How to: Store multiple Vim commands in macros and recall them

Vim allows recording a batch of commands as a macro. This is handy if you need to do the same things over and over.

Here is how:

1. Press q to enter macro mode.
2. Press a letter (not a number!) key to assign a slot to your macro.
3. You are now recording. Do whatever you want with usual commands.
4. Once you are done, press q again to stop recording.
5. You can now run your recorded macro by pressing @ and its assigned letter key.

Cheats:

• If you want to run a macro repeatedly, type a number before pressing the @ key. Example: 23@a will repeat macro "a" 23 times.
• Press @@ to repeat the last macro. This does not work instantly after recording, you need explicitly call the macro once.
• You can combine the above: 42@@ calls the last run macro 42 times.

If you want to repeat only the last command, you don't need a macro. Just press the . (period).