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Somehow the dot "." command isn't repeating the last command for me. I'm searching a file for the string "xml" by issuing :/xml and vi, as expected, takes me to the next find. But now when I press "." nothing happens (the cursor stays exactly there), although if I do :/xml again, I'm taken to the next find.

What could be wrong?

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2 Answers 2

Reset to default
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The . command only repeats the last change (Normal Mode).

To repeat the last command-line, you can use @:

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    n also repeats the last search, and N (uppercase) repeats the last search in the opposite direction (up if you used / to search down, down if you used ? to search up)
    – dave_thompson_085
    Jul 9, 2015 at 13:02
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in vi and vim, when I search for a string I put 

/xml

then if the first occurrence is not what I want, I just hit slash then enter

/ < enter >

and it takes me to the next occurrence of xml

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  • You can just press n to go to the next match.
    – Heptite
    Jul 9, 2015 at 17:39
  • Indeed you can. thanks! Many ways to skin that pesky cat
    – eherr9633
    Jul 13, 2015 at 14:59

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