode.

Select mode echoes Normal mode, but changes any movements to extend selections rather than replace them. Goto motions are also changed to extend, so that vgl, for example, extends the selection to the end of the line.

Search is also affected. By default, n and N will remove the current selection and select the next instance of the search term. Toggling this mode before pressing n or N makes it possible to keep the current selection. Toggling it on and off during your iterative searching allows you to selectively add search terms to your selections

[ArthaTi]

I guess so, that's what extend_search_prev/next does. What my keybind does on top of that is set the current selection as the search query.

[creativecoder]

The next best thing is that sometimes you need to skip a match. No binds are needed, a regular N press does the job

Particularly this part is very useful, thanks for posting!