[HN Gopher] Five lines I put in a blank .vimrc
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Five lines I put in a blank .vimrc
Author : jiannengli
Score : 57 points
Date : 2020-12-13 21:20 UTC (1 hours ago)
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| gpvos wrote:
| Tastes differ; I would _never_ set 'ignorecase' as a default,
| and instead of 'number', which is only occasionally necessary and
| most of the time is visually disturbing, I'd set 'ruler', or a
| slightly more fancy 'statusline'. The most important one,
| however, for me is 'set guicursor+=a:blinkon0'.
| repsilat wrote:
| Usually smartcase does what I want. The only time it doesn't is
| when I really really want just lower-case characters, but it's
| a very good heuristic.
| ulzeraj wrote:
| Kinda derailing the thread but might ask anyway, does anyone got
| recommendations on dot files synchronization through personal
| devices? I'm currently using a git+ss repo on a personal server.
|
| I wonder if there are more convenient ways to do this.
| dbolgheroni wrote:
| Not the simplest way of doing this, but ansible might be an
| option. IMO the advantage is being able to customize the
| configuration file depending on the host OS, IP address,
| attached filesystem, etc.
|
| This is useful because sometimes you want to use the same
| configuration file on different systems and they usually need
| some customizations to adapt to each one, which can be done
| automatically by ansible based on jinja2 templates.
| leephillips wrote:
| It's not enough. You should go all the way: set
| nobackup set nowritebackup set noundofile
| set noswapfile
|
| I explain why at https://lee-phillips.org/badvim/
|
| Also, it's best to just have one instance of Vim running, in
| server mode, so you can send files to it from the command line.
| bananicorn wrote:
| Why would you not just set the location of the backup and
| swapfiles to a fixed place in your system?
|
| Try this: set backupdir=~/.vim/backups,.
| set directory=~/.vim/swapfiles,.
|
| It will only write in the current directory, if ~/.vim/backups
| does not exist, and the dot is just there for portability, so
| nothing breaks when using my vimrc on a new system.
|
| Edit: Upon actually reading your blog-post, I understand at
| least one reason - my options may not change the behaviour of a
| file not being written to the correct inode, so you have a
| point for some build systems.
|
| I actually learned rather much reading this, thank you for
| sharing!
| leephillips wrote:
| In fact, I think your idea is better, and I'll probably
| switch to doing that some day, just in case one of these
| files turns out to save me.
| rendall wrote:
| I laughed at the poetry of the line "I don't really want Vim to
| litter my filesystem with all of these piles of nervous
| energy."
|
| Truth
| lucb1e wrote:
| The swap file saved my work a number of times. If you never use
| recover and use Vim regularly, then go ahead and disable it; if
| you haven't used it because you don't know how to use it or you
| only rarely use Vim, then I'd encourage you to either try it
| first or leave it enabled (as it is by default) until it becomes
| a nuisance.
|
| And like u/strogonoff, I also disable line numbers, but that's
| just personal preference of course. For vim newbies, relative
| lines might also be worth checking out: "set relativenumber".
|
| One thing that really annoys me is :Wq or :Q not being commands.
| Or typing only Q because you didn't hit the : and accidentally
| entering ex mode. Or hitting F1 instead of escape. I can
| recommend: command Wq wq command WQ wq
| command W w command Q q nnoremap Q <nop>
| map <F1> <Esc> imap <F1> <Esc>
|
| Or for the non-newbie that has the 'too many terminals' problem,
| "set title" will give your terminals more useful titles. There
| are a bunch more things, of course, but these are the lines in my
| vimrc that I think are useful to most people.
| OJFord wrote:
| > Or typing only Q because you didn't hit the : and
| accidentally entering ex mode.
|
| I'm not certain this is different (because I don't use either
| deliberately) but I'm forever hitting q (not even trying to
| quit) and entering some kind of macro recording mode.
|
| I think the only reason I haven't yet disabled it like you
| suggest (after doing it for years now) is that... Well 'some
| kind of macro recording' does sound like it might be pretty
| useful if I bothered to learn to use it!
| scns wrote:
| Macros are really nice, you can automate transforming several
| lines of text with them. The Vim plugin in Intellij supports
| them. Worth learning IMHO.
| lilyball wrote:
| Keeping the swapfile on is really helpful when I accidentally
| open the same file in two different vim editors. But I do
| recommend configuring vim to place swapfiles in a different
| location, so you're not scattering them all over your disk.
| climb_stealth wrote:
| I actually went full on in the other direction and often have
| multiple vim instances working on the same file. It feels so
| much better than having to deal with swap file error messages.
| With the below it reloads the file when the window gets into
| focus. Super helpful when working in lots of terminal tabs. You
| just have to get into a habit of saving after every change as
| it conflicts otherwise. " check for and load
| file changes when a window is focused. Together with "
| `noswapfile` this allows to edit the same file in multiple nvim
| instances and " have the changes reloaded whenever the
| focus is changed. autocmd
| WinEnter,BufWinEnter,FocusGained * checktime
| throwaway744678 wrote:
| Can't you also auto-save when losing focus?
| climb_stealth wrote:
| Hah, I would think so. I'm not really familiar with the
| scripting side and end up searching for solutions online.
|
| See [0] for something to try.
|
| [0] https://vim.fandom.com/wiki/Auto_save_files_when_focus_
| is_lo...
| ogre_codes wrote:
| I guess it depends if you are doing systems admin or coding, but
| when I'm coding, I've gotten very dependent on Fuzzy Search like
| what Sublime Text introduced.
|
| So for me, installing CtrP or FZF is pretty much mandatory (I've
| settled on FZF). I know this is about config options, and this is
| an extension, but for me, fuzzy search is pretty much essential
| for coding once you get to a moderate sized code-base.
| CalChris wrote:
| I'm not going to _set noswf_. However, I run into the problem the
| writer mentions all the time where I 'm opening an already opened
| file. Is it possible to just switch to the already opened file?
| kolme wrote:
| No, because it's open in a different instance. You can use one
| vim instance for all your editing needs and you'll never see
| that error again.
|
| And you probably should, because vim is rightfully warning you,
| that you might lose changes made in the other instance.
| allis10 wrote:
| Yes, it is (at least on Mac in 2013):
| https://youtu.be/aHm36-na4-4?t=749
| phodge wrote:
| `set confirm` is another great option to turn on all the time. It
| will save you having to retype a command with the `!` added.
| toxik wrote:
| I'd prefer one line it and use the "long" names and add
| nocompatible set nocompatible hlsearch
| incsearch ignorecase number
|
| then sane tabs set et sts=4 sw=4
| pletnes wrote:
| Why nocompatible?
| kolme wrote:
| Not necessary, AFAIK, unless you invoke vim using the alias
| "vi". If you call "vim" it'll start in nocompatibe mode by
| default.
|
| The nocompatible mode means adding some features to vim
| rendering it "incompatible" with the original vi. For example
| in the original vi you can only undo the last action, with
| compatible mode on vim will mimic this behavior.
| toxik wrote:
| Takes a whole stroke off your shell game!
| JoshTriplett wrote:
| I switch between enough different projects with different
| coding styles that I have shortcuts to change between them:
| set expandtab set shiftwidth=4 set
| softtabstop=4 function Spaces(...) if a:0
| == 1 let l:width = a:1 else
| let l:width = 4 endif setlocal
| expandtab let &l:shiftwidth = l:width
| let &l:softtabstop = l:width endfunction
| command! T setlocal noexpandtab shiftwidth=8 softtabstop=0
| command! -nargs=? S call Spaces(<args>) autocmd
| BufNewFile,BufRead ~/src/linux/* T autocmd
| BufNewFile,BufRead ~/src/git/* T autocmd FileType html
| S 2 autocmd FileType tex S 2
|
| This sets the default to 4-space indents, but lets me do :T to
| switch to tabs (and does so automatically for Linux and Git
| which use that style), or :S N to switch to N-space indents
| (and automatically switches HTML and TeX to 2-space indents).
| jiannengli wrote:
| Thanks, I've edited the post to mention about putting
| everything in one lien.
| adrianmonk wrote:
| Another approach to the swap file thing: view
| foo # opens read-only, no swap file vi foo # opens
| read-write
|
| Another benefit of this habit is, if you know you're not going to
| want to modify a file, you can protect yourself against errors
| like accidentally changing something and then absentmindedly
| saving the file.
| strogonoff wrote:
| Why not one line? set hls ic is nu noswf
|
| On a serious note, personally disabling line numbers is the first
| thing I do in a new editor. Reduces visual noise--status line
| usually shows current line number anyway, jumping to a line might
| take a second and I found I don't need to know my line numbers
| more frequently than once per month or so.
|
| What I do like to enable in an editor is visible whitespace
| characters (helps notice levels of indent, for example). In Vim
| that can be accomplished with: set list
| listchars+=space:*
|
| (Might take some tweaking to make whitespace appear subtly
| enough, depending on your color scheme.)
| falcor84 wrote:
| Interesting. The first thing I always do in a new is enable the
| line numbers. I pair-program a lot and find them to be
| invaluable when talking about the code.
| strogonoff wrote:
| I can see how line numbers would be immensely useful if I
| ever pair program remotely.
| Ancapistani wrote:
| Line number are super helpful for navigating in vim, though.
| :54 when you're on line 20 is much faster than any alternative.
| repsilat wrote:
| Some folk like `34d` so they don't need to press shift. And
| sometimes set relative line numbers so they don't need to do
| the subtraction.
|
| Others just search for known text, which IMO is a habit I
| need to get into. I "got" hjkl after I disabled the cursor
| keys for a day, but I never followed up and disabled hjkl (or
| maybe even w and b!?) to get super efficient.
| strogonoff wrote:
| I have never considered disabling hjkl, quite an
| interesting idea.
| strogonoff wrote:
| I see, I suppose it depends on one's habits then. Personally
| I'm used to roughly approximating relative jumps or using
| search to arrive at the desired identifier, but then I
| wouldn't call myself especially efficient.
|
| The only time I find using :number is when I am exploring a
| codebase elsewhere, e.g. using GitHub's web interface, and
| want to jump to a particular line in Vim to make edits--
| rarely happens.
| adrianmonk wrote:
| I would type "8j8j8j8jjj". I type "8j" (and "8k") a lot.
| laumars wrote:
| Funny you say that about the visual noise because as someone
| who's dyslexic, I find line numbers actually help with
| readability since it is easier for me to remember a number than
| it is text.
|
| I also find it especially useful in vi when working with config
| files. I'm sure you are aware of this feature but in case
| others aren't, in vi if you type numbers before a command, it
| runs that commend _n_ times. So you can quickly copy or delete
| multiple lines.
|
| It just goes to show how deeply personal a preference a persons
| code editor is.
| strogonoff wrote:
| Indeed, to your last sentence.
|
| I use shift+v and a j/k relative jump to select a range of
| lines, then do the operation. Which is undeniably the slower
| way.
|
| Didn't know how dyslexia affects this, I will keep that in
| mind in case I happen to work with someone with it.
| enriquto wrote:
| set list listchars+=space:*
|
| This adds a lot of clutter! It's better to show only
| indentations (of course, using tabs): set
| listchars=tab:+-
| SoSoRoCoCo wrote:
| Line numbers are great, until you try to cut and paste. But
| then again, VI/M wasn't designed for GUIs.
| UI_at_80x24 wrote:
| I set F12 to toggle line numbers off/on. Very quick and
| handy.
|
| :nmap <F12> :set invnumber<CR>
| strogonoff wrote:
| I don't copy and paste, I just don't see the need for line
| numbers. But then I also code with syntax highlighting off
| about half of the time.
| mjochim wrote:
| Very interesting, I don't think I've ever talked to someone
| who would choose to disable syntax highlighting. Do the
| colors actively annoy you or is it just that you don't
| care?
| strogonoff wrote:
| I find that not having highlighting to rely on forces me
| to write more readable code. I might turn it on if I
| happen to work on a hairy codebase under time
| constraints.
|
| Sometimes also colors can get distracting and I turn on
| grayscale mode system-wide, which also doesn't play with
| highlighting since text ends up being varying shades of
| gray with not enough contrast against the background.
| bawolff wrote:
| Yay im not alone!
|
| I've always found syntax highlighting super distracting,
| but everyone i have met thinks im crazy.
|
| Otoh i do love me line numbers.
| mssundaram wrote:
| I have the default register mapped to the system clipboard so
| doing yank in vim I can paste into anywhere else - no need to
| use the mouse or worry about line numbers
|
| " mac clipboard {{ if has("clipboard") set clipboard=unnamed
| endif " }} mac clipboard
| jiannengli wrote:
| Thanks, I didn't know about putting everything on one line.
| I've updated the post to include this tip.
|
| As for showing line numbers, I'm often doing this to read logs
| on a remote VM. In those scenarios, having easy access to where
| you are in the file is really helpful.
| thih9 wrote:
| These seem a bit too opinionated to me, mostly because of 'set
| noswapfile'.
|
| For me vim-sensible [1] has a more useful set of defaults
| (although more than five lines). Also, the readme of that project
| lists benefits of using a universal set of defaults.
|
| [1] https://github.com/tpope/vim-sensible
| BalinKing wrote:
| In Firefox on macOS, the font fallback to "Apple Color Emoji" is
| doing really weird things on my machine (like cutting off the top
| of the number "5").
|
| With that said, thanks for the tips--`set noswapfile` definitely
| fits my workflow more than not.
| jiannengli wrote:
| Oh wow I had no idea that it looks so bad on Firefox. Thanks
| for pointing it out, I will look for a fix.
| pletnes wrote:
| I have <<relativenumber>> but I've never touched swapfile.
| Otherwise I have the same 5. Funny - I often felt vim's defaults
| are almost intentionally archaic.
| ogre_codes wrote:
| I find it odd that you would use the short version of a command
| in a config file. Brevity is important when you are doing
| repetitive tasks. In a config file (or code), clarity is more
| important that brevity. I know you could argue that you know VI
| so well that you know these commands off the top of your head..
| even so, it's particularly pointless to list them this way in a
| blog where you have to turn around and explain them anyhow.
| wdobbels wrote:
| As discussed in the article, the point is to quickly set up vim
| on fresh linux installations (e.g. virtual machines). For the
| vim on your own pc, you would likely use the full version, in
| addition to whatever extra config you prefer.
| jiannengli wrote:
| Yes, I definitely am much descriptive for the config file on my
| personal computer. The configs I'm recommending here is more
| for ephemeral machines that you are using just to look at files
| (such as sshing into a VM that was created to run integration
| tests). For those cases, being able to quickly type something
| into the .vimrc and improve your experience is nice.
| ogre_codes wrote:
| I guess I don't see a lot of situations where I use systems
| so casually that I don't have config options set. Even when I
| was managing a bunch of systems I would push out the same
| config on them all.
| xwdv wrote:
| On a new machine with a blank vimrc you'd probably just be
| piping in these commands in from the command line so it's more
| convenient if they are short.
| bonquesha99 wrote:
| nmap ; :
| Isognoviastoma wrote:
| Yes, that's so relaxing for little finger. In fact my minimal
| vi config is :nnoremap : ; :nnoremap ; :
| :nnoremap Y y$ :vnoremap : ; :vnoremap ; :
| :vnoremap Y y$
| airstrike wrote:
| I go with nnoremap but yeah, this is the absolute first edit to
| my .vimrc
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