I have an error-checking one-liner vim command that looks like the following. It's not directly part of the question but works as an example, so feel free to ignore it:
:'<,'>g/foo{.*}/exe "norm! mxf{lvt}y/\\(foo{\\)\\@!\<C-R>\"\<enter>yy'xP"
Here is an explanation:
:'<,'>g/foo{.*}/ - Run the following command on all highlighted lines with foo{...}exe "norm! - Start executing normal mode commands on each linemx - Record the current linef{lvt}y - Copy everything inside the curly braces of foo{...}/\\(foo{\\)\\@!\<C-R>\"\<enter> - Forward search to an instance where the string inside the curly braces of foo{...} is not inside fooyy'xP" - Copy that line, go back to x, and paste it above.This is basically an error-checking command to see that every time a term is wrapped by foo{, it is always wrapped by foo. However, exe exits on the first case where / (forward search) doesn't find anything. I don't want that to happen.
How do I make exeand :g continue even with errors inside the exe command? I have tried :silent, but that does not save it.
I'd rather keep this as a one-liner, but functions are a second option I am okay with.
:silent alone is not enough. You need to use :silent!. From :help :silent (emphasis mine):
When [!] is added, error messages will also be skipped, and commands and mappings will not be aborted when an error is detected.