The last .vimrc you’ll ever need

If you’re a vi/vim fan like me, you‘re probably be aware of the .vimrc file (“vimrc” means “VIM Run Commands”). I inherited this file from my grad school advisor, and I’ve been carrying it with me for years now — adding things here and there. And now, I am sharing it with you

Copy the contents of this file into your .vimrc

version 6.3
""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""
" General
""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""
" Text width set to 78
set textwidth=78
" Set the title string
set title
set titlestring=%t%(\ %M%)%(\ (%{expand(\"%:~:.:h\")})%)%(\ %a%)
" List chars
set lcs=tab:>-,trail:�
" Set no-compatible
set nocp
" Write the contents of the file
set autowrite
" Temp dir
set directory=/temp//
" Short message
set shm=atI
" Wrap margin
set wrapmargin=2
" Sets how many lines of history VIM has to remember
set history=500
" Enable filetype plugins
filetype plugin on
filetype indent on
" Set to auto read when a file is changed from the outside
set autoread
au FocusGained,BufEnter * checktime
" With a map leader it is possible to do extra key combinations
" like <leader>w saves the current file
let mapleader = ","
" Fast saving
nmap <leader>w :w!<cr>
" :W sudo saves the file
" (useful for handling the permission-denied error)
command! W execute 'w !sudo tee % > /dev/null' <bar> edit!
""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""
" User interface
""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""
" Set 7 lines to the cursor when moving vertically using j/k
set so=7
" Turn on the Wild menu
set wildmenu
" Ignore compiled files
set wildignore=*.o,*~,*.pyc
if has ("win16") || has("win32")
 set wildignore+=.git\*,.hg\*,.svn\*
else
 set wildignore+=*/.git/*,*/.hg/*,*/.svn/*,*/.DS_Store
endif
" Always show current position
set ruler
" Height of the command bar
set cmdheight=1
" A buffer becomes hidden when it is abandoned
set hidden
" Configure backspace so it acts as it should act
set backspace=eol,start,indent
set whichwrap+=<,>,h,l
" Ignore case when searching
set ignorecase
" When searching try to be smart about cases
set smartcase
" Highlight search results
set hlsearch
" Makes search act like search in modern browsers
set incsearch
" Don't redraw while executing macros (good performance config)
set lazyredraw
" For regular expressions turn magic on
set magic
" Shwo matching brackets when text indicator is over them
set showmatch
" How many tenths of a second to blink when matching brackets
set mat=2
" No annoying sounds on errors
set noerrorbells
set novisualbell
set t_vb=
set tm=500
" Property disable sound on errors on MacVim
if has("gui_macvim")
 autocmd GUIEnter * set vb t_vb=
endif
" Add a bit extra margin to the left
set foldcolumn=1
""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""
" Colors and fonts
""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""
syntax enable
if $COLORTERM == 'gnome-terminal'
 set t_Co=256
endif
try
 colorscheme Tomorrow-Night-Eighties
catch
endtry
set background=dark
set guifont=Monaco:h14
" Set extra options when running in GUI mode
if has("gui_running")
 set guioptions-=T
 set guioptions-=e
 set t_Co=256
 set guitablabel=%M\ %t
endif
" Set utf8 as standard encoding and en_US as the standard language
set encoding=utf8
" Use Unix as the standard file type
set ffs=unix,dos,mac
""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""
" Files, backups and undo
""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""
" Turn backup off
set nobackup
set nowb
set noswapfile
""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""
" Text, tab and indents
""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""
" Use spaces instead of tabs
set expandtab
" Be smart when using tabs 
set smarttab
" 1 tab = 2 spaces
set shiftwidth=2
set tabstop=2
" Linebreak on 500 characters
set lbr
set tw=78
" Auto indent
set ai
" Smart indent
set si
" Wrap lines
set wrap
""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""
" Visual mode related
""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""
" Visual mode pressing * or # searches for the current selection
" SUPER USEFUL
vnoremap <silent> * :<C-u>call VisualSelection('', '')<CR>/<C-R>=@/<CR><CR>
vnoremap <silent> # :<C-u>call VisualSelection('', '')<CR>/<C-R>=@/<CR><CR>
""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""
" Moving around, tabs, windows and buffers
""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""
" CTRL + Down = next buffer
map <C-Down> :bn
" CTRL + Up = previous buffer
map <C-Up> :bp
" Map <Space> to / (search) and Ctrl-<Space> to ? (backward search)
map <space> /
map <C-space> ?
" Disabled highlight when <leader><cr> is pressed
map <silent> <leader><cr> :noh<cr>
" Smart way to move between windows
map <C-j> <C-W>j
map <C-k> <C-W>k
map <C-h> <C-W>h
map <C-l> <C-W>l
" Close the current buffer
map <leader>bd :Bclose<cr>:tabclose<cr>gT
" Close all the buffers
map <leader>ba : bufdo bd<cr>
map <leader>l :bnext<cr>
map <leader>h :bprevious<cr>
" Useful mappings for managing tabs
map <leader>tn :tabnew<cr>
map <leader>to :tabonly<cr>
map <leader>tc :tabclose<cr>
map <leader>tm :tabmove
map <leader>t<leader> :tabnext
" Let 'tl' toggle between this an the last accessed tab
let g:lasttab=1
nmap <leader>tl :exe "tabn ".g:lasttab<CR>
au TabLeave * let g:lasttab=tabpagenr()
" Opens a new tab with the current buffer's path
map <leader>te :tabedit <C-r>=expand("%:p:h")<cr>/
" Switch CWD to the directory of the open buffer
map <leader>cd :cd %:p:h<cr>:pwd<cr>
" Specify the behavior when switching between buffers
try
  set switchbuf=useopen,usetab,newtab
  set stal=2
catch
endtry
" Return to the last edit position when opening files
au BufReadPost * if line("'\"") > 1 && line("'\"") <= line("$") | exe "normal! g'\"" | endif
""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""
" Status Line
""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""
" Always show the status line
set laststatus=2
" Format the status line
set statusline=\ %{HasPaste()}%F%m%r%h\ %w\ \ CWD:\ %r%{getcwd()}%h\ \ \ Line:\ %l\ \ Column:\ %c
""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""
" For Windows
""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""
" Set 'selection', 'selectmode', 'mousemodel', and 'keymodel' for MS-Windows
behave mswin
""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""
" Editing mappings
""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""
" Remap VIM 0 to first non-blank character
map 0 ^
" Move a line of text using ALT+[jk] or Command+[jk] on mac
nmap <M-j> mz:m+<cr>`z
nmap <M-k> mz:m-2<cr>`z
nmap <M-j> :m'>+<cr>`<my`>mzgv`yo`z
nmap <M-k> :m'<-2<cr>`>my`<mzgv`yo`z
if has("mac") || has("macunix")
  nmap <D-j> <M-j>
  nmap <D-k> <M-k>
  vmap <D-j> <M-j>
  vmap <D-k> <M-k>
endif
" Delete trailing white space on save, useful for some filetypes
fun! CleanExtraSpaces()
  let save_cursor = getpos(".")
  let old_query = getreg(".")
  silent! %s/\s\+$//e
  call setpos('.', save_cursor)
  call setreg('/', old_query)
endfun
if has("autocmd")
  autocmd BufWritePre *.txt,*.js,*.wiki,*.sh,*.coffee :call CleanExtraSpaces()
endif
""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""
" Spell Checking
""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""
" Pressing ,ss will toggle and untoggle spell checking
map <leader>ss :setlocal spell!<cr>
" Shortcuts using <leader>
map <leader>sn ]s
map <leader>sp [s
map <leader>sa zg
map <leader>s? z=
""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""
" Misc
""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""
" Remove the Windows ^M - when the encodings get messeg up
noremap <leader>m mmHmt:%s/<C-V<cr>//ge<cr>'tzt'm
" Quickly open a buffer for scribble
map <leader>q :e ~/buffer<cr>
" Quickly open a markdown buffer for scribble
map <leader>x :e ~/buffer.md<cr>
" Toggle paste mode on and off
map <leader>pp :setlocal paste!<cr>
""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""
" Helper functions
""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""
" Returns true if paste mode is enabled
function! HasPaste()
  if &paste
    return 'PASTE MODE '
  endif
  return ''
endfunction
" Don't close the window when deleting a buffer
command! Bclose call <SID>BufcloseCloseIt()
function! <SID>BufcloseCloseIt()
  let l:currentBufNum=bufnr("%")
  let l:alternateBufNum=bufnr("#")
if buflisted(l:alternateBufNum)
    buffer #
  else
    bnext
  endif
if bufnr("%") == l:currentBufNum
    new
  endif
if buflisted(l:currentBufNum)
    execute("bdelete! ".l:currentBufNum)
  endif
endfunction
function! CmdLine(str)
  call feedkeys(":" . a:str)
endfunction
function! VisualSelection(direction, extra_filter) range
  let l:saved_reg = @"
  execute "normal! vgvy"
let l:pattern = escape(@", "\\/.*'$^~[]")
  let l:pattern = substitute(l:pattern, "\n$", "", "")
if a:direction == 'gv'
    call CmdLine("Ack '" . l:pattern . "' ")
  elseif a:direction == 'replace'
    call CmdLine("%s" . '/'. l:pattern . '/')
  endif
let @/ = l:pattern
  let @" = l:saved_reg
endfunction