Search inside/outside syntax

search-inside.vim

function! SearchWithSkip(pattern, flags, stopline, timeout, skip)
"
" Returns true if a match is found for {pattern}, but ignores matches
" where {skip} evaluates to false. This allows you to do nifty things
" like, say, only matching outside comments, only on odd-numbered lines,
" or whatever else you like.
"
" Mimics the built-in search() function, but adds a {skip} expression
" like that available in searchpair() and searchpairpos().
" (See the Vim help on search() for details of the other parameters.)
"
    " Note the current position, so that if there are no unskipped
    " matches, the cursor can be restored to this location.
    "
    let l:matchpos = getpos('.')

    " Loop as long as {pattern} continues to be found.
    "
    while search(a:pattern, a:flags, a:stopline, a:timeout) > 0

        " If {skip} is true, ignore this match and continue searching.
        "
        if eval(a:skip)
            continue
        endif

        " If we get here, {pattern} was found and {skip} is false,
        " so this is a match we don't want to ignore. Update the
        " match position and stop searching.
        "
        let l:matchpos = getpos('.')
        break

    endwhile

    " Jump to the position of the unskipped match, or to the original
    " position if there wasn't one.
    "
    call setpos('.', l:matchpos)

endfunction

function! SearchOutside(synName, pattern)
"
" Searches for the specified pattern, but skips matches that
" exist within the specified syntax region.
"
    call SearchWithSkip(a:pattern, '', '', '',
        \ 'synIDattr(synID(line("."), col("."), 0), "name") =~? "' . a:synName . '"' )

endfunction


function! SearchInside(synName, pattern)
"
" Searches for the specified pattern, but skips matches that don't
" exist within the specified syntax region.
"
    call SearchWithSkip(a:pattern, '', '', '',
        \ 'synIDattr(synID(line("."), col("."), 0), "name") !~? "' . a:synName . '"' )

endfunction

command! -nargs=+ -complete=command SearchOutside call SearchOutside(<f-args>)
command! -nargs=+ -complete=command SearchInside  call SearchInside(<f-args>)

To use it with vim-plug :

Plug 'https://gist.github.com/drasill/06154751692a217ded4369a71b8074f6.git',
    \ { 'as': 'search-inside', 'do': 'mkdir -p plugin; cp -f *.vim plugin/' }