The sys admin's daily grind: Customizing Vim
Charly's Column – Customizing Vim
Working with the infamous Vim is part of every sys admin's daily work. Charly spices up the veteran editor with personal settings for syntax highlighting and indentations.
The Vim text editor accompanies every sys admin throughout their entire professional life, just like the classic corny joke about it: "I've been using Vim for 15 years – but mainly because I have no idea how to quit it." It takes a few years for some admins to grudgingly resign themselves to the text editor. Others claim to really like Vim, but that could be Stockholm syndrome. Either way, the basics have to be drilled in because Vim is one of the constants you can and must rely on with any Linux system.
Beyond the basics, Vim offers a few functions that enhance the user experience. There are two ways to customize the editor: globally or per user. The global settings are located in the /etc/vim/vimrc
file; each user can also create a file named .vimrc
in their home directory. Settings made there overwrite and supplement the global settings. Many distributions do not specify global settings from the outset (i.e., /etc/vim/vimrc
is empty), knowing that adjustments are always a matter of taste.
Let's look at the most important customizations that can be made as a user in .vimrc
. The most popular of these relates to syntax highlighting. When programming, Vim displays certain elements such as variables, mathematical characters, loop entry and exit points, comments, and much more in different colors. The syntax on
line in .vimrc
enables highlighting.
[...]
Buy this article as PDF
(incl. VAT)
Buy Linux Magazine
Subscribe to our Linux Newsletters
Find Linux and Open Source Jobs
Subscribe to our ADMIN Newsletters
Support Our Work
Linux Magazine content is made possible with support from readers like you. Please consider contributing when you’ve found an article to be beneficial.

News
-
Linux Kernel 6.17 is Available
Linus Torvalds has announced that the latest kernel has been released with plenty of core improvements and even more hardware support.
-
Kali Linux 2025.3 Released with New Hacking Tools
If you're a Kali Linux fan, you'll be glad to know that the third release of this famous pen-testing distribution is now available with updates for key components.
-
Zorin OS 18 Beta Available for Testing
The latest release from the team behind Zorin OS is ready for public testing, and it includes plenty of improvements to make it more powerful, user-friendly, and productive.
-
Fedora Linux 43 Beta Now Available for Testing
Fedora Linux 43 Beta ships with Gnome 49 and KDE Plasma 6.4 (and other goodies).
-
USB4 Maintainer Leaves Intel
Michael Jamet, one of the primary maintainers of USB4 and Thunderbolt drivers, has left Intel, leaving a gaping hole for the Linux community to deal with.
-
Budgie 10.9.3 Now Available
The latest version of this elegant and configurable Linux desktop aligns with changes in Gnome 49.
-
KDE Linux Alpha Available for Daring Users
It's official, KDE Linux has arrived, but it's not quite ready for prime time.
-
AMD Initiates Graphics Driver Updates for Linux Kernel 6.18
This new AMD update focuses on power management, display handling, and hardware support for Radeon GPUs.
-
AerynOS Alpha Release Available
With a choice of several desktop environments, AerynOS 2025.08 is almost ready to be your next operating system.
-
AUR Repository Still Under DDoS Attack
Arch User Repository continues to be under a DDoS attack that has been going on for more than two weeks.