Practical Vim

Tip 31

Repeat the Last Ex Command

While the . command can be used to repeat our most recent Normal mode command, we have to use @: instead if we want to repeat the last Ex command. Knowing how to reverse the last command is always useful, so we’ll consider that, too, in our discussion.

In Chapter 1, ​The Vim Way​, we saw how the . command can be used to repeat the last change. But the dot command won’t replay changes made from Vim’s command line. Instead, we can repeat the last Ex command by pressing @: (see @:​).

For example, this command can be useful when iterating through items in the buffer list. We can step forward through the list with ...