Why doesn't the dot command work after pasting in visual mode?

Question

1. Why doesn't this work?

If my text file is:

aaa
test bbbb test
test bbbb test
test bbbb test

I can yank aaa, select bbbb in visual mode, and type "0p, to replace it with aaa, with the idea of doing more replacements after (Or since vim 9.0, P has a similar effect).

Now if I place my cursor at the start of the next bbbb, and press ., bbbb is deleted. Why doesn't it paste aaa?

2. Is there a way to make it work?

I know that from visual mode, instead of "0p, I could do c<c-r>0<esc> to paste in insert mode, but I would rather not have to enter insert mode.

Answer 1

I don't remember a put in visual mode ever being repeatable with .. I guess not enough people complained about it.

Recording a macro before doing the first put would be one workaround (assuming the cursor is on aaa):

yiw    " yank current word
ww     " move cursor to target
qq     " start recording in register q
viw    " visually select current word
P      " put over visual selection
q      " stop recording
j      " move cursor to next target
@q     " replay macro from register q

but it may require a bit too much forward thinking, IMO.

See :help q.

Here is a quick and dirty custom operator that kills two birds with one stone:

• is repeatable with .
• follows the operator+motion model, like y or d

The snippet:

function! Put(type, ...)
    normal `[v`]P
endfunction
nnoremap <silent> <key> :set opfunc=Put<CR>g@

In your use case, you would use it like this (assuming the cursor is on aaa):

yiw        " yank current word
ww         " move cursor to target
<key>iw    " put over current word
j          " move cursor to next target
.          " repeat

See :help :map-operator.

Note that the operator+motion model is amazing when there is a motion that suits your needs but falling back to visual mode is very helpful when there is no fitting motion. If that's the case, then I am afraid the suggested solution will be of no use.

Maybe you should open a feature request?