How to jump between patterns when using :vimgrep (Quickfix list)?

Question

I am new to vim, and still exploring some features of it. I have a problem with vimgrep. I can search for a pattern like this vimgrep /define/ ** so that it finds and opens next file that contains a define. But I couldn't yet find out how to go to the next file/line that matches my pattern. Any pointers?

Answer 1

Useful commands for the quickfix list (brackets around omittable part of the commands):

• :cn[ext] and :cp[revious] jump to next and previous entry
• :cnf[ile] and :cpf[ile] jump to next and previous file (if the quickfix list is not sorted by file you could write a function that getqflist(), performs a sort and then setqflist()
• :cr[ewind] and :cla[st] go to beginning or end of the quickfix list
• :col[der] and :cnew[er] will iterate through historical quickfix lists.

Needless to say there are plenty of other commands and you can discover them at :help quickfix.

Personally I have the following maps :

      | ø      | SHIFT   | CTRL
------+--------+---------+---------
<F11> | :cprev | :cpfile | :colder
<F12> | :cnext | :cnfile | :cnewer

Of course if you use the location list instead of the quickfix list (:lvimgrep) the same commands exist, just replace the initial c with an l and that's it.

Vim 8 Additions:

• :cdo : perform a command on all entries of quickfix list. For example
  :vim /foo/ *.cpp *.h *.hpp can be followed by
  :cdo s/pattern/replacement/g
• :cfdo: perform a command an all files in quickfix list. For example,
  :vim /foo/ *.cpp *.h *.hpp can be followed by
  :cfdo %s/2ndpattern/2ndreplacement/g

Answer 2

To jump to the next occurrence of the patter you can use :cnext. You can go in reverse with :cNext.

I'm not sure of a way to skip all occurrences until the next file automatically, but you could open the quickfix window with :cwindow to see a list of matches and navigate to those matches by hitting Enter on the entry in the list.