-
- The macro thus defined can be invoked again with the @kbd{C-x e}
-command (@code{kmacro-end-and-call-macro}), which may be given a
-repeat count as a numeric argument to execute the macro many times.
-If you enter @kbd{C-x e} while defining a macro, the macro is
-terminated and executed immediately.
-
- After executing the macro with @kbd{C-x e}, you can use @kbd{e}
-repeatedly to immediately repeat the macro one or more times. For example,
-
-@example
-C-x ( xyz C-x e e e
-@end example
-
-@noindent
-inserts @samp{xyzxyzxyzxyz} in the current buffer.
-
- @kbd{C-x )} can also be given a repeat count as an argument, in
-which case it repeats the macro that many times right after defining
-it, but defining the macro counts as the first repetition (since it is
-executed as you define it). Therefore, giving @kbd{C-x )} an argument
-of 4 executes the macro immediately 3 additional times. An argument
-of zero to @kbd{C-x e} or @kbd{C-x )} means repeat the macro
-indefinitely (until it gets an error or you type @kbd{C-g} or, on
-MS-DOS, @kbd{C-@key{BREAK}}).
-
- The key @key{F4} is like a combination of @kbd{C-x )} and @kbd{C-x
-e}. If you're defining a macro, @key{F4} ends the definition.
-Otherwise it executes the last macro. For example,
-
-@example
-F3 xyz F4 F4 F4
-@end example
-
-@noindent
-inserts @samp{xyzxyzxyz} in the current buffer.
-
- If you wish to repeat an operation at regularly spaced places in the
-text, define a macro and include as part of the macro the commands to move
-to the next place you want to use it. For example, if you want to change
-each line, you should position point at the start of a line, and define a
-macro to change that line and leave point at the start of the next line.
-Then repeating the macro will operate on successive lines.
+Note that @key{F3} and @key{F4} do not become part of the macro.
+
+ After defining the macro, you can call it with @key{F4}. For the
+above example, this has the same effect as typing @kbd{M-f foo} again.
+(Note the two roles of the @key{F4} command: it ends the macro if you
+are in the process of defining one, or calls the last macro
+otherwise.) You can also supply @key{F4} with a numeric prefix
+argument @samp{n}, which means to invoke the macro @samp{n} times. An
+argument of zero repeats the macro indefinitely, until it gets an
+error or you type @kbd{C-g} (or, on MS-DOS, @kbd{C-@key{BREAK}}).
+
+ The above example demonstrates a handy trick that you can employ
+with keyboard macros: if you wish to repeat an operation at regularly
+spaced places in the text, include a motion command as part of the
+macro. In this case, repeating the macro inserts the string
+@samp{foo} after each successive word.
+
+ After terminating the definition of a keyboard macro, you can append
+more keystrokes to its definition by typing @kbd{C-u @key{F3}}. This
+is equivalent to plain @key{F3} followed by retyping the whole
+definition so far. As a consequence, it re-executes the macro as
+previously defined. If you change the variable
+@code{kmacro-execute-before-append} to @code{nil}, the existing macro
+will not be re-executed before appending to it (the default is
+@code{t}). You can also add to the end of the definition of the last
+keyboard macro without re-executing it by typing @kbd{C-u C-u
+@key{F3}}.