CODEWITHSUNDEEP
bashvim
TheScendant
TheScendant

Reputation: 37

Configure vim for current shell

I am unable to change my .vimrc because I am using a login that multiple people use. I would like to be able to set vim options for my current shell without changing vimrc. Either that or pass in arguments to vim when called. I am hoping to be able to set the following:

    :set nu
    :set shiftwidth=4
    :set tabstop=4
    :set ai
    :set expandtab

It's a long shot but any ideas would be greatly appreciated

Upvotes: 1

Views: 556

Answers (3)

romainl
romainl

Reputation: 196886

You could do:

$ vim -c "set nu sw=4 ts=4 ai et"

You could also put your settings in ~/my.vim and start Vim with:

$ vim -Nu ~/my.vim

Upvotes: 4

Jonathan Leffler
Jonathan Leffler

Reputation: 755064

Running :help EXINIT in vim reveals:

      *VIMINIT* *.vimrc* *_vimrc* *EXINIT* *.exrc* *_exrc* *$MYVIMRC*
 c. Four places are searched for initializations.  The first that exists
    is used, the others are ignored.  The $MYVIMRC environment variable is
    set to the file that was first found, unless $MYVIMRC was already set
    and when using VIMINIT.
    -  The environment variable VIMINIT (see also |compatible-default|) (*)
       The value of $VIMINIT is used as an Ex command line.
    -  The user vimrc file(s):
                "$HOME/.vimrc"      (for Unix and OS/2) (*)
                "s:.vimrc"          (for Amiga) (*)
                "home:.vimrc"       (for Amiga) (*)
                "$VIM/.vimrc"       (for OS/2 and Amiga) (*)
                "$HOME/_vimrc"      (for MS-DOS and Win32) (*)
                "$VIM/_vimrc"       (for MS-DOS and Win32) (*)
            Note: For Unix, OS/2 and Amiga, when ".vimrc" does not exist,
            "_vimrc" is also tried, in case an MS-DOS compatible file
            system is used.  For MS-DOS and Win32 ".vimrc" is checked
            after "_vimrc", in case long file names are used.
            Note: For MS-DOS and Win32, "$HOME" is checked first.  If no
            "_vimrc" or ".vimrc" is found there, "$VIM" is tried.
            See |$VIM| for when $VIM is not set.
    -  The environment variable EXINIT.
       The value of $EXINIT is used as an Ex command line.
    -  The user exrc file(s).  Same as for the user vimrc file, but with
       "vimrc" replaced by "exrc".  But only one of ".exrc" and "_exrc" is
       used, depending on the system.  And without the (*)!

This indicates that setting environment variable $VIMINIT gets precedence, then your .vimrc file, then the setting in $EXINIT, then .exrc files. This is consistent with what I found — not very surprisingly. I have a .vimrc file; it took precedence over the $EXINIT variable I was setting, but setting $VIMINIT worked, overriding the .vimrc file.

Upvotes: 6

TheScendant
TheScendant

Reputation: 37

I found that I can write a script to call vim with the parameters I want and use that in place of vim:

vim -c "set tabstop=4" -c "set nu" -c "set ai" -c "set expandtab" $1

now calling

./myvim fileToEdit

opens vim with my desired options. VIMINIT did work as well, thanks for the tip.

Upvotes: 0

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