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This page provides some tips for configuring vim. Some small files are available that set highlighting for Ferret and GrADS scripts. Also available are some small files to amend the highlighting for LaTeX and Fortran 90.
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Something to read

First steps with vim is about using vim/gvim. And you will need to know how to use it before you configure it.

Something simple to configure

Here is something simple to do. Every time you invoke vim or gvim, your .vimrc file in your home directory will be sourced, if you have one. I, and many others, find the default tabbing of 8 spaces to be too wide, especially for working with python. Let's make a .vimrc file and fix that problem by including the following two lines: 
set tabstop=4
set shiftwidth=4
The value of tabstop controls the visual appearance of tab spacing within the vim window. Normally, the value of shiftwidth is the number of spaces vim will insert in the automatic indentation. Here both shiftwidth and tabstop have the same value, so the clever vim will insert one tab character for the indentation. That will keep python happy.

However, there seems to be an emerging consensus that using tabs to format source code is not a good idea. You may want to add this line to your .vimrc: 

set expandtab
With that, both python and users of your source code will be happy (at least about your lack of tabs). Nevertheless, I like tabs. It is easier to delete one tab rather than four spaces. So I use: 
set noexpandtab

I also did not appreciate all the "beeps" that gvim likes to send my way. So I turn off the beeps with 

set visualbell

Getting stuck in vim

Here a list of things newbies might get stuck on. Advice is given on how to get unstuck:
  • In gvim, stretch the Gui tall. Type <esc>, then :help. Your gvim window will be split. Clicking the mouse in the top or bottom window will make that window active (:q quits the window). We all know how to browse web pages. Successfully browsing a help file within the gvim editor requires some skill. First, you may want to surf the online HTML form of help, which are the same help files that appear within gvim, but in HTML form. That is easy to navigate, right? The vim form of the helpfile has instructions on how to navigate; it really does work. Just remember that CTRL-T takes you back...

  • You may not realize that you are using only 10% of the capabilities of vim. For example go to "tips","browse all tips" found at www.vim.org. At the bottom of the displayed tips, leave keywords blank and search by rating descending...

Configuring vim

These instructions are for version 6.1 or greater, as found within Mandrake 9.0. In the previous section I showed some of the lines I put in my .vimrc file. Here I show what I configured recently from my .vim directory within my home directory.

  • Within your .vim directory, make a directory after and after/syntax. Drop my amendment files fortan.vim and tex.vim within your after/syntax directory. Read the comments within those files to see what they are going to do. If you want to do the setting of tabstop etc. just for python, then grab python.vim for your after/syntax. But if you use it, beware of potential confusion about what is controlling your python syntax: your .vimrc or your python.vim?

  • My vim distribution did not have syntax files for Ferret or GrADS, so I made my own. Within your .vim directory, make a directory syntax. Drop into .vim/syntax/ ferret.vim and grads.vim. For vim to use these files, it will need to recognize the appropriate filetype extension, .jnl and .gs. This recognition can be set in your .vim/filetype.vim file. Here is what I have in my filetype.vim.

  • SpellChecker is a godsend. By the way, it is also available from the developer's vim page vim page of Ajit J. Thakkar Now, after it is installed, type :help SpellChecker. In :help SpellChecker-Usage you will see commands can be executed by key mappings which are prefaced with a "<Leader>", which is "\". For example, "\sc" toggles SpellChecker on/off. Note that for these key mappings to work, you must be in normal mode (hit ESC to be in normal mode). Most importantly, the three keys must be typed rapidly in succession.

  • VIM version 6.1 will already have a distribution for syntax highlighting of Fortran 90. Check that fortran.vim is found within /usr/share/vim/syntax. My .vimrc shows how I configure the assumptions of F90/F77.

  • colorize.vim is a nifty utility for newbies. Read the comments within, and heed the instructions for Unix/Linux. Here is my .gvimrc, after the installation. To learn more about .gvimrc, look within /usr/local/share/vim or /usr/share/vim for a file gvimrc_example.vim.