Unlike most applications with a graphical settings menu, vim’s settings are configured inside of a vimrc file. But where do you find/put this file?
If you’re in neovim, you can drop it in ~/.config/nvim/init.vim
And if you’re in regular vim, you can place it in ~/.vim/vimrc/
set tabstop=2
set softtabstop=2
set expandtab
set shiftwidth=2
The default tab length in vim is 8. Yes, 8. That can be a little rough, so I prefer to set it to just 2. Some people prefer 4 but I feel that it eats up my coding screen width a little too fast as I indent.
set wrap linebreak
set breakindent
set wrapdoes what it says. set linebreak makes sure that the line
break doesn’t chop any word in half as it wraps. set breakindent
makes wrapped lines start at the same indent as the original line that
was broken.
Without breakindent:
Quote: Marcus Aurelius:
You have power over
your mind - not outside
events. Realize this,
and you will find
strength.
With breakindent:
Quote:
Marcus Aurelius:
You have power over
your mind - not
outside events.
Realize this, and
you will find
strength.
set relativenumber
set number
set relativenumber makes the line numbers at the left side of vim be
relative to your current line number. But this sets your current line
number at 0, which is not very useful. set number changes this 0 to
your actual line number.
set incsearch
set nohlsearch
set incsearch highlights results as you type, even before you press
enter. set nohlsearch removes the highlights immediately after enter
is pressed. I prefer things to go back to being clean once I’ve found
what I need.
set undofile
set undodir=~/.config/nvim/undodir
The combination of these options lets you save undos to the beginning
of time, as long as you keep the directory set under set undodir
safe. Your undos will be saved even if you quit vim and come back.
set termguicolors
set guicursor=
set noerrorbells
set scrolloff=10
set hidden
set noswapfile
set nobackup
set termguicolors enables full colors in vim, as opposed to the primitive 16 colors originally available.
set guicursor= sets the cursor to be a block at all times, rather than switch to a thin line when entering insert mode. I just prefer my cursor to remain as a block.
set noerrorbells is my path to peace and quiet when coding.
set scrolloff=10 will make the text scroll when my cursor is 10 lines away from the edge. This helps to keep the cursor more centered on the screen.
set hidden allows me to switch to other files without vim warning me that I haven’t saved the file I was previously looking at.
set noswapfile and set nobackup disables vim’s auto-backup mechanism, which allows me to avoid seeing a .swp file in my working directory.