How to break a line in vim in normal mode?

Question

I would like to break a line (at the location of the cursor) in to two lines without leaving normal mode (entering insert or command-line mode). Is this possible?

I currently get to the location I want and hit 'i' to enter insert mode, 'enter' to break the line in two, then 'esc' to return to normal mode.

I am not trying to set a maximum line length or do any syntax or anything like that. I just want to break one line into two lines without leaving normal mode. 'J' joins the line the cursor is on to the line below it, which is handy. I want the opposite -- to break one line into two with a single command.

Answer 1

I don't know of a single key command, but a lot of times I do "r" then "Enter" to break a line.

"r" replaces the current character under the cursor without going into insert mode. This may not be what you want if you don't want to replace a character...

Answer 2

Try this:

:nnoremap <NL> i<CR><ESC>

then just press Ctrl-J whenever you want to split a line.

Answer 3

As far as I know this isn't possible without entering insert mode. You can however macro it with something like (replace Z with whatever key you want to use)

nmap Z i<cr><esc>k$

basically this maps the key 'Z' to enter insert mode 'i', insert a carriage return '<cr>', leave insert mode '<esc>', go up a line 'k' and finally go to the end of the line '$'

Answer 4

Per this duplicate question: http://stackoverflow.com/questions/237383/how-do-i-insert-a-linebreak-where-the-cursor-is-without-entering-into-insert-mode

From within vim, type:

:map g i[Ctrl+V][Enter][Ctrl+V][Esc][Enter]

This maps the G key to macro I [Enter] [Escape]