source: postlfs/config/vimrc.xml

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<!DOCTYPE part PUBLIC "-//OASIS//DTD DocBook XML V4.5//EN"
   "http://www.oasis-open.org/docbook/xml/4.5/docbookx.dtd" [
  <!ENTITY % general-entities SYSTEM "../../general.ent">
  %general-entities;
]>

<sect1 id="postlfs-config-vimrc" xreflabel="The vimrc Files">
  <?dbhtml filename="vimrc.html"?>


  <title>The /etc/vimrc and ~/.vimrc Files</title>

  <indexterm zone="postlfs-config-vimrc">
    <primary sortas="e-etc-vimrc">/etc/vimrc</primary>
  </indexterm>

  <indexterm zone="postlfs-config-vimrc">
    <primary sortas="e-AA.vimrc">~/.vimrc</primary>
  </indexterm>

  <para>
    The LFS book installs <application>Vim</application> as its text editor.
    At this point it should be noted that there are a <emphasis>lot</emphasis>
    of different editing applications out there including
    <application>Emacs</application>, <application>nano</application>,
    <application>Joe</application> and many more.  Anyone who has been
    around the Internet (especially usenet) for a short time will certainly
    have observed at least one flame war, usually involving
    <application>Vim</application> and <application>Emacs</application> users!
  </para>

  <para>
    The LFS book creates a basic <filename>vimrc</filename> file. In this
    section you'll find an attempt to enhance this file. At startup,
    <command>vim</command> reads the global configuration file
    (<filename>/etc/vimrc</filename>) as well as a user-specific file
    (<filename>~/.vimrc</filename>). Either or both can be tailored to suit
    the needs of your particular system.
  </para>

  <para>
    Here is a slightly expanded <filename>.vimrc</filename> that you can put
    in <filename>~/.vimrc</filename> to provide user specific effects. Of
    course, if you put it into <filename>/etc/skel/.vimrc</filename> instead,
    it will be made available to users you add to the system later. You
    can also copy the file from <filename>/etc/skel/.vimrc</filename> to
    the home directory of users already on the system, such as <systemitem
    class='username'>root</systemitem>. Be sure to set permissions, owner,
    and group if you do copy anything directly from <filename
    class="directory">/etc/skel</filename>.
  </para>

<screen><literal>" Begin .vimrc

set columns=80
set wrapmargin=8
set ruler

" End .vimrc</literal></screen>

  <para>
    Note that the comment tags are " instead of the more
    usual # or //.  This is correct, the syntax for
    <filename>vimrc</filename> is slightly unusual.
  </para>

  <para>
    Below you'll find a quick explanation of what each of the
    options in this example file means here:
  </para>

  <itemizedlist>
    <!--
    <listitem>
      <para>
        <option>set nocompatible</option> : This option
        stops <command>vim</command> from behaving in a strongly <command>vi
        </command>-compatible way. It should be at the start of any
        <filename>vimrc </filename> file as it can affect lots of other
        options which you may want to override.
      </para>
    </listitem>
    <listitem>
      <para>
        <option>set bs=2</option>: This influences the behavior of the
        backspace option.  It is fairly complex so see <command>:help 'bs'
        </command> for more details.
      </para>
    </listitem>
    -->
    <listitem>
      <para>
        <option>set columns=80</option>: This simply sets the
        number of columns used on the screen.
      </para>
    </listitem>
    <!--
    <listitem>
      <para>
        <option>set background=dark</option>: This tells
        <command>vim</command> to use colors which look good on a dark
        background.
      </para>
    </listitem>
    -->
    <listitem>
      <para>
        <option>set wrapmargin=8</option>: This is the number of
        characters from the right window border where wrapping starts.
      </para>
    </listitem>
    <!--
    <listitem>
      <para>
        <option>syntax on</option>: Enables
        <command>vim</command>'s syntax highlighting.
      </para>
    </listitem>
    -->
    <listitem>
      <para>
        <option>set ruler</option>: This makes <command>vim</command>
        show the current row and column at the bottom right of the screen.
      </para>
    </listitem>
  </itemizedlist>

  <para>
    More information on the <emphasis>many</emphasis>
    <command>vim</command> options can be found by reading the help
    inside <command>vim</command> itself.  Do this by typing
    <command>:</command><option>help</option> in
    <command>vim</command> to get the general help, or by typing
    <command>:</command><option>help usr_toc.txt</option> to view
    the User Manual Table of Contents.
  </para>

</sect1>