Recording Macros

The first step to creating a macro is to plan the individual steps that will be recorded. After the steps have been planned, it is time to record the macro.

To start recording a macro, simply type q followed by the name of the named register you would like to store the macro in. After that, proceed through the sequence of steps that you would like to record, then when you are done simply type q again to stop recording.

Lets walk through an example. Starting with the buffer in the first tab below, suppose we want to wrap each line in HTML "p" tags. This can be approached in a few ways, but lets try it this way: first we will use o to insert a line below the current line and enter insert mode, then we will type the text for the closing tag, then finally return to normal mode.

Lets watch each step:

So far so good. Now, for the opening tag we will use O to insert a line above the current line and enter insert mode, then type the opening tag, and finally return to normal mode. Here are those steps:

Finally, we need to join the join the lines by executing J twice:

These steps achieve our goal, so it is time to record the macro.

We want to store this macro in the a register, so hit qa to start recording, repeat the steps, then type q to stop recording.

Next, we will learn how to execute the macro.