~ / macros / replay-with-a-countlesson 2/6

Replay with a count (and why too many is fine)

Run a macro many times with a count; it stops by itself when it runs out of work.

?how it works

Put a count in front to replay a macro several times: 5@a runs register a five times in a row. For that to work, the macro has to end where the next run should start: finish with j (next line), ; (next match of an f search), or n (next search match).

Here is the trick: when any command inside a replay fails (j on the last line, ; with nothing left to find, <C-a> on a line without a number), Vim stops the replay right there and skips all the repetitions that are left. So you never need to count exactly. Give a count that is clearly big enough, like 9@a or 99@a, and the macro runs until it runs out of work.

The same goes for . inside a macro: ;. means "go to the next one and repeat the change", a tiny macro that's worth recording.

⌨keys

`{count}@{a-z}`	replay a register {count} times
`99@a`	replay until a command in the macro fails

3 drills

Replay down the file: Record the change on line 1 and finish the recording with j, so the cursor is ready on the next line. Then replay it for all the remaining lines with one count, like 4@a.
Too many is fine: Fix the first separator by hand. Then record ;. (next one, same change) into register q and run it with a count that is surely big enough, like 9@q. It stops by itself when ; finds nothing.
Bump every number: Every number needs to go up by one. Record <C-a> followed by + (first character of the next line), then replay with a count bigger than the number of lines left.

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