Does ":norm! @q" use mapped keys inside the macro?

Question

The documentation for :norm[al][!] states that "mappings will not be used" when the ! is written.

Consider the following setup commands:

:nnoremap \c Chello<esc>
:let @q = '\cIthis is a contrived example: ' . "\<esc>"
:%norm! @q

Will the <leader>c mapping be applied each time the q macro is executed? Or are all user mappings disabled?

Answer 1

Yes, mappings inside the macro are still applied as normal.

For example, apply the commands in the question to the file:

line1
line2
line3
line4

The output will be:

this is a contrived example: hello
this is a contrived example: hello
this is a contrived example: hello
this is a contrived example: hello

Which indicates that the \c mapping was used when the macro was executed.