[ajuc]

If you need to search for a variable named i - you should have named it something else (and no, jj is NOT an improvement in that case).

One letter variables are supposed to be used in scopes that fit on the screen completely. You might as well search for "for"

TL; DR: it's on purpose.

[SoftTalker]

> One letter variables are supposed to be used in scopes that fit on the screen completely.

Exactly, and ideally in less space than that. If you have something like:

  for (i=0; i<10; i++) {
      foo(i);
      bar(i);
  }

There is no point in using a "descriptive" name for the index. It's completely obvious what's going on. Anything more verbose would just hamper readability.

[xorcist]

Also the fact that every search function since the dawn of interactive computing can search for whole words only (like -w in grep or C-w in emacs).