vimrc.d/settings.vim

Don’t limit ourselves to plain ASCII encoding:

scriptencoding utf-8

Enforce vim script implementation to reduce ambiguities and improve robustness:

scriptversion 4

I want backups, but not in the project tree and I never want to accidentally overwrite a cp --link tree:

set backup
set backupcopy=auto,breakhardlink
let &backupdir = g:vim_cache_dir .. '/backup//'
if !isdirectory(g:vim_cache_dir .. '/backup')
    call mkdir(g:vim_cache_dir .. '/backup', 'p', 0700)
endif

I don’t often open MHTML files, but when I do it is only for quick edits and the resulting often huge backups are practically always useless to me.

set backupskip+=*.mht*

Warning

While you’re thinking about 'backupskip' consider adding adding paths your password managers, sudoedit-type files and other things where there could be dangerous leaks through backups. I use passwordstore which ships with a helpful configuration file that takes care of the details for me, which could also serve as inspiration for other uses.

Enable tooltips:

if has('balloon_eval')
    set ballooneval
endif

Keep indent between wrapped lines and display the pretty ‘showbreak’ indicator:

if has('linebreak')
    set breakindent
    set breakindentopt=sbr
endif

Show a marker as maximum line length cue:

set colorcolumn=+1

Show completion popup even where there is only a single item, this allows us to see the call signature in supported filetypes for example.

set completeopt+=menuone

Use the far prettier popup windows for completions:

if has('popupwin')
    set completeopt+=popup
endif

Enable fancy Unicode display, see the builtin rust filetype and vim-cute-python for examples:

if has('conceal')
    set concealcursor=nc
    set conceallevel=2
endif

Ask instead of just failing when there are edited buffers and you call :q:

set confirm

Highlight the current line, but only when it will be useful:

set cursorline

If a wordlist is available use it as the completion dictionary:

if filereadable('/usr/share/dict/words')
    set dictionary^=/usr/share/dict/words
endif

Tip

On Debian systems this file tends to be provided by packages from the wordlist project(see aptitude search '~Pwordlist' for options). On other systems, and possibly on Debian too, it may be provided by GNU’s miscfiles package.

Keep swap files in XDG base directory specification compliant location:

let &directory = printf('%s/swap//,%s', g:vim_cache_dir, &directory)
if !isdirectory(g:vim_cache_dir .. '/swap')
    call mkdir(g:vim_cache_dir .. '/swap', 'p', 0700)
endif

UTF-8 should be default on all systems now, and vim will pick that up via LANG, but we’ll force it just in case:

" vint: -ProhibitEncodingOptionAfterScriptEncoding
set encoding=utf-8
" vint: +ProhibitEncodingOptionAfterScriptEncoding
if &modifiable
    " This is per buffer, and breaks when using stdin as buffer for example
    set fileencoding=utf-8
endif
if v:lang =~? 'utf-8'
    set fileencodings=utf-8,latin1,default
endif

Only files that must contain tabs(Makefile) should contain tabs:

set expandtab

Use prettier Unicode box drawing character for a cleaner looking interface:

set fillchars+=vert:│
if has('patch-8.2.2524')
    set fillchars+=foldopen:┌
    set fillchars+=foldsep:│
endif

Configure folding support:

if has('folding')
    set fillchars+=fold:\   " Intentional trailing space
    set foldcolumn=2
    set foldlevelstart=99
    set foldmethod=syntax
    set foldtext=display#fold_text()
endif

Configure formatting:

Option	Use
r	Continue comment on <Enter>
n	Indent text in number lists
l (lower L)	Don’t automatically break long lines
1 (number 1)	Don’t break line on one letter word

set formatoptions+=rnl1

When the_silver_searcher is installed always use it:

if executable('ag')
    set grepprg=ag\ --vimgrep
    set grepformat=%f:%l:%c:%m
else
    let &grepprg = printf(
    \   'grep -nH --exclude-from=%s/grep_excludes $* /dev/null',
    \   g:xdg_data_dir)
endif

Note

ag is just so much faster that any incompatibility is worth the grief.

Allow unsaved modified buffers in the background:

set hidden

Important

Don’t worry if that sounds scary, vim will warn if you try to exit without saving them!

Highlight searches:

set hlsearch

Ignore case in searches, working in conjunction with smartcase:

set ignorecase

Use the case of the inserted text to choose the case of completed text:

set infercase

Having = in filename matches are more trouble then they’re worth:

set isfname-=\=

Don’t continually update the screen when executing non-interactive commands:

set lazyredraw

Prefer line wrapping at visually appealing locations:

if has('linebreak')
    set linebreak
endif

Show “hidden” whitespace in buffers:

set list

set listchars=tab:␉·,extends:…,nbsp:␠
if has('conceal')
    set listchars+=conceal:Δ
endif

Include angle brackets in pair matching:

set matchpairs+=<:>

Show matching parenthesis for three tenths of a second:

set matchtime=3

The way vim recognises numbers for <C-{a,x}> isn’t always great, so forcibly telling it treat numbers as unsigned means we at least get “a standard” behaviour, even if it isn’t the most intuitive.

set nrformats+=unsigned

Tip

If the only date format you use is ISO-8601 then disabling 'nrformats'’s octal mode and enabling unsigned should allow you seamless date fiddling without vim-speeddating.

Always display relative line numbers in the GUI, but show actual line number on current line:

set number
set relativenumber

Don’t search for C includes from all filetypes:

set path-=/usr/include

Use popup windows for previews:

if has('textprop') || has('quickfix')
    set previewpopup=height:10
endif

Set an upper limit to the popup menu, as full screen height feels quite unusable:

if has('insert_expand')
    set pumheight=10
endif

If available default to Python 3:

if has('pythonx') && has('python3')
    set pyxversion=3
endif

Always display count of changed lines:

set report=0

Keep cursor line centred:

set scrolloff=100

Save local options in session files, which is important for buffers that should be displayed using 'nolist' for example:

set sessionoptions+=localoptions

Include terminal windows in sessions where possible:

if has('mksession')
    set sessionoptions+=terminal
endif

Make indentation always honour the user defined width:

set shiftround

The vast majority of files I edit expect indentation to be four spaces:

set shiftwidth=4

Disable vim’s intro message:

set shortmess+=I

Tip

If you’d like an intro screen, vim-startify is a great replacement.

Don’t show ins-completion-menu messages, they’re obvious from context and the use of menu completion:

set shortmess+=c

Always display partial commands:

if has('cmdline_info') && has('showcmd')
    set showcmd
endif

Make completion popups show complete matches that may include call tips and other useful information:

set showfulltag

Hop to matching parenthesis when inserting closing character as a visual hint:

set showmatch

Tip

You can adjust the “flash time” with ‘matchtime’.

No need to display current mode as vim-airline changes the statusline to indicate mode:

set noshowmode

Make searches case insensitive when an upper case character is typed, as an addition to ignorecase:

set smartcase

Make insert mode <Tab> perform indentation aware movement:

set softtabstop=-1

Configure spell checking and include a personal spell checking list for use with zg:

if has('spell')
    set spell
    let s:lang = split(v:lang, '\.')[0]
    let &spellfile = printf('~/.vim/spell/%s.utf-8.add', s:lang)
    let &spelllang = tolower(s:lang)

… and treat camel-cased words specially:

    set spelloptions+=camel
endif

Prefer making horizontal splits toward the bottom of the screen:

set splitbelow

… and vertical splits toward the right of the screen:

set splitright

Don’t jump to the start of a line when changing buffers or issuing linewise edits:

set nostartofline

Adjust completion to make .lua lower priority so that moonscript files are preferred:

set suffixes+=.lua

When switching buffers for quickfix jump to an existing window where possible:

set switchbuf=useopen

Limit line length to 80 characters, but be aware that some filetypes will override this to match community standards:

set textwidth=80

Make ~ available as an operator:

set tildeop

Only timeout on keycodes:

set notimeout
set ttimeout

Set title in terminals:

set title

Use smoother redraws:

set ttyfast

Note

This is enabled by vim for most terminal types that would support it, but the list vim uses is static and new terminals I’m testing can’t be added to it.

Enable undo files that cross sessions, and store those files in XDG base directory specification compliant location:

if has('persistent_undo')
    set undofile
    let &undodir = printf('%s/undo//,%s', g:vim_data_dir, &undodir)
    if !isdirectory(g:vim_data_dir .. '/undo')
        call mkdir(g:vim_data_dir .. '/undo', 'p', 0700)
    endif
endif

Warning

You should give serious consideration to persistent undo before enabling it, as it quite clearly can lead to making all manner of previously ephemeral personal data persistent. And, don’t forget that you can still disable it locally if the need arises.

Double vim’s default swap file write time interval:

set updatetime=8000

Store session files in XDG base directory specification compliant location:

if has('mksession')
    let &viewdir = g:vim_cache_dir .. '/view'
    if !isdirectory(&viewdir)
        call mkdir(&viewdir, 'p', 0700)
    endif
endif

Configure 'viminfo' and store viminfo files in XDG base directory specification compliant location:

Option	Use
'5000	Store marks for 5000 files
<1000	Save up to 1000 lines for registers
%	Store buffer list, which is nice for cycling sessions
r/media	Ignore /media
r/tmp	Ignore /tmp

if has('viminfo')
    set viminfo='5000,<1000,%,r/media,r/tmp
    let &viminfofile = g:vim_cache_dir .. '/viminfo'
endif

Note

The mark and register count are high enough that we are unlikely to lose history, but also capped so that they can’t act as local DoS.

Allow moving to “empty” blocks in visual block mode:

if has('virtualedit')
    set virtualedit=block
endif

Allow moving over lines with <Left> and <Right> in normal, visual, insert and replace modes:

set whichwrap+=<,>,[,]

Ignore files which we are unlikely to want to edit; PDF, vim’s swap files, object and static library files, editor backups and sqlite databases.

if has('wildignore')
    set wildignore+=*.pdf,*.swp,*.[ao],*~,*.db
endif

Ignore case when completing files:

set wildignorecase

Note

It is a real shame this doesn’t honour the 'smartcase' configuration and style. The behaviour of this option is closer to the less useful — in my eyes — 'ignorecase'.

Insert longest common match when completing:

set wildmode^=longest:full

Set string to show wrapped lines:

if has('linebreak')
    let &showbreak='» '
endif

Use buffer and command name in window title:

if has('title')
    set titlestring=
    set titlestring+=%{display#readable_path(expand('%'))}
    set titlestring+=\ -\ %{v:progname} " Program name
endif

The default minimum window height of one line is not useful enough to be worthwhile, so allow window borders to touch:

set winminheight=0