Macros: Vim Commands you NEED TO KNOW #3

X: / typecraft_dev
Stop repeating yourself and get in the game with macros. Vim allows us to work smarter so in this short, we show you how to record and execute macros! Let's get into it.
Commands used in this video:
q - to record macro
h - the register for this macro to be recorded into
@h - replays the macro recorded into the h register
5@h - replays our macro 5 times
A - append to end of line

[@muizzyranking]

Thanks nerd.

[@typecraft_dev]

Thank YOU, nerd

[@dave4347]

@@typecraft_dev No no, I insist, thank YOU my good nerd.

[@codeinechugger]

I loved this video but this comment wins 😭

[@gosnooky]

Let's he honest here - a lot of us have accidentally started macro recording by trying to exit vim, but hitting control+colon q instead of shift+colon q.

[@typecraft_dev]

I do this literally on a daily basis

[@sysarcher]

My muscle memory is too :q the hell out until I'm out

[@nanashi2622]

I just bind it with . Kill me

[@boobbbers]

I’ve never done this because my CTRL key is nowhere near my shift key. 😊

[@NOT_A_ROBOT]

​@@boobbberswhat kinda keyboard layout is that

[@anuragbisht1200]

a more tip, once you have used a macro once and use it again , pres @@ , will replay the last executed macro exe

[@hodd]

This channel is SO GOLD!! I have never learned that much from a single channel

[@CatchMyLzzz]

Vs code : hold shift press down till u have a cursor on each line hold click the ". Than hold cntrl press left right arrow then press the " then ,

[@christopher8641]

Neovim: ctrl-V to get a cursor on each line. Shift-I to insert on each line. Repeat with append (A). The multiple cursor method breaks for both if any element is a different pattern of words & spaces. Macros are much more flexible. Also, if my hands leave the home row it's a hit on efficiency

[@feelswhiteman]

Good luck with this approach if you have similar task with hundreds or thousands items in the array

[@honkhonkv2236]

@@feelswhiteman Which basically never happen.

[@Mcdude22]

Sure, it’s possible, it’s just slow. Nothing wrong with that, but vim users use vim because it’s fast, so dope life hack for vscode users, not especially relevant for vim users Not even mentioning its narrow in usecase. Vim macros can be used *any* time you need to repeat a complicated sequence of inputs, and vscode doesn’t have an easy answer to that, not in such a versatile way

[@JohnGodwin777]

@@feelswhitemanthen you just use regex search and replace

[@stefin1]

V8j:normal I"$", 1. Visually select 8 lines down. 2. Enter command mode to transition to normal mode. 3. Insert and move cursor to beginning of current line. 4. Insert quote, then to perform a command in Normal mode to go end of line to insert 2nd quote and final comma.

[@FabioOrtega]

Personally I prefer to mix the two. record the macro like he did then go V8j:norm @h

[@aarond309]

i’d probably do V8j:s/\S*/“/0”/

[@ScyneoPL]

Doesn't work for me. It takes "$", literally and inserts it in front of each line.

[@aarond309]

@@ScyneoPL That’s cause you were supposed to press CTRL and “o” instead of typing “”

[@AndrewARitz]

or just do a quick find + replace regex in any other text editor.

[@actuallyasriel]

That's a pretty cool feature. I'd use multi-cursor mode for this in VSC, but I imagine there's all sorts of things you could use this for that don't apply or are harder to apply

[@cody_codes_youtube]

Finally someone explained macros because I was too lazy to… google how to do macros

[@Leonhart_93]

Just use a multi-line cursor that you can do in every decent editor, far simpler.

[@baky5372]

Macros and global marks are two of my favorite features of neovim

[@chriswoods6868]

Just came back to this video again for the 5th time. Love these shorts. They are a huge help at work. Keep them coming!

[@clamhammer2463]

if you used a good editor, you wouldn't need to return to a yt short 5 times for one stupid command.

[@johnnyrosenberg9522]

Yes, I remember I used a similar thing in the 1980's, but with Emacs. I don't remember the key combinations but the result was the same. These days I would just do a search and replace with regular expressions, or I would write a python script for it in AutoKey.

[@Irrelevantstatus]

Nobody notices his tattoo beside his left eye that appears later 😅

[@Julzaa]

Yeah wtf

[@elEntrampe]

That make me go back en re watched the video

[@paultapping9510]

that confused me greatly

[@taumus1]

I don't really trust the judgement of people who has face tattoos. Relieved it was gone by the end of the video.

[@warpcode]

You can also go into visual mode, select the lines, press : then type norm @h and it'll run the macro on every selected line

[@bahaaalhalabi8940]

Thank you i wanted to look up how to do this and save it as a binding or something, glad I found your vid 👍 always helpful 👍

[@walidmkw]

Bro, you are a wizard, thanks a lot for your videos, that’s all I needed for my everyday use of nvim !

[@nytr]

Vim doesn't stop to amaze me no matter how much i think i know

[@askholia]

The way he says 'thanks nerds' makes me feeling like he is trying to gp into our pants.

[@DaggieBlanqx]

In VSCode replace the new line with "," then add " at the start and at the end

[@deezydoezeet]

Enjoying every tidbit so far 👍

[@Templarfreak]

multi-line select -> quotation -> end -> quotation, comma

[@harry-smith404]

Ooh, man, why not just use multicaret editing I mean, like, do we need to record a macro for each individual case?

[@orian7688]

This is a simple example, macros are much more versatile then multicaret editing. You can use all vim features with macros - skip to end of word, change surrounding brackets, find next occurrence of word and much more.

[@AndrewARitz]

because we need a reason to pretend that vim is better.

[@hobbesip1]

Vi rocks. All sorts of clever capabilities.

[@Axlefublr]

personally, I'd visually select the inner lines, then :norm I"A", (it will act on all lines in the selection, ctrl+q lets you insert a raw character, here I entered escape)

[@treeplate512]

vscode: command-option-down " ctrl-right " ,

[@sunyfilip]

exactly...this multicursor is not enough for most stuff...it is really useful to have at least possibility to use macros in more difficult situations...but in this one vscode is much faster :)

[@gooniesfan7911]

Ok subbed this is what I needed at 6 am 😂

[@DragonFistLeeMontage]

This was epic knowledge. Thank you

[@FreddyRangel85]

What’s nice about learning vim is it’s the last editor you’ll ever learn. Ask the average vscode user how many text editors he’s used in the last 5-10 years. If you learned vim 20 years ago, 20 years from now you’ll still be set

[@PHAL__]

Well I've being using vscode for everything for the past 6y, except when I was forced to use IntelliJ for a Java project.... so there's that.

[@AndrewARitz]

The best part of vim adherents is that they think that software engineering is about editing text, quickly?

[@FreddyRangel85]

@@AndrewARitz I actually have a theory about that. No Vim doesn’t make you better at your job. But there’s a correlation not a causation going on here. It’s like parents that play music for their infants - it’s not the music that helps … it’s having parents who care about education. Anyone who takes the time and effort to learn Vim is likely to do the same at everything else in programming.

[@AndrewARitz]

@@FreddyRangel85 I can get behind that. It's a good thing for programmers to be curious.

[@poopfartlord9695]

Ask the average vscode user and they'll probably tell you that vscode is all they've ever used. I've got no idea what point you think you're making, but it's dumb.

[@VictorYarema]

#OMG I finally know how to use it. Thanks!!!

[@sergeykolesnik1171]

Would be nice to see how its done with a regular speed. Because it doesn't seem like it could beat multiple cursors. At least not with a list this short.

[@committedcoder3352]

Another alternative is the substitute command and use a capture group

[@JeffersonSMachado]

Cursor at the end of first line, hold shift, arrow down, home, release shift, alt+l to select every line, arrow left, home, ' " ', end, ' " ', end finnaly ' , ' Shift + end to remove the last come if needed.

[@homematvej]

In normal IDE you can just select all the occurrences you want and do the editing for them at the same time

[@Imbalanxd]

Suddenly all the lost efficiency everywhere else is worth it. Oh, they just added macros to any existing proper ide? Nevermind.

[@blarghblargh]

"proper" ides are relatively slow and relatively crashy. I arm myself with both IDEs and text editors, and swap between to whichever is the better tool for the current task.

[@poopfartlord9695]

​@@blarghblarghjust admit you're not a swe mate.

[@pierreollivier1]

That's why I prefer helix, In helix you have multicursors so in that case I would go at the s of something, press S-c, down to the last word. when 'v' for visual mode, then g-w for (go word), m-s for surround-add '"' to inset quote than A to insert the final ','

[@greenaum]

Ah, dude, creating bizarre, cryptic Vi shortcuts to do half your work with the minimum keypresses is an art and a sport! Used to do it all the time at college. With genuine vi, on a genuine Unix. I think it was some sort of 68000-series processor with 12MB RAM, a lot back then. On actual serial terminals! This isn't back in the '70s, it's the '90s, the place just had some really weird ideas about computers. Was great though to learn on real System V Unix. Makes me feel elite, like these Linux kids are all running fake, plastic Unix! If it doesn't cost thousands of dollars and come with dozens of physical serial ports, it's not Unix!

[@sandorkelemen5802]

I usually use vv7j to select everything and then in :s/.*/"\0", , which can be added to a shortcut

[@olivierdulac]

this would include the spaces. instead of .* use [^ ].*

[@DevilDead13820]

I would also use `vi[` instead of using a number.

[@vaisakhkm783]

wait, for \0, don't we need to enclose it with \( , \) ?? wow

[@ksbs2036]

None of my friends or colleagues used macros and I never bothered to learn the command even though I have been using VI since 1982! Yikes. So many commands and you get comfortable with the 20 or so you use on a regular basis. I generally did large substitutions through REGEX sub commands including those REGEX that squirrel away partially matched strings and then output the stored strings as part of the sub command ('s'). Works well but macros likely would have been easier. Thanks for the lesson and the video

[@miletadulovic577]

Okay, now I know why all those mistakes happened when using vim.. I was recording macros all day long

[@Nishanth_S]

Your welcome dude ❤

[@typecraft_dev]

😁

[@maudjito]

Visually place cursors before each line

[@erichlf]

8jI"",

[@deepblackoutlaw9640]

Here is how I'd do it in visual studio: 1. CTRL + SHIFT + ARROW DOWN (×number of lines) 2. type " 3. Fn + ARROW LEFT 4. type ",

[@dasiths]

If you don't want to do it with marcos. alt + click on the first row of each item, type " and then hit end, type " again and then ,.

[@Julzaa]

Or I mean with a regular editor you could use a simple regex instead, find `^( )(.*)` and replace `\1"\2",`. That way you won't have to execute your macro x times your number of objects..

[@yungifez]

So thats what the recording is for

[@UliTroyo]

This is how it works in Helix: - one motion to select within [ ] - one motion to shrink selection - one motion to split selection by line - one motion to surround then all in “ “ - one motion to append the lines with , - one motion to rule them all, and in the darkness bind them

[@UliTroyo]

What I like about this approach is that I don’t have to guess how many items are in the list, or remember to what register I saved the macro, or tap the down arrow to select more lines, or hold and drag the mouse, or scroll if the lines extend beyond the view. This approach works even if there are a million lines, and won’t extend past the brackets by mistake.

[@samuelallen1402]

This is the zen of vi, master this and you start flying.

[@y00t00b3r]

what the hell is that on his temple?

[@taipo101]

This feature was common in the eighties

[@WruGapps]

Or I dunno select your text and do a find replace start line end line to include your quotes/commas?

[@aliqyan9827]

Thanks to you Nerd!

[@FrancoisKerisit]

You're welcome! 🤓

[@TheRich107]

Does :q! Get rid of the face tattoo that I get from doing this ?

[@confused_asian]

I have used different things before for this type of tasks. Now its just chatgpt separate those words etc

[@kowalski6589]

Wanna mention the use of + instead of j^. I love using + and - in macros instead of more keystrokes

[@JohnnyUtah269]

Man I don't even know how to get to the end word. I need how to be a keyboard wizard 101

[@TheMarcus242]

That made me actually believe in magic 😮

[@Iachigan]

Does rhis eork in other with other programming languages, like C, matlab or assembly, or other IDE's?

[@i.zhuravlev]

you are insane

[@AndrewARitz]

the best part about vim commands is that you only have to remember them while you are making youtube videos.

[@johndododoe1411]

So that's why q isn't always quit !

[@trancongminh2628]

it's really good if you mention key stand for? ex: q and h stand for?

[@dradic9452]

Is there a way to edit the macro after. I find I make a mistake and have to restart the recording. So I just avoid using macros.

[@spencerfunk6697]

Omg thank u

[@salmonMunchies]

Or just visual block insert exit $ insert again. Much less key inputs

[@maxanimator9547]

Multicursor ftw

[@fcantil]

i just use regex in vscode lmao, but this is pretty neat

[@rerere1569]

Damn that's cool

[@typecraft_dev]

You're cool! ;)

[@annahri]

Vim video? Auto subscribed!

[@typecraft_dev]

🤝

[@derpdays]

vi[ then unindent using < to get rid of white space then select again using vi[ then do :s%/(.*/)%”\1”, which should replace all of the content on the line with it surrounded the \(\) indicates a capture group which we reference the contents of with \1 i might of butchered the substitution since i’m on my phone but that’s the general gist, a lot faster imo

[@satrukaan]

That's what I do except you can use & to match whatever so it's just :s/.*/&/

[@derpdays]

@@satrukaan nice! didn’t know about &, that’s useful

[@codewithvenky]

Thank 😮

[@asdfghyter]

or you just press ctrl+v, to enter visual block mode, select all the lines and insert the quotes in the beginning and the end with “I” and “A”

[@Hellenic_Empire]

Vim (albeit an old "not "modern-looking" editor) does have a really steep learning curve but if you master it you can do literally wonders compared to your average lodern text editor (as a vscode user)

[@byailen]

Plus it's fast as hell even with some bad piece of hardware

[@midorinchan]

You have a trailing comma

[@sheltonfranciscojoaosalicu5080]

If i had freids, they'd be jealous now

[@lf7926]

God bless you

[@joergw]

Pretty awesome, but does this also work non-macs? 😅

[@typecraft_dev]

Yes it does! it works wherever vim works! :)

[@MTS_IT]

As a nerd i know that mens “Not Even Remotely Dork” 😅

[@nomadshiba]

useful info, bad example because same thing can be done using multiple cursors also in vscode without macros

[@dangtrungkien4999]

Try 1000 lines

[@harry-smith404]

​​@@dangtrungkien4999I love those extreme and rare case "Edit 1 terabyte file" "Do that for billions of lines"

[@harry-smith404]

I'd agree that it is not the best example. Multiline/multicaret editing is still more handy there. Just select what you need and edit it. Macros look like some sort of "any case weapon" Do you need to cover selection with quotes? Use macros. Don't just type a quote sign, that's not nerdy enough.

[@seheyt]

Wait, so something is a bad example if another program can do it too?

[@JohnGodwin777]

@@dangtrungkien4999 then I would just use regex find and replace

[@Saboor-Hamedi]

I am pretty much new in vim, what is append? I know how to jump to the end of the line, but I don't know append

[@typecraft_dev]

append is capital A. it will bring you to the end of the line and put you in insert mode :)

[@cbaesemanai]

paste into chat gpt and tell it to output the format I wish. easy peasy

[@RealCadde]

In Notepad++, hold ALT and select before each letter of each word downward to the bottom. This is called column select mode. Press " Select all lines you want to add closing quotation marks and commas on. Press CTRL + H (Search->Replace) or CMD + H on evil systems. Check "In selection", select Regex Find what: $ Replace with: ", $ in Regex stands for "end of line" It doesn't replace the end of line characters, it only matches at the end of line, adding " and , respectively. NP++ is very powerful in many ways. And it is very modular, open source and free.

[@RealCadde]

Alternatively, if you want to get really fancy (which doesn't even require NP++ to do, though syntax might differ) Use regex search and replace like this. Find what: ^\s*(.+)$ Replace with: "\1", Done! ^ - Matches start of line \s* - Matches white space (spaces and tabs alike) zero or more times (.+) - Matches any characters ONE or more times as a capture group. This group gets assigned index 1. $ - Matches end of line Replace " is the literal quotation mark, \1 is the contents of the first capture group, ", are the literal quot and comma. Select the lines you want to replace on and do "in selection" mode, replace all. Then you need to indent the lines again, but that is because i wanted to keep the regex simple to read and explain.

[@malekabo2837]

There is a website to turn lines of text into js array, every line is surronded by quotes and seperated by commas. I think that's easier, just paste the text and press convert

[@GreatTaiwan]

U 100% missed the point hunny

[@_jovian]

just paste the data into chat gippity with the command make this a string array

[@driyagon]

I think you could have just pressed . and it would have replicated the same change - adding quotes and comma

[@typecraft_dev]

not with multiple motions. you gotta make a macro

[@driyagon]

ohh okay got it, thankyou!

[@SPAHI43]

select - right click - start ai chat with selection - "make a valid array" - boom

[@Rich-Ard.]

and @@ to just do it one more time

[@typecraft_dev]

kzbin.info/www/bejne/fHilmYSYorWqfpo

[@BarbaraOpenheimer]

how i do it: ask chatgpt to do that or use search and replace

[@augustuscolumbano]

I thought my guy had a tattoo 😅 nice easter egg (?)

[@user-lz1gs1yl9r]

How do you get the auto completion feature with comma at the end of line?

[@milanith]

It looks like Github Copilot I'd say

[@TheSputnikUtah]

What appears onhis face then is t there.?

[@mrmagnetic927]

Just use Emment - its alot faster

[@hmlchy]

Nowadays I'll just ask chatgpt to make an array of these items

[@SylvainDesjardins-fm4rl]

Just ask copilot AI to format as an array for the langage you use. Just a suggestion

[@quenting4885]

Me: Ctrl+a Ctrl+x Open google Enter chagtp Prompt: Add quote and comma to each line of text Ctrl+v Enter Copy Ctrl+v on file.

[@wilville3752]

Jesus Christ we have vim fighting game inputs

[@Avantii7]

I still don’t how to exit vim

[@dmferrari]

Or... You can just use multiline edit in vscode.... 😅 JK I love you videos

[@typecraft_dev]

haha that is true! (but this is so much more fun!)

[@blarghblargh]

macros are cool, but I prefer multiple cursors