vim: mapping the F2 key to a sequence of commands

Macros are a great way to automate tasks in vim. You can record a sequence of keystrokes, assign them to a register, and then playback the macro saved in that register any number of times.

However, sometimes you come across a macro that is so useful that you use it frequently. Perhaps you use it across several vim sessions. You wish you could create a keyboard shortcut for this macro, and then save it in your ~/.vimrc file for anytime usage.

This is how you can do that, using vim’s map command:

map <F2> 0i\<Esc>A\n\<Esc>j

This mapping will bind the F2 key to perform this sequence of operations:

number	operation	vim command
1	go to the hard BOL (beginning of line)	0
2	insert the '\' character	i\
3	go back to command mode	<Esc>
4	append \n\ to the end of the line	A\n\
5	go back to command mode	<Esc>
6	go down one line (so that you can just press F2 again on the next line, to continue)	j