[emacs] How to replace a character with a newline in Emacs?

More explicitly:

To replace the semi colon character (;) with a newline, follow these exact steps.

  1. locate cursor at upper left of buffer containing text you want to change
  2. Type m-x replace-string and hit RETURN
  3. the mini-buffer will display something like this: Replace string (default ^ -> ):
  4. Type in the character you want to replace. In this case, ; and hit RETURN
  5. the mini-buffer will display something like this: string ; with:
  6. Now execute C-q C-j
  7. All instances of semi-colon will be replaced a newline (from the cursor location to the end of the buffer will now appear)

Bit more to it than the original explanation says.