Vim Macros
Leverage the power of Vim Macros and automate repetitive text editing task in Vim.
As a developer, we adopt the philosophy of dry. “do not repeat yourself”. This is what sparked my interest in Vim macros, as macros enable us to automate the repetitive process of certain tasks.
Vim macros allow you to repeat a set of keystrokes with the one keyboard shortcut.
Vim Macros allow you to repeat a set of commands of your choosing.
Vim macros are recordings of vim commands which you can easily repeat back.
The way it works, is you record all of commands and then you can play that recorded command back.
Create a macro
start recording a new macro called “a”
1
qa
End recording / macro
to end a recording
1
q
Run a Macro
To run a recording type
1
@a
Execute a Macro multiple times
to repeat macro h 5 times
1
5@h
Execute the last Macro multiple times
repeat last macro 50 times
1
50@@
See vim macros usage example of adding a dash before each line
vim macros usage example
Macro notes:
- These recordings are stored in registers.
- The recordings will be cleared when you close your buffer.
- The recordings do not persist from buffer to buffer.