dotvim

Vim configuration for Alan Jones. Compatible with Vim 8+ and Neovim.

Prerequisites

This configuration requires Vim 8.0+ or Neovim 0.5+.

Check your version

vim --version | head -1

macOS (Homebrew)

The system Vim on macOS is outdated. Install a modern version with Homebrew:

brew install vim

Or for Neovim:

brew install neovim

After installation, ensure Homebrew's Vim is used (should be automatic if /opt/homebrew/bin or /usr/local/bin is in your PATH):

which vim   # should show /opt/homebrew/bin/vim or /usr/local/bin/vim

Ubuntu

Ubuntu 20.04+ includes Vim 8 by default. Install or update with:

sudo apt update
sudo apt install vim

For the latest Vim version on older Ubuntu releases, use the PPA:

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:jonathonf/vim
sudo apt update
sudo apt install vim

Or for Neovim:

sudo apt install neovim

Installation

Clone the repository:

git clone git@github.com:alanjones/dotvim.git ~/.vim

Create symlinks:

ln -s ~/.vim/vimrc ~/.vimrc
ln -s ~/.vim/gvimrc ~/.gvimrc  # optional, for GUI Vim

For Neovim, create this symlink instead:

mkdir -p ~/.config/nvim
ln -s ~/.vim/vimrc ~/.config/nvim/init.vim

Launch vim - plugins will be installed automatically on first run via vim-plug.

To manually install/update plugins:

:PlugInstall    " Install plugins
:PlugUpdate     " Update plugins
:PlugClean      " Remove unused plugins

Dependencies

For best experience, install these system tools:

• ripgrep (rg) - Fast grep for :Rg command
• fzf - Fuzzy finder (auto-installed by vim-plug, but system install recommended)
• A Nerd Font - For powerline symbols in airline

macOS (Homebrew)

brew install ripgrep fzf

Ubuntu

sudo apt install ripgrep fzf

Key Mappings

Leader key: \

File Navigation

Mapping	Action	Notes
Ctrl+P	Fuzzy file finder	fzf :Files
\e	Toggle file explorer	NERDTree
\E	Find current file in explorer	NERDTree
\b	Buffer list	fzf :Buffers
\h	Recent files history	fzf :History
\f	Grep in files	fzf :Rg (requires ripgrep)
\c	Command history	fzf :History:

Git (vim-fugitive)

Mapping	Action
\gs	Git status
\gb	Git blame
\gd	Git diff
\gl	Git log

Linting (ALE)

Mapping	Action
]e	Next error/warning
[e	Previous error/warning
\af	Run ALEFix

Tabs

Mapping	Action
\]	Next tab
\[	Previous tab
\t	New tab

Other

Mapping	Action
\l	Toggle line numbers
\p	Toggle paste mode

Plugins

• fzf.vim - Fuzzy finder
• NERDTree - File explorer
• vim-fugitive - Git integration
• vim-gitgutter - Git diff in gutter
• vim-surround - Surround text objects
• vim-commentary - Comment toggling (gc)
• ALE - Async linting and LSP
• editorconfig-vim - EditorConfig support
• vim-airline - Status line
• gruvbox - Color scheme
• rainbow - Rainbow brackets