How to give count to a Vim command line command (like :insert, :normal, etc)

Question

In Vim as probably all of you know it is possible to give a count to commands in "normal mode" by preceding them with a number.

Like for example 4dd that will delete 4 lines.

I am wondering if there is a way to pass a count to a vim command line command (a command beginning with colon) to repeat it multiple times.

Something like 2:normal oHi! to repeat the normal oHi! command 2 times.

Is there a way to do something like this within Vim?

Answer 1

Many :-commands do accept a count as an argument. For example:

:delete 4

Would delete four lines, starting with the line the cursor is on.

Some :-commands take a count before the command name instead:

:2next

Would edit the second next file in the argument list.

However, the :normal command does not accept a count in either form. You would have to wrap it in a loop:

for i in range(1,2)
    normal oHi!
endfor

And of course you could create a user-defined command that did what you wanted:

command -count=1 -nargs=+ Normal for i in range(1,<count>) | exe 'normal ' . <q-args> | endfor

The -count=1 sets the default count to 1, and you invoke it the second way:

:2Normal oHi!