vim Configuring Vim Files and directories
Example
Whatever you do to customize Vim, it should NEVER happen outside of $HOME:
- on Linux, BSD and Cygwin,
$HOMEis usually/home/username/, - on Mac OS X,
$HOMEis/Users/username/, - on Windows,
$HOMEis usuallyC:\Users\username\.
The canonical location for your vimrc and your vim directory is at
the root of that $HOME directory:
-
on Unix-like systems
$HOME/.vimrc <-- the file $HOME/.vim/ <-- the directory -
on Windows
$HOME\_vimrc <-- the file $HOME\vimfiles\ <-- the directory
The layout above is guaranteed to work, now and in the future.
Vim 7.4 made it possible to keep your lovely vimrc inside your vim
directory. It is really a good idea, if only because it makes it easier to
move your config around.
If you use 7.4 exclusively, the following will be enough:
-
on Unix-like systems
$HOME/.vim/vimrc -
on Windows
$HOME\vimfiles\vimrc
If you want the benefits of a self-contained vim/ but use both 7.4 and an older version, or only an older version, the simplest, future-proof, solution is to put this
line and only this line:
runtime vimrc
in this file:
-
on Unix-like systems
$HOME/.vimrc -
on Windows
$HOME\_vimrc
and do your configuration in $HOME/.vim/vimrc or $HOME\vimfiles\vimrc.
