Vimrc

Let's set up Vim to load with a configuration file.

This will allow us to set options (and a slew of other things) to be loaded each time Vim opens.

Configuration directory

Whilst the configuration file for Vim lives at ~/.vimrc, Neovim uses ~/.config/nvim/init.vim.

This is because Neovim supports something called XDG configuration - it uses the configuration directory ~/.config.

That is,

• default user config directory is now ~/.config/nvim/
• and the default "vimrc" location is now ~/.config/nvim/init.vim

We can ask Vim the location of its configuration file:

:echo $MYVIMRC

We will see something like this:

/Users/danielmoi/.config/nvim/init.vim

Note that this is the same as:

~/.config/nvim/init.vim

init.vim

Let's open that our configuration file.

If you are already in Vim:

:edit $MYVIMRC

Otherwise, from the command line:

vim ~/.config/nvim/init.vim

We need to add these lines inside init.vim (from Neovim documentation):

set runtimepath^=~/.vim runtimepath+=~/.vim/after
let &packpath = &runtimepath
source ~/.vimrc

As a reminder, these are the steps needed:

1. enter Insert Mode, with i,
2. paste in those lines of configuration
3. return to Normal Mode, with <Esc>
4. save file, with :w and <Enter>

What this means is that when Vim starts, it will load

1. /$HOME/.config/nvim/init.vim, and our source command will tell it to also load
2. /$HOME/.vimrc

After saving, your screen should look similar to this:

.vimrc

Now, let's edit our .vimrc:

:edit ~/.vimrc

This should be a blank file.

Let's add our first customizations!

set number
set background=dark

After saving, your screen should look like this:

Reload

You may have noticed that nothing has changed - there are no line numbers, and the color scheme has not changed.

This is because these changes haven't been loaded into Vim.

We need to "tell" Vim to use these settings, ie. the current configuration file (.vimrc).

This is done with the source (abbreviated as so) command.

:so ~/.vimrc

Alternatively,

:so $MYVIMRC

We could also do this:

:so %

% refers to the current file.

Voila!

We should now see line numbers and a different editor background color.

Quit Vim and start Vim again to confirm that our first customizations have persisted.

Abbreviations

A lot of commands in Vim can be abbreviated.

For example, instead of echo, we can do ec.

So, instead of:

:echo $MYVIMRC

We can do:

:ec $MYVIMRC

Similarly, instead of edit, we can do e:

So, instead of:

:edit $MYVIMRC

We can do:

:e $MYVIMRC

Tab completion

Vim offers tab auto-completion. By pressing <TAB>, Vim will show us all commands/files/variables starting with that initial string of characters.

If we do

:e<TAB>

Vim will provide a list of COMMANDS that begin with e.

We can cycle forwards with <TAB>, and backwards with <SHIFT-TAB>.

Once the desired command is selected, we can:

1. extend the command (and keep typing additional characters) with <SPACE>, or
2. execute immediately with <Enter>.

Similarly, if we do

:edit <TAB>

(noting the space after edit), Vim will provide us a list of FILES that can be edited.

Similarly, if we do

:echo $<TAB>

Vim will provide a list of VARIABLES that begin with $ (ie. all of them).

Comments

As with code, it can be helpful to annotate your .vimrc with comments. You may forget what certain lines are doing, and others reading the file might be interested too!

Comments in .vimrc begin with a ", and there is NO matching " at the end of the line:

" my comment

Let's add some comments to our .vimrc:

No terminal beeps

If Vim has been making beeps (eg. when the cursor reaches the end of the line), we can turn that off.

Just like with line numbers, we need to make changes to certain OPTIONS.

Add this to /.vimrc:

" Turn off all beeping and window flashing
set noeb vb t_vb=

eb is the option for error bells, we turn this off.

vb is the option for visual bells, we turn this on.

t_vb is the option for visual bells for the terminal, we set this to empty (which may be the reason why we have to turn visual bells on to achieve all bells off...)

Dotfiles

A common convention for configuration files is to have "rc" in their names.

There is also a convention for these files to be prefixed with a period ".".

Files and directories beginning with a . are hidden from being listed, hence their name: "dotfiles".

So, .vimrc

• is a configuration file for Vim
• is a hidden file, a "dotfile"

So now you know why the configuration file for Vim is named .vimrc!