Is there a way to stay in the command line window after executing a line?

Question

I find the command-line window incredibly useful for experimenting with my vim environment. But it's annoying to have to type q: every time I execute a line with <CR>. Is there a way to execute the line under my cursor but not exit the command line window?

The help menu doesn't seem to suggest that. Only how to get out of the command line window.

Answer 1

Try

nnoremap <CR> <CR>q:

This mapping needs to be active only in the command-line window, so,

autocmd CmdwinEnter * nnoremap <buffer> <CR> <CR>q:

Place in your vimrc, preferably surrounded by an augroup/au! definition.