1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
26
27
28
29
30
31
32
33
34
35
36
37
38
39
40
41
42
43
44
45
46
47
48
49
50
51
52
53
54
55
56
57
58
59
60
61
62
63
64
65
66
67
68
69
70
71
72
73
74
75
76
77
78
79
80
81
82
83
84
85
86
87
88
89
90
91
92
93
94
95
96
97
98
99
100
101
102
103
104
105
106
107
108
109
110
111
112
113
114
115
116
117
118
119
120
121
122
123
124
125
126
127
128
129
130
131
132
133
134
135
136
137
138
139
140
141
142
143
144
145
146
147
148
149
150
151
152
153
154
155
156
157
158
159
160
161
162
163
164
165
166
167
168
169
170
171
172
173
174
175
176
177
178
179
180
181
182
183
184
185
186
187
188
189
190
191
192
193
194
195
196
197
198
199
200
201
202
203
204
205
206
207
208
209
210
211
|
VIM [0]
________________________________________________________________________________
Vim is an improved version of the good old UNIX editor, vi. Many new features
have been added: multi-level undo, syntax highlighting, command line history,
on-line help, spell checking, filename completion, block operations, script
language, etc. There is also a Graphical User Interface (GUI) available. Still,
vi compatibility is maintained, those who have vi "in the fingers" will feel at
home.
Configuration
________________________________________________________________________________
Vim configuration is stored in a local user's ~/.vimrc file. The contents of
this file are based on the user's preferences.
The following configuration is an example based on Sven Gucke's [1] published
vim setup and modified to satisfy the KISS #/kiss/style-guide.
Note: There are no "fancy" text decorations or highlighting. Just a core set of
features selected to assist in code and article writing.
+------------------------------------------------------------------------------+
| Sven Gucke's Modified VIMRC |
+------------------------------------------------------------------------------+
| |
| set ai nocp digraph ek hid ru sc vb wmnu noeb noet nosol |
| syntax on |
| set bs=2 fo=cqrt ls=2 shm=at tw=80 sw=4 ts=4 sts=4 ww=<,>,h,l |
| set comments=b:#,:%,n:> |
| set list listchars=tab:»·,trail:· |
| autocmd FileType markdown,text setlocal spell |
| |
+------------------------------------------------------------------------------+
The following is an explanation of each parameter. You can learn more about each
by using the ":help OPTION" command in vim.
+------------------------+-----------------------------------------------------+
| Command | Description |
+------------------------+-----------------------------------------------------+
| | |
| nocompatible | This changes the values of many options, |
| set nocp | enabling features which are not vi compatible |
| | (but really really nice). |
| | |
| digraph | Enables input of special characters by a |
| set digraph | combination of two characters. Example: Type |
| | 'a', erase it by typing CTRL-H - and then type |
| | ':' - this results in the umlaut: ä So Vim |
| | remembers the character you have erased and |
| | combines it with the character you have typed |
| | "over" the previous one. |
| | |
| esckeys | Enables recognition of arrow key codes which |
| set ek | start off with an ESC. This would normally end |
| | your current mode (insert/append/open mode) and |
| | return you command mode (aka normal mode), and |
| | the rest of the code would trigger commands. |
| | |
| hidden | Allows hidden buffers even though they contain |
| set hid | modifications which have not yet been written |
| | back to the associated file. |
| | |
| ruler | Shows the "ruler" for the cursor (i.e, its |
| set ru | current position with line+column and the |
| | percentage within the buffer). |
| | |
| showcmd | Show the input of an *incomplete* command. So |
| set sc | while you are typing the command "y23dd" you |
| | will see "y23dd before you type the last 'd' |
| | which completes the command. Makes learning Vi |
| | much simpler as you get some feedback to what |
| | you have already typed. |
| | |
| visualbell | Chose "visual bell" effect rather than |
| set vb | "beeping". |
| | |
| wildmenu | Make use of the "status line" to show possible |
| set wmnu | completions of command line commands, file |
| | names and more. Allows one to cycle forward and |
| | backward through the list. |
| | |
| noerrorbells | Turn off the bell. You do know the "beep" you |
| set noeb | get when you type ESC in normal mode? |
| | Be nice to your co-workers - turn it off! ;-) |
| | |
| noexpandtab | When inserting text, do not expand TABs to |
| set noet | spaces. You can always make vim expand the TABs |
| | later (using the ":retab" command). |
| | |
| nostartofline | Prevent the cursor from changing the current |
| set nosol | column when jumping to other lines within the |
| | window. |
| | |
| syntax on | Enable syntax highlighting. |
| | |
| autoindent | Automatic indentation. This automatically |
| set ai | inserts the indentation from the current line |
| | when you start a new line; in insert mode you |
| | would start a new line by ending the current |
| | one by inserting CTRL-J or CTRL-M - and in |
| | command mode you'd "open" a new line with |
| | either 'o' or 'O' for below or above the |
| | current line, respectively. |
| | |
| backspace | Backspace with this value allows to use the |
| set bs=2 | backspace character (aka CTRL-H or "<-"). |
| | for moving the cursor over automatically |
| | inserted indentation and over the start/end of |
| | a line (see also the whichwrap option). |
| | |
| formatoptions | The format options affect the built-in "text |
| set fo=cqrt | formatting" command. The default value omits |
| | the "flag" 'r', which makes vim insert a |
| | "comment leader" when starting a new line. This |
| | allows to add text to a comment and still be |
| | within the comment after you start a new line. |
| | It also allows to break the line within a |
| | comment without breaking the comment. |
| | |
| laststatus | This makes vim show a status line even when |
| set ls=2 | only one window is visible. |
| | |
| shortmess | This shortens about every message to a minimum |
| set shm=at | and thus avoids scrolling within the output of |
| | messages and the "press a key" prompt that goes |
| | with these. |
| | |
| tabstop | Effectively, how many columns of whitespace a |
| ts=4 | \t is worth. |
| | |
| softtabstop | How many columns of whitespace a tab keypress |
| sts=4 | or a backspace keypress is worth. |
| | |
| shiftwidth | How many columns of whitespace a “level of |
| sw=4 | indentation” is worth or a backspace keypress |
| | is worth. |
| | |
| textwidth | This explicitly sets the width of text to 80 |
| set tw=80 | characters. After each completion of a word in |
| | insert mode, vim checks whether its end is past |
| | this width; if so then it will break the word |
| | onto the next line. Note that vim will remove |
| | trailing spaces when applying the word wrap - |
| | a feature which many editors are missing (and |
| | which will leave trailing spaces, of course). |
| | |
| | NOTE: The word wrap applies only when the |
| | *completed* word goes over the line; when you |
| | insert a word before that which moves other |
| | words over the line then vim will *not* break |
| | the words at the end of the line onto the next |
| | line! Programmers certainly don't want that. |
| | It's a feature!! |
| | |
| | |
| whichwrap | There are several commands which move the |
| set ww=<,>,h,l | cursor within a line. When you get to the |
| | start/end of a line then these commands will |
| | fail as you cannot goon. However, many users |
| | expect the cursor to be moved onto the |
| | previous/next line. Vim allows you to chose |
| | which commands will "wrap" the cursor around |
| | the line borders. In this particular example |
| | left/right, as well as the 'h' and 'l', |
| | keys to do that. |
| | |
| comments | Vim can reformat text and preserve comments |
| set com=b:#,:%,n:> | (i.e. commented lines) even when several kinds |
| | of comment indentations "nest" within. This is |
| | particularly useful for reformatting quoted |
| | text in Email and News. |
| | |
| list listchars | This option is cool! Or let's say that "other |
| set list | editors don't have at all". These characters |
| set lcs=tab:»· | are called "list characters" as they are |
| set lcs+=trail:· | related to the list option of vanilla vi. |
| | This will show the end-of-lines by adding a '$' |
| | sign after the last character of each line, and |
| | by replacing all TABs by '^I'. However, it is |
| | much nicer to have TABs shown in expanded form. |
| | Vim takes it one step further by also making |
| | trailing spaces visible. Being able to see |
| | EOLs, TABs, and trailing space has become an |
| | absolute MUST with every editor. |
| | |
+------------------------+-----------------------------------------------------+
In summary, there are MANY configurations that can be applied to vim in just a
few lines of text! As a best practice, test vim out without any configuration
applied, then slowly add in needed features. A good *starter* configuration file
might look something like this:
+------------------------------------------------------------------------------+
| Starter VIMRC |
+------------------------------------------------------------------------------+
| |
| set ai nocp hid ru sc |
| filetype plugin indent on |
| syntax on |
| set bs=2 ls=2 shm=at tw=72 sw=4 ts=4 sts=4 ww=<,>,h,l |
| |
+------------------------------------------------------------------------------+
References
________________________________________________________________________________
[0] https://github.com/vim/vim
[1] http://www.guckes.net/vim/setup.html
|
