Configuring Vim with your .vimrc

Vim reads configuration from a .vimrc file. Vim works out of the box, but there are certain options that make working with code a lot easier.

Spot hidden files

In Unix-like systems, files that start with a period (.) are hidden. To see them, run ls -a in a Command line.

In Linux and macOS, .vimrc is located in your user directory (the full path would be /home/<username>/.vimrc). You can also find your user directory by opening a Command Prompt and running the following command:

$ echo $HOME

Older versions of Windows Explorer did not allow periods in file names, so the file is named _vimrc. It’s usually located in C:\Users\<username>\_vimrc, but you can also locate it by opening the Windows Command Prompt and running the following command:

$ echo %USERPROFILE%

Locating .vimrc

If you run into problems, open Vim and type in :echo $MYVIMRC followed by Enter. It should display where Vim is reading .vimrc from.

Find the proper location for your OS, and place the prepared configuration file there. You can download the .vimrc file used for this chapter from GitHub at https://github.com/PacktPublishing/Mastering-Vim-Second-Edition/tree/main/Chapter01. The following code shows the contents of a .vimrc file used in this chapter:

syntax on " Enable syntax highlighting.
filetype plugin indent on " Enable file type based options.
set nocompatible " Don't run in backwards compatible mode.
set autoindent " Respect indentation when starting new line.
set expandtab " Expand tabs to spaces. Essential in Python.
set tabstop=4 " Number of spaces tab is counted for.
set shiftwidth=4 " Number of spaces to use for autoindent.
set backspace=2 " Fix backspace behavior on most terminals.
colorscheme murphy " Change a colorscheme.

You’ll eventually want to change these

For extra credit, you may want to limit some options to Python only – especially if you’re (hopefully) planning to use Vim as your primary editor for multiple file types. I recommend you prefix certain options with autocmd filetype python, which will only apply options to Python files:

autocmd filetype python set expandtab

autocmd filetype python set tabstop=4

autocmd filetype python set shiftwidth=4

Lines starting with a double quote (") are comments and are ignored by Vim. These settings bring in some sensible defaults, such as syntax highlighting and consistent indentation. They also fix one of the common sticking points in a bare-bones Vim installation – inconsistent backspace key behavior across different environments.

Trying out the configuration options

When working with Vim configuration, you can try things out before adding them to your .vimrc file. To do that, type : followed by a command, for example, :set autoindent (press Enter to execute). If you ever want to know the value of a setting, add ? at the end of the command: for example, :set tabstop? will tell you the current tabstop value.

I’ve also changed colorscheme to make screenshots look better in print, but you don’t have to (unless you’re writing a book about Vim – then you probably should).

The world is full of colors

Vim 9 comes prepackaged with many color themes, and the list grows with every release. You can try out a color theme by typing :colorscheme <name> and hitting Enter, and you can cycle through the available color scheme names by typing :colorscheme followed by a space and by hitting Tab multiple times. You can read more about configuring Vim and color schemes (including using color schemes you find online) in Chapter 7.

You’ve configured Vim, and now it’s time to learn how to actually use it!