Question

Sorry if it’s a dull question, but why does execute function inserts a number of chars equal to number lines in selection when I do something like this:

execute "silent normal!`>a".some_char

Answer 1

When you type : to enter normal mode from visual mode, vim inserts automatically a range corresponding to the visual selection before your command. It looks like

:'<,'>command

When prepended with a range, the :normal command is executed for each line in the range.

You should find another method for acting on the whole visual selection rather than on each line. Providing us with your complete function and a realist usecase would help us help you.

`>ax

is probably not that much slower or more verbose than whatever you are trying to do.