vimrc best practices

26 Mar 2016

Well designed software is easy to change. The more often it changes, the more important it is that it is well designed. VimScript is code, and at least in my case, it certainly changes often. Even though I don't write sophisticated plugins, the vimrc still calls for some level of style and consistency.

Here are some standards I've found to be helpful to keep things tidy:

1. Be specific with mappings

• Always use the noremap bindings unless you absolutely have to use the normal one. Using nmap instead of nnoremap has caused me many headaches.
• Use xnoremap. This is a bit of a sneaky one, vnoremap, despite its seemingly obvious name maps both visual and select mode - xnoremap maps only visual mode, which is usually what you mean.

2. Use single quoted strings

VimScript uses the " character for comments, strings and registers. Two responsibilities is plenty.

3. Use the same casing for mappings as Vim itself

Vim allows you to specify chords and special keys case insensitively, I suggest sticking to the same style Vim itself uses:

<Esc>, <C-a>, <CR>, <S-Down>

It is not always obvious, refer to :help key-notation when in doubt.

Update: I've opted to use the "correct" case for the "a" in <C-a>, even though Vim does not always do this itself. Terminals cannot always distinguish between C-a and C-A (or C-S-a), but in certain places (for example sometimes in NeoVim) this distinction is actually made.

Bonus: Lint your settings

There's a VimScript linter called vint that will point out many other potential problems - very handy if you want to be extra tidy.