Hi..

I am using Redhat Enterprise linux 5.
i wanted to turn on syntax highlighting on in Vi

so as a *root*
______________________________________________________________________
I opened vi
~vi test.c
pressed ESC
:syntax on
______________________________________________________________________

now nothing happened... getting the same single color syntax
tried including "set syntax=on" in /etc/vimrc

but has not helped..
****************************************

CAN SOME ONE HELP IN THIS REGARD (in detail)

Thx.
mehrots

First, you need to make sure that when you type "vi" you are actually getting vim. You probably are, but you should make sure, since the ":syntax on" command is a vim command. Next, check if this copy of vim has syntax highlighting enabled as a feature. Do this by entering ":ver" and look for "+syntax". If you see "-syntax", then this copy of vim does not have it. If it does have it, you need to make sure your console/terminal supports colors. Are you running from the Linux console? Or are you running from within a terminal shell like xterm or rxvt?

As an alternative, if you are running from a modern desktop environment, you can try the graphical version of vim by running gvim.

So these aren't complete instructions, but it's a starting point. I suggest you may want to ask your question on a vim mailing list since these questions come up all the time.

You may also want to check to make sure that vi isn't aliased to `/usr/bin/vim -v'; the -v option will open vim in vi mode, ie. using traditional vi keybindings and features.

Hi ,

Thx for your response..

@ak_random --I tried finding about the mailing list but could not find any mailing list related to VI

Pls treat me as a newbie and help coz im not able to fully follow..

@bartonski -- thx for reply can u pls expand.. im not following u..

regards,

mehrots

Hi,

I did check the :ver

COULD NOT FIND +syntax or -syntax

how do i make sure im getting VIM..?

The terminal/console has colors..
as when i do "ls" the dir/files etc .. come in different colors..

tried running gvim..
but there colors have to select everytime.. the feature for C language..

thx.
mehrots

What happens if you invoke vim rather than vi?
And if that works, just make an alias.


Cheers,
Tink

After giving the ':syntax on' command, you probably also need to specify a color scheme: ":colorscheme blue" (without quotes).

Then save yourself some effort, and create a .vimrc file in your home folder. In the file, put the options you want vim to startup with everytime you launch vim.

Example .vimrc:

syntax on
:colorscheme blue

# set vim tab spacing
:set expandtab
:set softtabstop=3
:set tabstop=3
:set shiftwidth=3
:set foldmethod=indent
:set backspace=2
:set ruler

In SuSE 9.3, the colorschemes are located in /opt/kde3/share/vim/vim62/colors.

[root@dhcppc1 bin]# vim
No Syntax items defined for this buffer
Press ENTER or type command to continue

NOW when i press "return" i get in VIM..

but that does not solve the problem..

if v:lang =~ "utf8$" || v:lang =~ "UTF-8$"
set fileencodings=utf-8,latin1
endif


set nocompatible " Use Vim defaults (much better!)
set bs=indent,eol,start " allow backspacing over everything in insert mode
set ai " always set autoindenting on
"set backup " keep a backup file
set viminfo='20,\"50 " read/write a .viminfo file, don't store more
" than 50 lines of registers
set history=50 " keep 50 lines of command line history
set ruler " show the cursor position all the time
syntax on " syntax on
colorscheme default " syntax highlighting on
set autoindent

" Only do this part when compiled with support for autocommands
if has("autocmd")
" In text files, always limit the width of text to 78 characters
autocmd BufRead *.txt set tw=78
" When editing a file, always jump to the last cursor position
autocmd BufReadPost *
\ if line("'\"") > 0 && line ("'\"") <= line("$") |
\ exe "normal! g'\"" |
\ endif
endif

if has("cscope") && filereadable("/usr/bin/cscope")
set csprg=/usr/bin/cscope
set csto=0
set cst
set nocsverb
" add any database in current directory
if filereadable("cscope.out")
cs add cscope.out
" else add database pointed to by environment
elseif $CSCOPE_DB != ""
cs add $CSCOPE_DB
endif
set csverb
endif



*******************************************************************
this is my vimrc file..

when im typing vim in console/terminal
I get the following error.
[root@dhcppc1 bin]# vim
No Syntax items defined for this buffer
Press ENTER or type command to continue

NOW when i press "return" i get in VIM..
*******************************************************************

And if you open some code file while opening vim?
E.g. vim ~/.bashrc



Cheers,
Tink

Hi ,

Im getting the "syntax highlighting" when im opening the file ~/.bashrc

rgds,
mehrots