dotfiles/notes/vim/vim_macros.md

Vim Power Macros

Recording

When recording macros, best practice is to start with a 0 motion and try to use absolute motions to the line like A not w

Macros are a register, so they can be edited the same way as one. In fact @ is just a shortcut for :normal <paste-register-here>. They can be viewed with :reg

Modifying macros:

• "lp paste register l
• <C-v><C-k> literally inserts <C-k> as a key motion. Useful for pseudo-esc

Saving macros:

• "lyy copy line into register l
• :'<,'>y l copy selected line into register l
• {Visual}"ly copy selection into register l. Doesn't have <C-j> at the end

On the line:

• <C-r>l pastes the l register in insert mode
• :let @l = "<rec>" sets the l register as <rec>
• :let @L = "<rec>" appends <rec> to register l
• "i\<esc>" in a string escapes to literal key strokes, like <C-v> inserts

Escaping keystrokes, from the last example, only works with double quoted strings. You can check in :reg to see the literal expansion

Replaying macros

The older convention for batch macros was adding j at the end of the macro, and using absolute motions:

• 4@l replay the macro 4 times

A newer solution is to execute registers over command line through :normal. Macros executed this way always starts in the left-most column, so prepend 0 to your macro for consistency

Command style:

• :norm[al][!] @l can be used to replay macros. Keep the ! to not use maps
• :'<,'>norm! @l replays the macro over every select line
• :g/re/norm! @l replays the macro over lines with a matching regex

Oddly, while :norm! @l doesn't see maps for @l, it will see mapping in the register internally. So

:nnoremap <C-k> <esc>
:let @l = "Ihello\<C-k>"
:norm! @l

will still read <C-k> as <esc> when executing