Question

In studying VIM functions to learn to write my own I see that commands are sometimes written preceded with the keyword normal:

normal mz

Sometimes with the normal wrapped in an exec:

exec "normal mk"

Or sometimes alone on the line;

0d

Where in the fine manual is this addressed?

Answer 1

You’re getting confused with the various modes. More specifically, the command
mode and normal mode.

Command mode is where the ex commands are applied, the commands that begin
with a colon. VimScript files are just a sequence of ex commands.

When you need to perform a normal mode command while in ex mode (command mode)
you use the :normal ex command, which executes the arguments as they would
be in normal mode.

When you execute command directly, well, you’re executing it directly. In your
example, the :d command was used with a range. That’s not the same as the
d key in normal mode, that’s another entirely different command. Check the
help for :d and d (the normal command).

The :execute is useful to build a command as a string and execute it as an
ex command. In your example, it’s useless. But it becomes handy in other
cases, as an example when you have a variable holding a line number and wants
to use its value in a command:

:let i=4
:exec "2," . i . "d"

Which is just the same as

:2,4d