My Vim configuration

This is a collection of vim configuration directives.

Jul 26 2013

Vim

How to edit your configuration

First of all, you need to know how to edit your user configuration, which is defined in your vimrc file. Open your vim and type

:e $HOME/.vimrc

or, if you are on Windows

:e $HOME\_vimrc

This will create your own user configuration file. From now on, you can edit it with

:split $MYVIMRC

See Open vimrc file as a reference.

Autosource config on exit

Here it is the first line you are going to add to your vimrc.

" autosource config on exit
au BufLeave $MYVIMRC :source $MYVIMRC

So new configuration will be sourced when you finish editing and close the file (a.k.a. ZZ command).

Survival kit

Vim is not vi

set nocompatible    " be iMproved
set wildmenu        " enhanced command-line completion
set laststatus=2    " always show status line
set ruler

Choose a color theme

I use desert here cause is a dark theme I always find by default. However there are better color schemes around: you can install them using Vundle, see Vundle config section.

" if you are using vim from an ssh terminal, probably you should uncomment the line below
" set t_Co=256

colorscheme desert

Indentation and syntax highlight

syntax on         " can't code without
filetype plugin indent on

set autoindent    " always set autoindenting on
set copyindent    " copy the previous indentation on autoindenting
set shiftround    " use multiple of shiftwidth when indenting with '<' and '>'
set showmatch     " set show matching parenthesis

See Programming languages section for specific configuration.

Use mouse

" Enable mouse
set mouse=a

Disable that annoing beep

" disable beeping and flashing
" see http://vim.wikia.com/wiki/Disable_beeping
set noerrorbells visualbell t_vb= " don't beep
autocmd GUIEnter * set visualbell t_vb=

Enhanced cursor

set cursorcolumn
set cursorline
"if version >= 703
if exists('+colorcolumn')
  set colorcolumn=80
endif

Use UTF-8 encoding

set encoding=utf8
set termencoding=utf-8
set fileencodings=          " Don't do any encoding conversion
" Fonts, see http://vimdoc.sourceforge.net/htmldoc/options.html#%27guifontwide%27
set guifontwide=MingLiU:h10 " Display mixed character sets
set guifont=Consolas:h11:cANSI

Nice to have

Enable list

set number        " always show line numbers
set list

" Define characters to show when you show formatting
" stolen from https://github.com/tpope/vim-sensible
if &listchars ==# 'eol:$'
  set listchars=tab:>\ ,trail:-,extends:>,precedes:<,nbsp:+
  if &termencoding ==# 'utf-8' || &encoding ==# 'utf-8'
    let &listchars = "tab:\u21e5,trail:\u2423,extends:\u21c9,precedes:\u21c7,nbsp:\u26ad"
  endif
endif

" another nice listchars configuration
" set listchars=tab:\|\ ,eol:¬
" set listchars=eol:¬,tab:>-,trail:.,extends:»,precedes:«
" set listchars=tab:\|\ ,eol:¬,trail:-,extends:>,precedes:<,nbsp:+

Set gvim window size

I prefer gvim starts maximized

" See http://vim.wikia.com/wiki/Maximize_or_set_initial_window_size

if has("gui_running")
  " GUI is running or is about to start.
  " Maximize gvim window.
  set lines=999 columns=999
endif

Pastetoggle

Use F12 to toggle auto-indenting for text paste.

" See http://vim.wikia.com/wiki/Toggle_auto-indenting_for_code_paste
set pastetoggle=<F12>

Buffers

set hidden " abandon a buffer when unloaded

History

set history=1000    " remember more commands and search history
set undolevels=1000 " use many much levels of undo

No shit around

If I am on a single user on a local host it does not make sense to use swap files.

set nobackup
set noswapfile " IMPORTANT: comment this line if you are working on a remote host
set wildignore=*.swp,*.bak,*.pyc,*.class

Split

Easier split navigations

We can use different key mappings for easy navigation between splits to save a keystroke. So instead of CTRL-w then j, use just CTRL-j

nnoremap <C-J> <C-W><C-J>
nnoremap <C-K> <C-W><C-K>
nnoremap <C-L> <C-W><C-L>
nnoremap <C-H> <C-W><C-H>

More natural split opening

Open new split panes to right and bottom, which feels more natural than default Vim behaviour.

set splitbelow
set splitright
let g:netrw_altv = 1 " when navigating a folder,
                     " hitting <v> opens a window at right side (default is left side)

Better search

set smarttab   " insert tabs on the start of a line according to
               "   shiftwidth, not tabstop
set hlsearch   " highlight search terms
set incsearch  " show search matches as you type
set smartcase  " ignore case if search pattern is all lowercase,
               "   case-sensitive otherwise
set ignorecase " ignore case when searching

Plugins

Vundle config

Vim is great but it gets even better with tons of plugins you can use to make people, including your boss, say:

Hey, what editor are you using?

For plugin management I use Vundle, it works really great.

Installation that is not really straightforward on Windows, see Vundle-for-Windows installation instructions, but it really worth it!

Edit your configuration (see below), launch

:VundleInstall

and Vundle will manage everything!

"""""""""""""""""""""
" start Vundle config
set nocompatible               " be iMproved
filetype off                   " required!

set rtp+=~/.vim/bundle/vundle/ " Use ~/vimfiles/bundle/vundle if you are on Windows
call vundle#rc()


" let Vundle manage Vundle
" required!
Bundle 'gmarik/vundle'

"""""
" my plugin list here
" Bundle 'godlygeek/tabular'
" Bundle 'walm/jshint.vim'
" Bundle 'bling/vim-airline'
" Bundle 'baskerville/bubblegum'
" Bundle 'kchmck/vim-coffee-script'
" Bundle 'AndrewRadev/vim-eco'


syntax enable
filetype plugin indent on " required!
" end Vundle config
"""""""""""""""""""

After Vundle config you can add plugins configuration directives

" Color schemes (uncomment one of the rows below)
"""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""
" colorscheme desert
" colorscheme base16-atelierdune
colorscheme bubblegum
" colorscheme base16-tomorrow
" colorscheme base16-greenscreen
" colorscheme base16-eighties

Cool plugins

vim-airline: lean&mean statusline for vim
base16-vim: color schemes for hackers
Tabular: vim script for text filtering and alignment
bubblegum: vim color scheme based on xoria256
Gist-vim: vimscript for gist
YouCompleteMe: fast, as-you-type, fuzzy-search code completion engine
Supertab: perform all your vim insert mode completions with Tab
Fugitive: a Git wrapper so awesome, it should be illegal
The NERD Tree: a tree explorer plugin for vim
Syntastic: syntax checking hacks for vim
Auto Pairs: insert or delete brackets, parens, quotes in pair

Programming languages

Go

Install Vim plugin for Go.

Note that you need to set the GOROOT environment variable properly.

" See https://github.com/fatih/vim-go/blob/master/README.md
"""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""

" On Windows, add environment variable GOROOT=C:\Go
" and add %GOROOT%bin; to your PATH variable
filetype off
filetype plugin indent off
set runtimepath+=$GOROOT/misc/vim
filetype plugin indent on
syntax on

" Format Go source files when they are saved
autocmd FileType go autocmd BufWritePre <buffer> Fmt

" gocode: An autocompletion daemon for the Go programming language
" See https://github.com/nsf/gocode and https://github.com/Blackrush/vim-gocode
" Use <C-x><C-o> for autocompletion (omnifunc autocompletion)
Bundle 'Blackrush/vim-gocode'

JavaScript

Perl

" my Perl preferences
autocmd filetype perl map <F2> :%!perltidy<CR>                    " indent
autocmd filetype perl map <F3> :!prove -l<CR>                     " run tests
autocmd Filetype perl map <F4> :!prove -l --state=save<CR>        " run tests, stateful
autocmd Filetype perl map <F5> :!prove -l --state=save,failed<CR> " run only failed tests
autocmd filetype perl setlocal autoindent
autocmd filetype perl setlocal expandtab
autocmd filetype perl setlocal shiftwidth=4
autocmd filetype perl setlocal tabstop=4

" use perltidy for .pl, .pm, and .t
autocmd BufRead,BufNewFile *.pl setl equalprg=perltidy
autocmd BufRead,BufNewFile *.pm setl equalprg=perltidy
autocmd BufRead,BufNewFile *.t  setl equalprg=perltidy

CoffeeScript

Install plugins

kchmck/vim-coffee-script: CoffeeScript support for vim
AndrewRadev/vim-eco: Eco (embedded coffee-script) support for Vim

au BufRead,BufNewFile *.coffee set filetype=coffee
au BufRead,BufNewFile *.coffee.md set filetype=coffee

My Neovim setup: Neovim is my favourite editor for modern web development with React, TypeScript, etc. Here it is my setup.
Vim tips & tricks: Vim is awesome and can speed up your productivity, however it is hard to learn. I will write here things it is worth to remember.