Select only the first match

Question

With Vim, I want to highlight only the first match of the expression.

For example, in the following text I want to highlight only the first a:

bdjh abc olkd abc abc

How can I understand that?

Answer 1

You can make it explicit

/^.\{-}\zsa

It does:

• ^ (start of the match)
• .\{-} (as few characters as possible)
• \zs (start of the match)
• a (your template)

Answer 2

/\v(.*a.*)@<!a

this should work.