How do I interactively browse and set all Vim options in a single window?
:options
:options opens a special Vim buffer that lists every available option, grouped by category (appearance, editing, search, etc.
Category: config
How do I load project-specific Vim settings automatically when opening files in a directory?
:set exrc
Vim's exrc option tells Vim to look for a .
How do I make Vim automatically reload a file when it changes on disk?
:set autoread
The autoread option tells Vim to automatically re-read a file when it detects the file has been changed outside of Vim.
How do I hide or conceal syntax elements like markdown formatting in Vim?
:set conceallevel=2
The conceallevel option controls how Vim displays characters that have the "conceal" syntax attribute.
How do you always show the sign column in Vim?
set signcolumn=yes
Use set signcolumn=yes to always display the sign column (used by diagnostics, git markers).
How do you reload your vimrc without restarting Vim?
:source $MYVIMRC
Use :source $MYVIMRC or :so % if editing the vimrc to reload configuration.
How do you enable enhanced command-line completion?
set wildmenu wildmode=longest:full,full
Enable wildmenu for a visual menu above the command line.
How do you show matching brackets in Vim?
set showmatch
Enable showmatch to briefly highlight the matching bracket when you type a closing bracket.
How do you show relative line numbers in Vim?
set relativenumber
Use set relativenumber (or set rnu) to show line numbers relative to the cursor position.
How do you display invisible characters like tabs and trailing spaces?
set list listchars=tab:>-,trail:~,extends:>,precedes:<
Enable list and configure listchars to show tabs as >-, trailing spaces as ~, and indicators for text extending beyond the screen.
How do you show line numbers in Vim?
set number
Use set number (or set nu) to display absolute line numbers in the left margin.
How do you enable persistent undo across sessions?
set undofile undodir=~/.vim/undo//
Enable undofile and set undodir to persist undo history to disk.
How do you configure line wrapping behavior in Vim?
set wrap linebreak breakindent
Use wrap to wrap long lines, linebreak to break at word boundaries (not mid-word), and breakindent to preserve indentation on wrapped lines.
How do you configure swap file location in Vim?
set directory=~/.vim/swap//
Set directory to control where swap files are stored.
How do you set the tab width in Vim?
set tabstop=4 shiftwidth=4
Set tabstop for display width of tabs and shiftwidth for indent operations.
How do you set automatic line wrapping at a specific column?
set textwidth=80
Set textwidth (or tw) to automatically insert line breaks when typing past the specified column.
How do you keep context lines visible above and below the cursor?
set scrolloff=8
Set scrolloff (or so) to keep at least 8 lines visible above and below the cursor when scrolling.
How do you keep context columns when scrolling horizontally?
set sidescrolloff=5
Set sidescrolloff to keep at least 5 columns visible on each side of the cursor during horizontal scrolling.
How do you customize the status line in Vim?
set statusline=%f\ %m%r%h\ %=%l,%c\ %P
Configure statusline with format items: %f (filename), %m (modified flag), %= (right-align), %l,%c (line,column), %P (percentage).
How do you configure code folding method in Vim?
set foldmethod=syntax
Set foldmethod to syntax for language-aware folding, indent for indentation-based, or manual for manual control.