vim configuration basic

Have you ever thought about configuring vim? The same vim that you use for editing your files (you should be very familiar with vi editor if you are using unix-like systems). Yes, the editor is highly configurable.

Here are some of the basic tips for vim - Vi Improved 7.1

The global configuration file resides at /etc/vim/vimrc. And the local configuration file resides at your home folder. So if you are logged in as jayant and your home folder is /home/jayant, then your local configuration file would be /home/jayant/.vimrc. If you do not see color in your vi editor, you can do the following

syntax on
set background = dark

I have set the following as my default configuration

jayant@jayantbox:~$ cat .vimrc
set autoindent
set cmdheight=2 "command bar is 2 high
set backspace=indent,eol,start "set backspace function
set hlsearch "highlight searched things
set incsearch "incremental search
set ignorecase "ignore case
set textwidth=0
set autoread "auto read when file is changed from outside
set ruler "show current position
" set nu "show line number
set showmatch "show maching braces
set shiftwidth=2
set tabstop=2
set gfn=Courier\ 12
set t_Co=256
colorscheme oceandeep

This sets the tab width to 2 chars instead of the default 8. Color Scheme is changed to oceandeep. You can get Color schemes for vim from http://www.vim.org/scripts/script_search_results.php?keywords=&script_type=color+scheme&order_by=creation_date&direction=descending&search=search. Your color schemes have to be put in <home>/.vim/colors folder. Auto indenting has been turned on, so you dont need to press tab to indent your code.



Check out my vim using the oceandeep color scheme