Exact string match in vim? (Like 'regex-off' mode in less.)

Question

In vim, I often want to search on a string with finicky characters which need escaping. Is there a way I can turn off the meaning of all special characters, kind of

Answer 1

Maybe something like this:

nmap s :execute '/\V' . escape(input('/'), '\\/')

It'll give you a / prompt and behave otherwise like the built-in search, but it won't do search-as-you-type or other such goodies.