VIM - Multiple Searches Within Macro Breaks Intended Logic

Question

I have a simple macro that I am working on in VIM to convert a block of text into a specific Media-Wiki format, and am attempting to get it working.

My sample input consists of blocks of text, empty newlines, etc. Each block begins with the following exact line:

== ISSUE ==

My goal is to compact each block of text so that there are no empty lines save for one between each block of text. I also want to change the == ISSUE == string to be the string directly below it, with == on each side of it. Finally, the body of each message should be wrapped in the <pre> and </pre> tags. So, the following sample:

== ISSUE ==

Reactor leak in dilithium chamber

Personel evacuation started.

1

1

== ISSUE ==
Unathorized shuttle access.
== ISSUE ==
No problems reported.

Should become:

== Reactor leak in dilithium chamber ==
<pre>
Personel evacuation started.
1
1
</pre>

== Unathorized shuttle access ==
<pre>
</pre>
== No problems reported ==
<pre>
</pre>

I used a simple macro in VIM for this:

qa                   ' Start recording macro "a"
/== ISSUE ==         ' Find first instance of delimiter
dd                   ' Delete the line
j                    ' Go one line down
0i==[SPACE]          ' Prefix the line with "== "
[ESC]$a[SPACE]==     ' Append " ==" to the end of the line
o                    ' Start new line below it
<pre>                ' Enter the arbitrary tag while still in insert mode
[ESC]                ' Enter normal mode
V                    ' Enter block selection mode
/== ISSUE ==         ' Find next delimiting block
k                    ' Move cursor up one line, so the new delimiter is excluded from search
:g/^$/d              ' Delete all empty lines between the two delimiters
O                    ' Insert a new line above the second delimiter
</pre>               ' Insert the second arbitrary tag
q                    ' Stop macro recording

It almost works, but it seems to break when I attempt it a second time. By turning on search highlighting, it seems that having more than one search within the macro (ie: the search for == ISSUE == and the delete-empty-lines query) causes conflicts, despite my explicit typing of the search queries in my macro. Is there a way to be more explicit with searches in my VIM macros to avoid this issue?

Answer 1

In this case, because of the missing end search parameter, it would be easier to work the other way arround.

In a nutshell

• First delete all empty lines
• go to the bottom of the file
• start a macro, edit and search backwards
• stop recording
• repeat

Commands

:g/^$/d                   ' Delete all empty lines
G                         ' go to the bottom of the file
qq                        ' start recording the macro in register q
o</pre>^[?== ISSUE ==^Mddi== ^[A ==^M<pre>^[kk
@q                        ' repeat the macro

Special characters

^[                        ' Escape
^M                        ' Enter

Result

== Reactor leak in dilithium chamber ==
<pre>
Personel evacuation started.
1
1
</pre>
== Unathorized shuttle access. ==
<pre>
</pre>
== No problems reported. ==
<pre>
</pre>