TopolearnMacros automate repetitive, structured edits that are too irregular for a single substitute.
A macro is a recorded sequence of keystrokes. qa starts recording into register a, you perform the edit, and q stops. @a replays it, @@ replays the last macro, and 10@a runs it ten times.
Recipe for robust macros:
- Normalise the start: begin with
0or^so the macro does not depend on where the cursor was. - Use searches and f/t, not counts of
landw, so it adapts to lines of different lengths. - End by moving to the next target, often
jorn, so repeating it walks through the file.
If a motion fails inside a macro (a search finds nothing, j on the last line), the macro stops. That is a feature: 100@a safely processes "all remaining lines" and halts at the end.
To run a macro over a range instead of a count, use :normal: :'<,'>normal @a runs it once on each selected line, starting at column 0. This is often more reliable than counting.
Because macros live in registers, you can edit them: "ap pastes the macro as text, you fix it, then "ay$ yanks it back (without the newline). You can also define one with :let @a = '0f=i <Esc>'. A recursive macro calls itself at the end (record qaq first to empty it, then end the recording with @a), running until something fails.
Example
" turn lines like name=Ann into "name": "Ann",
qa " start recording into a
0 " normalise: start of line
i"<Esc> " opening quote
f= " jump to '='
s": "<Esc> " replace '=' with '": "'
A",<Esc> " close value and add comma
j " move to next line
q " stop recording
5@a " apply to the next 5 lines
:'<,'>normal @a " or: once per selected lineRemember
- qa ... q records, @a replays, @@ repeats the last macro
- Start at a known position and use f/t/searches inside
- :[range]normal @a applies a macro to each line in a range
Watch out for
- Recording with absolute moves like 7l; the macro breaks on lines of different length.