diff --git a/src/search.c b/src/search.c
index 726013e..57434ec 100644
--- a/src/search.c
+++ b/src/search.c
@@ -4665,6 +4665,7 @@
 {
     pos_T	start_pos;	/* position before the pattern */
     pos_T	orig_pos;	/* position of the cursor at beginning */
+    pos_T	first_match;	/* position of first match */
     pos_T	pos;		/* position after the pattern */
     int		i;
     int		dir;
@@ -4758,6 +4759,8 @@
 				ml_get(curwin->w_buffer->b_ml.ml_line_count));
 	    }
 	}
+	if (i == 0)
+	    first_match = pos;
 	p_ws = old_p_ws;
     }
 
@@ -4774,9 +4777,25 @@
     /* move to match, except for zero-width matches, in which case, we are
      * already on the next match */
     if (!one_char)
-	result = searchit(curwin, curbuf, &pos, direction,
+    {
+	p_ws = FALSE;
+	for (i = 0; i < 2; i++)
+	{
+	    result = searchit(curwin, curbuf, &pos, direction,
 		    spats[last_idx].pat, 0L, flags | SEARCH_KEEP, RE_SEARCH, 0,
 								   NULL, NULL);
+	    /* Search successfull, break out from the loop */
+	    if (result)
+		break;
+	    /* search failed, try again from the last search position match */
+	    pos = first_match;
+	}
+    }
+
+    p_ws = old_p_ws;
+    /* not found */
+    if (!result)
+	return FAIL;
 
     if (!VIsual_active)
 	VIsual = start_pos;