How do I customize which invisible characters are shown in list mode, including trailing spaces and off-screen indicators?

Explanation

The listchars option controls exactly which invisible characters Vim highlights when list mode is active. Beyond the commonly known tab and trail, it includes a full set of indicators for off-screen content, end-of-line markers, non-breakable spaces, and every plain space — each configurable with any Unicode symbol.

How it works

• :set list activates display of invisible characters
• :set listchars={key}:{char},... configures what is shown for each type
• Unset keys keep their defaults; you only need to configure what you want

The full set of keys:

Example

A practical configuration for code review:

:set listchars=tab:»·,trail:·,extends:›,precedes:‹,nbsp:⎵

This highlights:

• »· — tab (arrow head + dot fill)
• · — trailing spaces (a common source of merge noise)
• › / ‹ — text that scrolls off-screen in nowrap mode
• ⎵ — non-breaking spaces that look like regular spaces but break alignment

Tips

• Set extends and precedes before using :set nowrap so you always know when content is off-screen
• Enable trail globally in your vimrc to catch accidental trailing whitespace while editing
• Use :set nolist or set list! to toggle on/off without losing the configuration
• :set listchars=space:· can be noisy; prefer trail alone unless you specifically want to see all spaces