Recording actions in Vi/Vim

How often did you accidently hit 'q' followed by some other key and saw a message that says 'recording'? Many of us don't know what it means when it says recording. Well, here is a brief explanation. You can record your actions in Vi and run the recorded sequence of actions when you need them. Let us look at a scenario.

You have the word 'my_config_file.php3' in many places in a file. You want to replace 'my' with your, change 'php3' to 'php' and add a line that says 'above line has been modified for new settings' just below the line containing the word.

The way to do this:

  1. In command mode, find 'my_config_file.php3' with / (pattern search). You arrive at the first match.
  2. Press 'q' followed by say 'a'. This means vi should start recording your actions in a record called 'a'. You should see a message 'recording' near the bottom.
  3. Now, carry out your editing actions. In our case, the actions are 2x,i, insert the word your, press escape, 3e, x, o, insert the new line, press escape, n to find the next match.
  4. Now, press 'q' again to stop recording. Your actions are saved in a record - a.
  5. To play the recorded actions, just use '@' followed by record-name. In our case, '@a'.

    6. The record-name has to be a single, non-special character. Try it out yourself !