Practical Vim, 2nd Edition

Tip 30

Run Normal Mode Commands Across a Range

If we want to run a Normal mode command on a series of consecutive lines, we can do so using the :normal command. When used in combination with the dot command or a macro, we can perform repetitive tasks with very little effort.

Consider the example we met in Tip 2. We wanted to append a semicolon at the end of a series of lines. Using the Dot Formula allowed us to complete the task rapidly, but in that example we needed to make the change only on three consecutive lines. What if we had to make the same change fifty times? Using the Dot Formula, we would have to press j. fifty times. That makes a total of one hundred keystrokes!

There is a better way. To demonstrate, we’ll append a semicolon ...