Vim mapping persists even after removal from .vimrc

Question

This is a really strange issue and it's been driving me insane. At one point, in my .vimrc file, I had a line that looked like the following:

nnoremap <tab> gg=G''

which I used to re-indent my whole file. Time goes on and I decide that I want to use tab like %, to move between open/close tags/parens/etc. So I remove the line above, and remap the command to control-i (like Eclipse) and replace it with

nnoremap <tab> %
vnoremap <tab> %

I save the file, source it, close vim, restart my computer, do whatever, but regardless of what I do, pressing tab still indents the entire file. When I check the mapping with

:verbose map <tab>

The output I get is:

v  <Tab>       * %
    Last set from ~/.vimrc
n  <Tab>       * gg=G''
    Last set from ~/.vimrc

Similarly, if I try

:verbose nnoremap <tab>

I get:

n  <Tab>       * gg=G''
    Last set from ~/.vimrc

I'm really not sure what's going on here, that mapping most certainly does not exist any more. Here is my .vimrc:

set nocompatible               " be iMproved
filetype off                   " required!
let mapleader = ","
nnoremap <leader><space> :noh<cr>
nnoremap ; :
nnoremap <leader>v <C-w>v<C-w>l
nnoremap <leader>h <C-w>s<C-w>j
nnoremap <leader>f :CtrlP<CR>
nnoremap <tab> %
vnoremap <tab> %
inoremap jk <ESC>l
nnoremap <C-i> gg=G''
nnoremap <up> <nop>
nnoremap <down> <nop>
nnoremap <left> <nop>
nnoremap <right> <nop>
inoremap <up> <nop>
inoremap <down> <nop>
inoremap <left> <nop>
inoremap <right> <nop>
nnoremap <C-h> <C-w>h
nnoremap <C-j> <C-w>j
nnoremap <C-k> <C-w>k
nnoremap <C-l> <C-w>l
syntax enable
set t_Co=16
set background=dark
set tabstop=2
set shiftwidth=2
set softtabstop=2
set smarttab
set expandtab
set number
set ignorecase
set smartcase
set gdefault
set incsearch
set showmatch
set hlsearch
set nobackup
set noswapfile
set smartindent
set hidden
set wildmenu
set nonumber
set nowrap
set relativenumber
set timeoutlen=100
set backspace=indent,eol,start
set rtp+=~/.vim/bundle/vundle/
call vundle#rc()

" let Vundle manage Vundle
" required! 
Bundle 'gmarik/vundle'

" My Bundles here:
"
" original repos on github
Bundle 'tpope/vim-rails.git'
Bundle 'tpope/vim-endwise.git'
Bundle 'tpope/vim-surround.git'
Bundle 'scrooloose/nerdcommenter.git'
Bundle 'scrooloose/syntastic.git'
Bundle 'jiangmiao/auto-pairs.git'
Bundle 'kien/ctrlp.vim'
Bundle 'altercation/vim-colors-solarized.git'
colorscheme solarized
" vim-scripts repos
Bundle 'bufexplorer.zip'
Bundle 'HTML-AutoCloseTag'
Bundle 'matchit.zip'
Bundle 'ruby-matchit'
Bundle 'Rename2'

filetype plugin indent on     " required!
filetype indent on
"
" Brief help
" :BundleList          - list configured bundles
" :BundleInstall(!)    - install(update) bundles
" :BundleSearch(!) foo - search(or refresh cache first) for foo
" :BundleClean(!)      - confirm(or auto-approve) removal of unused bundles
"
" see :h vundle for more details or wiki for FAQ
" NOTE: comments after Bundle command are not allowed..

Answer 1

<c-i> and <tab> share the same key codes so they can not be distinguished from each other.

Use a different mapping than <c-i>. I suggest you use leader, e.g. nnoremap <leader>i gg=G''

For more help see:

:h keycodes
:h mapleader