Saving vim macros

vim editor macros
jnadro52 picture jnadro52 · Jan 8, 2010 · Viewed 44.8k times · Source

Does anyone know how to properly save/reuse macros recorded inside of a vim editor?

Answer

Dan Olson picture Dan Olson · Jan 8, 2010

Use q followed by a letter to record a macro. This just goes into one of the copy/paste registers so you can paste it as normal with the "xp or "xP commands in normal mode.

To save it you open up .vimrc and paste the contents, then the register will be around the next time you start vim.
The format is something like:

let @q = 'macro contents'

Be careful of quotes, though. They would have to be escaped properly.

So to save a macro you can do:

  • From normal mode: qq
  • enter whatever commands
  • From normal mode: q
  • open .vimrc
  • "qp to insert the macro into your let @q = '...' line

Related questions

How do I make Git use the editor of my choice for commits?

I would prefer to write my commit messages in Vim, but it is opening them in Emacs. How do I configure Git to always use Vim? Note that I want to do this globally, not just for a single project.

Read More
Copy all the lines to clipboard

Is there any way to copy all lines from open file to clipboard in VI editor. I tried yG but it's not using clipboard to store those lines. So is it possible?

Read More
Indent multiple lines quickly in vi

It should be trivial, and it might even be in the help, but I can't figure out how to navigate it. How do I indent multiple lines quickly in vi?

Read More