CODEWITHSUNDEEP
bashshellvim
David542
David542

Reputation: 110572

How to check if vim version 8.1+ is installed

I have the following attempt at a vim script to check to see if it is installed and if its version is recent (8+):

# Check if we have vim version 8.1+ installed
VIM_PATH=$(which vim)
VIM_VERSION=$(vim --version |grep '8.[123]')
if [ -z "$VIM_PATH" || -z "$VIM_VERSION" ]
then
   ...
fi

Is the above a valid script? What might be a better way to grab the version and check if

Upvotes: 1

Views: 1272

Answers (1)

hobbs
hobbs

Reputation: 240769

Since vim --version isn't very machine-readable, I would be tempted to try

if vim --cmd 'if v:version >= 801 | q | else | cq | fi' ; then
    # vim at least 8.1
fi

which uses a snippet of vim script to do the comparison. --cmd runs a command before opening any files or running .vimrc; the cq command exits with an error status, and q exits with a success status (necessary because otherwise vim would want to edit a blank file!). | allows placing multiple vim commands on a single line, like ; in shell.

Upvotes: 7

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