In Vim, how do you search for a word boundary character, like the \b in regexp?

/the\>

See :help /ordinary-atom

I assume “regexp” means PCRE. It is worth noting that Vim’s regex syntax differs from (and apparently predates) PCRE.

See also:

• Why does VIM have its own regex syntax?
• What’s the difference between vim regex and normal regex?
• Within vim’s regex engine, why are some metacharacters escaped and some are not?
• Can I make vim accept \b rather than just \< and \>?