Vim Tips Blog : Programmer Productivity Tips

Maps allow us to create our custom Vim commands

The VIm initialization file .vimrc is typically used to store maps.
eg:-
imap ,,, <esc>bdwa<<esc>pa><cr></<esc>pa><esc>kA
" s commands these are wrap html around visually selected text
vnoremap sb "zdi<b><C-R>z</b><ESC>
vnoremap sq "zdi"<C-R>z"<ESC>
vnoremap sp "zdi<p><C-R>z</p><ESC>
vnoremap s( "zdi(<C-R>z)<ESC>

However it is very easy to create a temporary map eg to use the key '#' as a map

eg a map to copy the word under the cursor into the paste buffer
:map # "*yiw

A map has an advantage over a recording in this case as it is only necessary to type one character, a recording has an advantage over a map in that you don't have to think it out, so why not combine the two?

Map the key # such that it executes the recording q
:map # @q