vim

Content-sensitive text editing using vim.

2022-09-01 Raspbian buster-bullseye, Ubuntu 20.04-22.04, macOS 12.1-15.5

Debian OS

graham:~ sudo apt install vim

Often vim-tiny (or nothing) is pre-installed. Replace it!

graham:~ sudo vi /etc/vim/vimrc.local

/etc/vim/vimrc.local new file

" status line
augroup use_status_line                     " indivisible unit
    autocmd!
    set noruler                             " replaced with status line
    set statusline=                         " start afresh
    set statusline+=\ %F\ %M\ %Y\ %R        " left side: file name, type, etc
    set statusline+=%=                      " divider, if needed
    set statusline+=\ %c,%l\ %L/%02p%%      " right side: col,row, #lines
    set laststatus=2                        " always show status line
    highlight StatusLine term=bold cterm=bold ctermbg=159 guibg=PaleTurquoise1
augroup END

" enable local commands
let mapleader = ";"                         " namespace for local commands

" indentation & tabs
set autoindent backspace=indent,eol         " indentation
set tabstop=8 softtabstop=4 shiftwidth=4    " tab stops
set expandtab smarttab                      " expand tabs

" simple input hints
syntax enable                               " content sensitive
if &statusline == ''                        " if not using status line...
    set ruler                               " show simple cursor position
endif
set list                                    " show whitespace hints
set listchars=tab:▸·                        " whitespace: show tab width
set showmatch                               " auto-show matching bracket
set cursorcolumn                            " show cursor alignemnt
highlight CursorColumn ctermbg=255          " very light grey column
highlight OverLength ctermbg=lightred ctermfg=black  " pale red background

" cues for being in insert mode
augroup insert_mode_cues
    autocmd!
    if &term == 'xterm-256color' || &term == 'screen-256color'
        let &t_EI = "\<Esc>[1 q"            " command mode = blinking block
        "let &t_SR = "\<Esc>[3 q"            " replace mode = blinking _
        let &t_SR = "\<Esc>[1 q"            " replace mode = blinking block
        let &t_SI = "\<Esc>[5 q"            " insert mode = blinking I-bar
    endif
    autocmd InsertEnter * set cursorline    " insert mode = underline line
    autocmd InsertLeave * set nocursorline  " command mode = remove underline
augroup END

" searching
set noincsearch                             " incremental search off
set hlsearch                                " highlight search strings

" scrolling
set scrolloff=1                             " scroll offset = 1 line

" buffer controls
set wildmenu wildmode=longest,list,full     " tab completion

" auto-folding
set foldmethod=indent foldlevel=99          " enable toggle folding
nnoremap <leader>f za                       " local command ;f toggles fold

" filetype-specific formatting
autocmd! BufRead,BufNewFile *.inc set filetype=html  " force this
autocmd! BufRead,BufNewFile *.plist setfiletype xml  " macOS property list
autocmd! BufRead,BufNewFile */etc/nginx/sites-*/* setfiletype nginx
autocmd! BufRead,BufNewFile */etc/sudoers.d/* setfiletype sudoers
filetype plugin on                          " content-specific commands
"filetype indent off                         " i dislike their indenting

" python content
augroup python_content
    autocmd!
"    autocmd filetype python set number      " display line numbers
    autocmd filetype python match OverLength /\%81v.\+/
augroup END

" web-related content
augroup web_content
    autocmd!
    autocmd filetype css\|html\|javascript\|json\|xhtml\|xml
        \ set softtabstop=2 shiftwidth=2
    autocmd filetype xml set matchpairs+=<:>
    if !&filetype                           " if filetypes not enabled...
        autocmd filetype html\|xhtml set matchpairs+=<:>
    endif
    autocmd filetype html\|json\|xhtml\|xml set nowrap
augroup END

If you need any personal overrides:

graham:~ vi .vimrc

~/.vimrc new file

" personal settings

Append your settings to this file.
Sometimes pre-installed vim config files override these custom system-wide settings; changing scrolloff > 1 is prevalent and very annoying. Set it (again) here, if required. Alternatively, if too many such (re)settings, just source /etc/vim/vimrc.local to load them all again.

Similarly, if root needs overrides:

graham:~ sudo vi ~root/.vimrc

~root/.vimrc new file

" personal settings

Repeat personal .vimrc for root.

macOS

There is no standard location for custom system-wide vim settings. Place all the content for Debian OS's /etc/vim/vimrc.local above into your ~/.vimrc instead.

Follow same instructions for .vimrc.