For example: %s/htm/html/c | %s/JPEG/jpg/c | %s/GIF/gif/c This example substitutes for htm, then moves on to JPEG, then GIF. The second command (and subsequent commands) are only executed if the prior command succeeds. This works for most commands, but some commands like :argdo or :autocmd see the '|' as one of their arguments. This allows commands such as :argdo, which execute a different Vim command, to execute a series of commands. See [help :\bar] for the full list of such commands. For example: argdo %s/foo/bar/gc | w map :echo "test" :echo "test2"