Library Guide

Setting up  vim

On Unix/Linux systems your .vimrc belongs in your home directory. It does not exist by default, you have to create it. At a terminal, Enter your home directory then then:

vim .vimrc

Edit .vimrc file to set up the configurations for Vim.

 The full path to your .vimrc should be in that list.

The format of your .vimrc is that it contains Ex commands: anything that you might type in the vim command-line following :, but in your .vimrc, leave off the :.

Youve mentioned :set ruler: a .vimrc with only this command looks like:

set ruler

Search for example vimrc and look over the results. This link is a good starting point.

.vimrc should be in your home directory. .vimrc is there to make more interactive according to your need. Here is an example of .vimrc

filetype indent on
set ai
set mouse=a
set incsearch
set confirm
set number
set ignorecase
set smartcase
set wildmenu
set wildmode=list:longest,full

example of .vimrc

" URL: http://vim.wikia.com/wiki/Example_vimrc
" Authors: http://vim.wikia.com/wiki/Vim_on_Freenode
" Description: A minimal, but feature rich, example .vimrc. If you are a
" newbie, basing your first .vimrc on this file is a good choice.
" If youre a more advanced user, building your own .vimrc based
" on this file is still a good idea.

"------------------------------------------------------------
" Features {{{1
"
" These options and commands enable some very useful features in Vim, that
" no user should have to live without.

" Set nocompatible to ward off unexpected things that your distro might
" have made, as well as sanely reset options when re-sourcing .vimrc
set nocompatible

" Attempt to determine the type of a file based on its name and possibly its
" contents. Use this to allow intelligent auto-indenting for each filetype,
" and for plugins that are filetype specific.
filetype indent plugin on

" Enable syntax highlighting
syntax on


"------------------------------------------------------------
" Must have options {{{1
"
" These are highly recommended options.

" Vim with default settings does not allow easy switching between multiple files
" in the same editor window. Users can use multiple split windows or multiple
" tab pages to edit multiple files, but it is still best to enable an option to
" allow easier switching between files.
"
" One such option is the hidden option, which allows you to re-use the same
" window and switch from an unsaved buffer without saving it first. Also allows
" you to keep an undo history for multiple files when re-using the same window
" in this way. Note that using persistent undo also lets you undo in multiple
" files even in the same window, but is less efficient and is actually designed
" for keeping undo history after closing Vim entirely. Vim will complain if you
" try to quit without saving, and swap files will keep you safe if your computer
" crashes.
set hidden

" Note that not everyone likes working this way (with the hidden option).
" Alternatives include using tabs or split windows instead of re-using the same
" window as mentioned above, and/or either of the following options:
" set confirm
" set autowriteall

" Better command-line completion
set wildmenu

" Show partial commands in the last line of the screen
set showcmd

" Highlight searches (use <C-L> to temporarily turn off highlighting; see the
" mapping of <C-L> below)
set hlsearch

" Modelines have historically been a source of security vulnerabilities. As
" such, it may be a good idea to disable them and use the securemodelines
" script, <http://www.vim.org/scripts/script.php?script_id=1876>.
" set nomodeline


"------------------------------------------------------------
" Usability options {{{1
"
" These are options that users frequently set in their .vimrc. Some of them
" change Vims behaviour in ways which deviate from the true Vi way, but
" which are considered to add usability. Which, if any, of these options to
" use is very much a personal preference, but they are harmless.

" Use case insensitive search, except when using capital letters
set ignorecase
set smartcase

" Allow backspacing over autoindent, line breaks and start of insert action
set backspace=indent,eol,start

" When opening a new line and no filetype-specific indenting is enabled, keep
" the same indent as the line youre currently on. Useful for READMEs, etc.
set autoindent

" Stop certain movements from always going to the first character of a line.
" While this behaviour deviates from that of Vi, it does what most users
" coming from other editors would expect.
set nostartofline

" Display the cursor position on the last line of the screen or in the status
" line of a window
set ruler

" Always display the status line, even if only one window is displayed
set laststatus=2

" Instead of failing a command because of unsaved changes, instead raise a
" dialogue asking if you wish to save changed files.
set confirm

" Use visual bell instead of beeping when doing something wrong
set visualbell

" And reset the terminal code for the visual bell. If visualbell is set, and
" this line is also included, vim will neither flash nor beep. If visualbell
" is unset, this does nothing.
set t_vb=

" Enable use of the mouse for all modes
set mouse=a

" Set the command window height to 2 lines, to avoid many cases of having to
" "press <Enter> to continue"
set cmdheight=2

" Display line numbers on the left
set number

" Quickly time out on keycodes, but never time out on mappings
set notimeout ttimeout ttimeoutlen=200

" Use <F11> to toggle between paste and nopaste
set pastetoggle=<F11>


"------------------------------------------------------------
" Indentation options {{{1
"
" Indentation settings according to personal preference.

" Indentation settings for using 2 spaces instead of tabs.
" Do not change tabstop from its default value of 8 with this setup.
set shiftwidth=2
set softtabstop=2
set expandtab

" Indentation settings for using hard tabs for indent. Display tabs as
" two characters wide.
"set shiftwidth=2
"set tabstop=2


"------------------------------------------------------------
" Mappings {{{1
"
" Useful mappings

" Map Y to act like D and C, i.e. to yank until EOL, rather than act as yy,
" which is the default
map Y y$

" Map <C-L> (redraw screen) to also turn off search highlighting until the
" next search
nnoremap <C-L> :nohl<CR><C-L>


"------------------------------------------------------------

By default, Nautilus in Ubuntu asks you every time you double-click an executable text file: "Do you want to run <the file>, or display its contents?"

In Nautilus go to "Edit --> Preferences".

On the second tab, Behavior, under Executable Text Files there is a choice toexecute, open, or ask every time. Select the action you want.

In my case, I would like to show or open the files automatically, so I chose the second option. I hope this helps.

Of course you could also change the file permissions, but in my case I have several such files copied from older Linux distributions (mainly Freespire), and somehow it always created them this way or made them executable somehow. These settings are for Nautilus, the default file manager in Gnome or Unity desktops, so this should also work for other Ubuntu versions and even other distros.



I have an error in a .vim file, so when I run the command that loads that error, it flashes errors onto the screen for a ms before I can read them. Id like to pause this display or lengthen the timeout so that I can read them.

With :messages, you can recall previous (error) messages. (But be aware that Vim only keeps the last 200.)

:help shortmess

set shortmess=at

vim --cmd set shortmess=at