[subjectsigma]

I feel exactly the opposite, macros and regexps always felt like I was trying to shoot something blindfolded, it was always awkward and usually didn’t work the first time. Multiple cursors provide immediate visual feedback. Once I started using them they replaced macros and find-and-replace immediately. I don’t use an editor unless it supports multiple cursors. What “clunky downsides and weirdness” are you experiencing?

[kqr]

For the record, there are plugins (for e.g. Emacs) that provide visual feedback on regex operations.

[alpaca128]

Using :%s instead of :s lets you preview in real-time what a regex substitution will do while you are typing it.