1000@q
Vim macros stop executing the moment any step in the macro causes an error — a failed search, a motion that cannot proceed, or a substitution with no matches.
@+
In Vim, @{register} executes the contents of any register as a macro.
qQ (or any uppercase register letter)
When recording a macro with qq, you can append additional keystrokes to the existing macro by recording into the uppercase version of the same register.
nnoremap <key> <Cmd>command<CR>
The special key (Vim 8.
config #config #macros #ex-commands #normal-mode #insert-mode
:norm! {cmd}
Both :norm and :norm! execute a sequence of Normal mode keystrokes from the command line or a script, but they differ in how they handle user-defined mappings.
:call setreg("a", substitute(getreg("a"), "old", "new", "g"))
The getreg() and setreg() functions let you read and write register contents as plain strings, making it possible to surgically edit a macro without re-recordin
feedkeys()
The feedkeys({keys}, {flags}) function inserts a string of keystrokes into Vim's input queue as if the user had typed them.
<C-r>=input('Enter: ')<CR>
By embedding =input('prompt: ') inside a recorded macro, you can pause the macro at any point to ask for user input and insert the result.
:let @a = @a . "\<CR>extra"
Vim stores macros as plain text in registers — the same registers used for yanked text.
:%s/pattern/replacement/ge
The e flag on :substitute silences the "Pattern not found" error that Vim normally reports when a substitution has no matches.
qQ
Recording a macro with an uppercase register letter appends to the existing macro in the corresponding lowercase register instead of overwriting it.
:let @q = @a . @b
Macros in Vim are stored as plain text in named registers.
:set wildcharm=<C-z>
The wildchar option (default ) triggers wildcard completion interactively on the command line.
:norm! {command}
:normal {command} runs a sequence of Normal mode keystrokes from the command line (or a range of lines with :%normal), but it applies your custom key mappings.
command-line #ex-commands #macros #normal-mode #command-line
reg_recording() and reg_executing()
Vim exposes two built-in functions for querying the current macro state: regrecording() and regexecuting().
:call setreg('q', 'dd')
The setreg() VimScript function lets you populate any register with arbitrary content directly from the command line or a script — no recording required.
:for i in range(1,5) | put ='item '.i | endfor
Vimscript's for loop is available directly from Vim's command line and can be used to generate repetitive or parameterized text without a macro or external scri
:call setreg('q', keys, 'c')
The setreg() function writes any string directly into a named register, letting you construct macro keystrokes from Vimscript expressions rather than live recor
qq{actions}@qq
A recursive macro ends by calling itself, so it loops automatically without you pressing @q repeatedly.
@q (inside macro recording)
A recursive macro calls itself as its last action, causing it to repeat indefinitely until it hits an error (like reaching end of file or failing a search).
