Customize VIM Editor with a Brand New Look

In this tutorial we will customize the vim editor, by adding the molokai color scheme, change a couple of basic settings (more suited for my preference - not too much) and add a couple of plugins that will change the look to something like this:

About Vim

vim has always been my favorite linux text editor, which is super powerful and highly customizable

Install Vim

Update indexes:

sudo apt update

Install vim:

sudo apt install vim -y

Color Scheme

To find all existing vim color schemes installed:

find /usr/share/vim/vim*/colors/ -type f -name "*.vim"

The output on mine shows:

/usr/share/vim/vim81/colors/desert.vim
/usr/share/vim/vim81/colors/default.vim
/usr/share/vim/vim81/colors/murphy.vim
...

I will be opting for molokai, so first create the directory where we will download our color scheme:

mkdir -p ~/.vim/colors

Then download the color scheme:

curl -o ~/.vim/colors/molokai.vim https://raw.githubusercontent.com/tomasr/molokai/master/colors/molokai.vim

By default our color scheme will look like this when we create foo.py:

When we hit the "esc" button, and enter :colorscheme molokai we can change the colorscheme to molokai, and then we should have the following:

To persist these changes, open up ~/.vimrc and paste the following as a starter:

colorscheme molokai
syntax on

Now when we open up foo.py we will see that it defaults to the molokai color scheme.

Vim Configuration

Everyone has their own personal preference on vim configs, but I like to keep mine basic, and this is the content of my ~/.vimrc:

colorscheme molokai
syntax on
set mouse-=a

filetype on
filetype indent plugin on
set noexpandtab " tabs ftw
set smarttab " tab respects 'tabstop', 'shiftwidth', and 'softtabstop'
set tabstop=4 " the visible width of tabs
set softtabstop=4 " edit as if the tabs are 4 characters wide
set shiftwidth=4 " number of spaces to use for indent and unindent
set shiftround " round indent to a multiple of 'shiftwidth'

autocmd FileType yml setlocal ts=2 sts=2 sw=2 expandtab
autocmd FileType yaml setlocal ts=2 sts=2 sw=2 expandtab

Plugins

The ~/.vimrc:

"" https://github.com/VundleVim/Vundle.vim
set nocompatible
filetype off
" set the runtime path to include Vundle and initialize
set rtp+=~/.vim/bundle/Vundle.vim
call vundle#begin()
" alternatively, pass a path where Vundle should install plugins
"call vundle#begin('~/some/path/here')

" let Vundle manage Vundle, required
Plugin 'VundleVim/Vundle.vim'

" The following are examples of different formats supported.
" Keep Plugin commands between vundle#begin/end.
" plugin on GitHub repo
Plugin 'tpope/vim-fugitive'
" plugin from http://vim-scripts.org/vim/scripts.html
" Plugin 'L9'
" Git plugin not hosted on GitHub
Plugin 'git://git.wincent.com/command-t.git'
" git repos on your local machine (i.e. when working on your own plugin)
" Plugin 'file:///home/gmarik/path/to/plugin'
" The sparkup vim script is in a subdirectory of this repo called vim.
" Pass the path to set the runtimepath properly.
Plugin 'rstacruz/sparkup', {'rtp': 'vim/'}
" Install L9 and avoid a Naming conflict if you've already installed a
" different version somewhere else.
" Plugin 'ascenator/L9', {'name': 'newL9'}

" All of your Plugins must be added before the following line
call vundle#end()            " required
filetype plugin indent on    " required
" To ignore plugin indent changes, instead use:
"filetype plugin on
"
" Brief help
" :PluginList       - lists configured plugins
" :PluginInstall    - installs plugins; append `!` to update or just :PluginUpdate
" :PluginSearch foo - searches for foo; append `!` to refresh local cache
" :PluginClean      - confirms removal of unused plugins; append `!` to auto-approve removal
"
" see :h vundle for more details or wiki for FAQ
" Put your non-Plugin stuff after this line

" colorscheme duo-mini
" sets color themes
colorscheme molokai
syntax on

" sets the filename at the bottom
set laststatus=2
" https://github.com/itchyny/lightline.vim
Plugin 'itchyny/lightline.vim'

" https://github.com/Shougo/neobundle.vim
" Note: Skip initialization for vim-tiny or vim-small.
if 0 | endif

if &compatible
  set nocompatible               " Be iMproved
endif

" Required:
set runtimepath+=~/.vim/bundle/neobundle.vim/

" Required:
call neobundle#begin(expand('~/.vim/bundle/'))

" Let NeoBundle manage NeoBundle
" Required:
NeoBundleFetch 'Shougo/neobundle.vim'

" My Bundles here:
" Refer to |:NeoBundle-examples|.
" Note: You don't set neobundle setting in .gvimrc!
NeoBundle 'itchyny/lightline.vim'
call neobundle#end()

" Required:
filetype plugin indent on

" If there are uninstalled bundles found on startup,
" this will conveniently prompt you to install them.
NeoBundleCheck

" https://github.com/junegunn/vim-plug
" Specify a directory for plugins
" - For Neovim: stdpath('data') . '/plugged'
" - Avoid using standard Vim directory names like 'plugin'
call plug#begin('~/.vim/plugged')

" Make sure you use single quotes

" Shorthand notation; fetches https://github.com/junegunn/vim-easy-align
Plug 'junegunn/vim-easy-align'

" Any valid git URL is allowed
Plug 'https://github.com/junegunn/vim-github-dashboard.git'

" Multiple Plug commands can be written in a single line using | separators
"Plug 'SirVer/ultisnips' | Plug 'honza/vim-snippets'

" On-demand loading
Plug 'scrooloose/nerdtree', { 'on':  'NERDTreeToggle' }
Plug 'tpope/vim-fireplace', { 'for': 'clojure' }

" Using a non-master branch
Plug 'rdnetto/YCM-Generator', { 'branch': 'stable' }

" Using a tagged release; wildcard allowed (requires git 1.9.2 or above)
Plug 'fatih/vim-go', { 'tag': '*' }

" Plugin options
Plug 'nsf/gocode', { 'tag': 'v.20150303', 'rtp': 'vim' }

" Plugin outside ~/.vim/plugged with post-update hook
Plug 'junegunn/fzf', { 'dir': '~/.fzf', 'do': './install --all' }

" Unmanaged plugin (manually installed and updated)
Plug '~/my-prototype-plugin'

Plug 'itchyny/lightline.vim'

" Initialize plugin system
call plug#end()

" sets the filename as the title up top
" set title
" let g:airline#extensions#tabline#enabled = 1

set noexpandtab " tabs ftw
set smarttab " tab respects 'tabstop', 'shiftwidth', and 'softtabstop'
set tabstop=4 " the visible width of tabs
set softtabstop=4 " edit as if the tabs are 4 characters wide
set shiftwidth=4 " number of spaces to use for indent and unindent
set shiftround " round indent to a multiple of 'shiftwidth'
autocmd FileType yml setlocal ts=2 sts=2 sw=2 expandtab
autocmd FileType yaml setlocal ts=2 sts=2 sw=2 expandtab

Install the dependencies:

git clone https://github.com/Shougo/neobundle.vim ~/.vim/bundle/neobundle.vim
curl -fLo ~/.vim/autoload/plug.vim --create-dirs https://raw.githubusercontent.com/junegunn/vim-plug/master/plug.vim
git clone https://github.com/VundleVim/Vundle.vim.git ~/.vim/bundle/Vundle.vim

Install the plugins:

vim +NeoBundleInstall +qall
vim +PluginInstall +qall

Your vim editor should look like this:

Thank You

Thanks for reading, if you like my content, feel free to check out my website, and subscribe to my newsletter or follow me at @ruanbekker on Twitter.

Linktree: https://go.ruan.dev/links
Patreon: https://go.ruan.dev/patreon