Macros

When editing files, you may find yourself repeating the same actions. Wouldn't it be nice if you can do those actions once and replay them whenever you need it? With Vim macros, you can record actions and store them inside Vim registers to be executed whenever you need it.

In this chapter, you will learn how to use macros to automate mundane tasks (plus it looks cool to watch your file edit itself).

Basic Macros

Here is the basic syntax of a Vim macro:

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qa                     Start recording a macro in register a
q (while recording)    Stop recording macro

You can choose any lowercase letters (a-z) to store macros. Here is how you can execute a macro:

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@a    Execute macro from register a
@@    Execute the last executed macros

Suppose you have this text and you want to uppercase everything on each line:

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hello
vim
macros
are
awesome

With your cursor at the start of the line "hello", run:

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qa0gU$jq

The breakdown:

• qa starts recording a macro in the a register.
• 0 goes to beginning of the line.
• gU$ uppercases the text from your current location to the end of the line.
• j goes down one line.
• q stops recording.

To replay it, run @a. Just like many other Vim commands, you can pass a count argument to macros. For example, running 3@a executes the macro three times.

Safety Guard

Macro execution automatically ends when it encounters an error. Suppose you have this text:

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a. chocolate donut
b. mochi donut
c. powdered sugar donut
d. plain donut

If you want to uppercase the first word on each line, this macro should work:

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qa0W~jq

Here's the breakdown of the command above:

• qa starts recording a macro in the a register.
• 0 goes to the beginning of the line.
• W goes to the next WORD.
• ~ toggles the case of the character under the cursor.
• j goes down one line.
• q stops recording.

I prefer to overcount my macro execution than undercount it, so I usually call it ninety-nine times (99@a). With this command, Vim does not actually run this macro ninety-nine times. When Vim reaches the last line and runs j motion, it finds no more line to go down to, throws an error, and stops the macro execution.

The fact that macro execution stops upon the first error encounter is a good feature, otherwise Vim will continue to execute this macro ninety-nine times even though it already reaches the end of the line.

Command Line Macro

Running @a in normal mode is not the only way you can execute macros in Vim. You can also run :normal @a command line. :normal allows the user to execute any normal mode command passed as argument. In the case above, it is the same as running @a from normal mode.

The :normal command accepts range as arguments. You can use this to run macro in select ranges. If you want to execute your macro between lines 2 and 3, you can run :2,3 normal @a.

Executing A Macro Across Multiple Files

Suppose you have multiple .txt files, each contains some texts. Your task is to uppercase the first word only on lines containing the word "donut". Assume you have 0W~j in register a (the same macro as before). How can you quickly accomplish this?

First file:

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## savory.txt
a. cheddar jalapeno donut
b. mac n cheese donut
c. fried dumpling

Second file:

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## sweet.txt
a. chocolate donut
b. chocolate pancake
c. powdered sugar donut

Third file:

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## plain.txt
a. wheat bread
b. plain donut

Here is how you can do it:

• :args *.txt to find all .txt files in your current directory.
• :argdo g/donut/normal @a executes the global command g/donut/normal @a on each file inside :args.
• :argdo update executes update command to save each file inside :args when the buffer has been modified.

If you are not familiar with the global command :g/donut/normal @a, it executes the command you give (normal @a) on lines that match the pattern (/donut/). I will go over the global command in a later chapter.

Recursive Macro

You can recursively execute a macro by calling the same macro register while recording that macro. Suppose you have this list again and you need to toggle the case of the first word:

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a. chocolate donut
b. mochi donut
c. powdered sugar donut
d. plain donut

This time, let's do it recursively. Run:

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qaqqa0W~j@aq

Here is the breakdown of the steps:

• qaq records an empty macro a. It is necessary to start with an empty register because when you recursively call the macro, it will run whatever is in that register.
• qa starts recording on register a.
• 0 goes to the first character in the current line.
• W goes to the next WORD.
• ~ toggles the case of the character under the cursor.
• j goes down one line.
• @a executes macro a.
• q stops recording.

Now you can just run @a and watch Vim execute the macro recursively.

How did the macro know when to stop? When the macro was on the last line, it triedto run j, since there was no more line to go to, it stopped the macro execution.

Appending A Macro

If you need to add actions to an existing macro, instead of recreating the macro from scratch, you can append actions to an existing one. In the register chapter, you learned that you can append a named register by using its uppercased symbol. The same rule applies. To append actions to register a macro, use register A.

Record a macro in register a: qa0W~q (this sequence toggles the case of the next WORD in a line). If you want to append a new sequence to also add a dot at the end of the line, run:

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qAA.<Esc>q

The breakdown:

• qA starts recording the macro in register A.
• A.<Esc> inserts at the end of the line (here A is the insert mode command, not to be confused with the macro A) a dot, then exits insert mode.
• q stops recording macro.

Now when you execute @a, it not only toggles the case of the next WORD, it also adds a dot at the end of the line.

Amending A Macro

What if you need to add new actions in the middle of a macro?

Assume that you have a macro that toggles the first actual word and adding a period at the end of the line, 0W~A.<Esc> in register a. Suppose that between uppercasing the first word and adding a period at the end of the line, you need to add the word "deep fried" right before the word "donut" (because the only thing better than regular donuts are deep fried donuts).

I will reuse the text from earlier section:

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a. chocolate donut
b. mochi donut
c. powdered sugar donut
d. plain donut

First, let's call the existing macro (assume you have kept the macro from the previous section in register a) with :put a:

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0W~A.^[

What is this ^[? Didn't you do 0W~A.<Esc>? Where is the <Esc>? ^[ is Vim's internal code representation of <Esc>. With certain special keys, Vim prints the representation of those keys in the form of internal codes. Some common keys that have internal code representations are <Esc>, <Backspace>, and <Enter>. There are more special keys, but they are not within the scope of this chapter.

Back to the macro, right after the toggle case operator (~), let's add the instructions to go to the end of the line ($), go back one word (b), go to the insert mode (i), type "deep fried " (don't forget the space after "fried "), and exit insert mode (<Esc>).

Here is what you will end up with:

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0W~$bideep fried <Esc>A.^[

There is a small problem. Vim does not understand <Esc>. You can't literally type <Esc>. You will have to write the internal code representation for the <Esc> key. While in insert mode, you press Ctrl-V followed by <Esc>. Vim will print ^[. Ctrl-V is an insert mode operator to insert the next non-digit character literally. Your macro code should look like this now:

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0W~$bideep fried ^[A.^[

To add the amended instruction into register a, you can do it the same way as adding a new entry into a named register. At the start of the line, run "ay$ to store the yanked text in register a.

Now when you execute @a, your macro will toggle the case of the first word, add "deep fried " before "donut", and add a "." at the end of the line. Yum!

An alternative way to amend a macro is to use a command line expression. Do :let @a=", then do Ctrl-R Ctrl-R a, this will literally paste the content of register a. Finally, don't forget to close the double quotes ("). You might have something like :let @a="0W~$bideep fried ^[A.^[".

Macro Redundancy

You can easily duplicate macros from one register to another. For example, to duplicate a macro in register a to register z, you can do :let @z = @a. @a represents the content of register a. Now if you run @z, it does the exact same actions as @a.

I find creating a redundancy useful on my most frequently used macros. In my workflow, I usually record macros in the first seven alphabetical letters (a-g) and I often replace them without much thought. If I move the useful macros towards the end of the alphabets, I can preserve them without worrying that I might accidentally replace them.

Series Vs Parallel Macro

Vim can execute macros in series and parallel. Suppose you have this text:

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import { FUNC1 } from "library1";
import { FUNC2 } from "library2";
import { FUNC3 } from "library3";
import { FUNC4 } from "library4";
import { FUNC5 } from "library5";

If you want to record a macro to lowercase all the uppercased "FUNC", this macro should work:

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qa0f{gui{jq

The breakdown:

• qa starts recording in register a.
• 0 goes to first line.
• f{ finds the first instance of "{".
• gui{ lowercases (gu) the text inside the bracket text-object (i{).
• j goes down one line.
• q stops macro recording.

Now you can run 99@a to execute it on the remaining lines. However, what if you have this import expression inside your file?

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import { FUNC1 } from "library1";
import { FUNC2 } from "library2";
import { FUNC3 } from "library3";
import foo from "bar";
import { FUNC4 } from "library4";
import { FUNC5 } from "library5";

Running 99@a, only executes the macro three times. It does not execute the macro on last two lines because the execution fails to run f{ on the "foo" line. This is expected when running the macro in series. You can always go to the next line where "FUNC4" is and replay that macro again. But what if you want to get everything done in one go?

Run the macro in parallel.

Recall from earlier section that macros can be executed using the command line command :normal (ex: :3,5 normal @a executes macro a on lines 3-5). If you run :1,$ normal @a, you will see that the macro is being executed on all lines except the "foo" line. It works!

Although internally Vim does not actually run the macros in parallel, outwardly, it behaves like it. Vim executes @a independently on each line from the first to the last line (1,$). Since Vim executes these macros independently, each line does not know that one of the macro executions had failed on the "foo" line.

Learn Macros The Smart Way

Many things you do in editing are repetitive. To get better at editing, get into the habit of detecting repetitive actions. Use macros (or dot command) so you don't have to perform the same action twice. Almost everything that you can do in Vim can be replicated with macros.

In the beginning, I find it very awkward to write macros, but don't give up. With enough practice, you will get into the habit of automating everything.

You might find it helpful to use mnemonics to help remember your macros. If you have a macro that creates a function, use the "f register (qf). If you have a macro for numerical operations, the "n register should work (qn). Name it with the first named register that comes to your mind when you think of that operation. I also find that the "q register makes a good default macro register because qq requires less brain power to come up with. Lastly, I also like to increment my macros in alphabetical orders, like qa, then qb, then qc, and so on.

Find a method that works best for you.