In a program, you may want to search for an identifier named i. However, entering the search /i will find every hit, including the "i" in words like "if" and "while". In a pattern, \< represents the beginning of a word, and \> represents the end of a word, so to find only the whole word "i", use the pattern: \ In normal mode, press / to start a search, then type the pattern (\\>), then press Enter. The pattern \ finds all words that start with "i", while i\> finds all words that end with "i". <>