vim run macro multiple messed up

Question

If I have following lines:

1
2
3

I make a macro to insert a new line below current line and type 'x': my macro is:

ox^[j

now I run this macro to the above three line by visual select the lines and type command:

:'<,'>normal @q

it will give me the result:

1
x
x
x
2
3

instead of the expected result:

1
x
2
x
3
x

How can I achieve the expected result?

Answer 1

You probably forgot to have your macro move down a line. So it did add a new x always on the same line. However since you did not share what your macro actually looks like, one cannot tell for sure.

[update]

You seem to be calling your macro from visual mode as you show in your updated article. However, note that it won't work as you expect. This is because your '<,'>norm! @a will position the cursor after each invocation on each consecutive line of the visual mode. However, since each time you run the macro you add one line, the positioning will be off by at least one.

Best way would be to avoid visual mode in this case and call your macro by hand 3@q

Answer 2

I find this wonderful post about advanced macro.

Turns out if you macro will add new lines, then simply run :'<,'> norm @q won't work.

To solve my problem, you need to take care of 2 things:

1. As Christian and Wouter suggested in the above answer, you must record your macro moving to the correct line to continue.
2. prefix macro with number of times to run :norm n@q

Answer 3

With the macro ox^]j I got the same result as you, I suppose this is because the cursor isn't moved when using a range commmand.

The work around to still use the visual selection would be

:'<,'>g/./norm @q

This way the macro is executed on each line of the selection.

---

Also as I suggested on the comments, I would rather use a substitution to do what you want:

:'<,'>s/$/\rx

To substitute each end of line by a new line and an x