Vim Scoops / Lessons / Record a macro

How to record a macro in Vim

Press qa to start recording into register a, make your edit, then press q to stop. @a plays it back, and @@ repeats the last one.

The keys

Keys	What they do
`qa` … `q`	Record into register a
`@a`	Play it back
`10@a`	Play it ten times
`@@`	Repeat the last macro you played

A macro is just the keys you pressed, played back. The trick is to finish where the next run should start, usually with j to drop to the next line.

Start with 0 or ^ so the macro doesn't depend on where the cursor happened to be. If it fails partway, it stops. That makes a big count safe.

Watch outIf recording @a appears at the bottom and you didn't mean it, you pressed q by accident. Press q again to stop.

Want all of Vim, in order? Vim Scoops is a free game that starts at h j k l and builds up to macros.