Vim：通过映射记录宏进入插入模式

Question

I'm trying to have remap i/c/o/a and friends to always record a macro. But the keypress that actually brings me into insert mode is not recorded (explained below).

For example, if we have:

nnoremap i qzi
inoremap <esc> <esc>q

Ideally, this means that when I enter insert mode ( i ), I also start recording to register z . And when I leave ( <esc> ), we stop recording. So register z should have the entire sequence needed to repeat what I did in insert mode.

But then if I try to type in insert mode (eg, ihelloworld<esc> ) and then check :registers a , I get

---Registers---
"z   helloworld^[

Notice how the i command is not included -- only what i typed in insert mode is.

Why is this happening? What can I do to get around it?

I also noticed that if I just typed qzihelloworld<esc> normally, the z register DOES contain ihelloworld<esc> (with the i ).

For those interested, I'm doing trying to do this because certain operations break 'repeat last command (the period key . )'. For example, if you use <co> or move around while insert-mode, . will only repeat the last segment of your insert mode. In particular, I'm trying to find a workaround for an autoclosing plugin

Answer 1

As @Carpetsmoker explains why it doesn't get recorded:

From :help q

The 'q' command is disabled while executing a register, and it doesn't work inside a mapping and :normal.

So that explains why it doesn't work ...

---

A solution:

As the command (eg, i ) in the mapping is not recorded, a solution is to prepend it to the recorded buffer when leaving insert mode.

To distinguish between i , a , o , etc, you can store the command in a variable, and then prepend that to the recorded macro:

nnoremap i :let b:mode="i"<cr>qzi
nnoremap a :let b:mode="a"<cr>qza
nnoremap o :let b:mode="o"<cr>qzo

inoremap <Esc> <Esc>q :let @z=":normal! ".b:mode.@z<CR>    

Simply prepending i (etc.) to the macro doesn't work (for me) since it triggers the mapping for i . Calling it with normal! fixes that.

Another option is to modify the macro to enter insert using startinsert (combined with suitable movements to emulate i , a , o , etc.) by prepending the macro like this

:let @z=":startinsert^M".@z 

caveat: Your rationale for wanting this:

For example, if you use <co> or move around while insert-mode, . will only repeat the last segment of your insert mode.

( my emphasis ) needs the warning that "moving around" (with arrow keys) does not work (at least in my quick tests) without additional hacking, as the arrow keys send an <esc> ... sequence, triggering the end of the recording mapping for <esc> . co will work though, so you can move around (slowly) with eg <co> h (for moving left).

Another problem is that replaying it as a macro does not work (with this solution at least, perhaps due to the use of normal! ) if you have newlines, etc., in the recorded macro. A solution to that is to execute the buffer instead of replaying it as a macro. That is, :exe @z instead of @z for instance with the mapping

nnoremap <space>z :execute @z<cr>