I guess it depends. There's almost always multiple ways to do anything in Vim and pros and cons to each. Using a mapping will save you time if you use the sam

I guess it depends. There's almost always multiple ways to do anything in Vim and pros and cons to each. Using a mapping will save you time if you use the same regex often but you can end up having to remember a lot of shortcuts. I find I forget rarely used mappings. If you learn the Vim command line and regex well it can be quicker to just type what you want on demand and then use one of the methods repeating it. Then forget about it till the next time you need it. It's also helpful if you have to use configured Vim occasionally.