So you've been using Vim for a while but you feel that you are missing some of the features of modern, hip editors. Or maybe you never used Vim but you're curious to try it out. Either way, this guide will help you get started and by the time we're done you'll have a complete development environment that is accessible anywhere through SSH, quick to start and with a small footprint.
Installing Vim
You need a version of Vim that's at least 7.4. It should also be a full version, not the minimal kind of Vim that Ubuntu ships with by default.
Speaking of Ubuntu, its repos are outdated right now so you should use a PPA like this one. You can use homebrew to install MacVim on OS X. I haven't done this on Windows so you'll have to look into it yourself.
Vim Package Management
I feel that one of the most useful features Linux distros have is the package manager. It allows you to easily look for and install packages that enhance the core functionality of your software. Editors like Sublime Text have this as well with the help of plugins. Guess what, there are package management plugins for Vim too.
We'll be using
Vundle
. To install it, run this command (you'll need
git
):
git clone https://github.com/gmarik/vundle.git ~/.vim/bundle/vundle
Now that you have Vundle, I suggest having a config file to store the list of packages you want to use. This will become helpful when you want to duplicate the same Vim setup somewhere else.
Make sure you include it into your
.vimrc
file. You can prepend "
source ~/.bundles.vim
" to your
.vimrc
file and all should be well.
After we set up the bundles file, we can install and/or update all the packages in there using this command:
vim -u ~/.bundles.vim +BundleInstall! +q
I usually have an
upvim
alias for it.
Packages
Let me share a list of packages that I find useful in my Vim setup. You can install all of them using Vundle. I usually keep them in my
.bundles.vim
file and just run the
upvim
alias whenever I change something.
CtrlP
Bundle 'kien/ctrlp.vim'
link
Provides fuzzy file and symbol matching, similar to what TextMate and Sublime Text have. Really fast.
vim-bad-whitespace
Bundle 'bitc/vim-bad-whitespace'
link
Highlights trailing whitespace.
detectindent
Bundle 'ciaranm/detectindent'
link
Automatically detects indent settings from files.
NERD Commenter
Bundle 'scrooloose/nerdcommenter'
link
Really easy commenting/uncommenting.
NERD Tree
Bundle 'scrooloose/nerdtree'
link
Project explorer functionality.
Syntastic
Bundle 'scrooloose/syntastic'
link
Syntax checks, linting.
Tagbar
Bundle 'majutsushi/tagbar'
link
Displays a sidebar with the symbols in the current file (functions, classes etc.)
Easybuffer
Bundle 'troydm/easybuffer.vim'
link
Easy way to see and switch between open buffers (files).
Zenburn
Bundle 'jnurmine/Zenburn'
link
The Zenburn color scheme.
Ack.vim
Bundle 'mileszs/ack.vim'
link
Friendly way of using
ack
from
within Vim. You need
ack
installed to use this.
Vim-powerline
Bundle 'Lokaltog/vim-powerline'
link
Smart statusline.
Gundo
Bundle 'Gundo'
link
Helps you use the undo tree Vim provides.
YouCompleteMe
Bundle 'Valloric/YouCompleteMe'
link
Smart, fast, fuzzy autocompletion engine for Vim. Please check the docs, after installing it with Vundle there are some extra-steps to do.
Tern for Vim
Bundle 'marijnh/tern_for_vim'
link
Great autocompletion + "intellisense" support for JS. Please check the docs, after installing it with Vundle there are some extra-steps to do.
Here's my
.bundles.vim
:
Extra tweaks
All the packages we talked about have great intro pages and documentation, but maybe you don't want to spend so much time on everything. I suggest starting off with my vimrc and change what doesn't fit your preference.
However, there are some settings that I find really useful and I'd like to mention here.
First, you can use Vim's
cc
functionality to display a column in order to keep your line length in check. I use
set cc=80
.
You can use Zenburn as your color scheme with
colors zenburn
.
By default,
CtrlP
changes your cwd when selecting a new file. You can change this behavior with
let g:ctrlp_working_path_mode = ''
. Also, I want it to search both among open buffers and files on the HDD, which is why I use
let g:ctrlp_cmd = 'CtrlPMixed'
. Finally, I really like Sublime's go to symbol keybinding (CTRL+R), so I also use
map <C-R> :CtrlPBufTagAll<CR>
.
If you choose to install DetectIndent, you need to turn it on:
" first two lines are up to you
let g:detectindent_preferred_expandtab = 1
let g:detectindent_preferred_indent = 4
autocmd BufNewFile,BufReadPost * :DetectIndent
autocmd FileType make setlocal noexpandtab
I bound my
leader
key to comma:
let mapleader = ","
. This is useful for me in the NERD Commenter and NERD Tree keybindings:
map <leader>/ <plug>NERDCommenterToggle
imap <leader>/ <Esc><plug>NERDCommenterTogglei
map <leader>n :NERDTreeToggle<CR>
nmap <leader>m :NERDTreeFind<CR>
NERD Commenter lets you comment/uncomment parts of your code and it's compatible with Vim's selection modes. NERD Tree's find functionality helps you locate the current file in the project's tree.
I use
F8
to toggle TagBar and bring it in focus:
nmap <F8> :TagbarToggle<CR>
let g:tagbar_autofocus = 1
Last but not least, you might want to check out the Vim Cheatsheet I wrote some time ago.
Good luck!
