Using Vim

Using Vim to Edit Ada (or other languages) programs

• To get syntax editing, you need to execute the following command in vim:
1. :syntax enable


• Executing this command will immediately cause the program to be highlighted.


• To get indenting you need to execute these commands, but you need them to take effect BEFORE you edit your file.
1. :filetype indent on
2. :filetype plugin on


• To make the commands available before you edit your file (and to save yourself the trouble of typing these commands each time you edit a file) put the commands in your vim startup file.
• You can also do these commands from within vim, and then edit the file using the comand :vi foo.adb, but this is more clumsy than putting them into the vimrc startup.

Vim Startup Files

• On rucs, the vim startup file should be called .vimrc and it should be placed in your h: drive


• On a lab machine, H:\.vimrc should also work as your vim startup file (although I have not tested it).


• On a home machine, your vim startup file will probably already exist under the name _vimrc and it will be found in the directory in which you installed vim

Example Vim Startup File

• Here is a sample vim startup file (ie .vimrc) that includes some of my preferences

syntax enable        " Set up syntax highlighting, etc
filetype indent on   " Set up automatic indentation
filetype plugin on   " Set up loading filetype plugins when certain files are edited

" Set up the command :make to do ada compilation
set makeprg=gnatmake\ %

" 4 character tabs and indents 
set tabstop=4       " 8 is too much
set shiftwidth=4    " 8 is too much

" Tabs to be expanded to spaces
set expandtab       " expand tabs

" Cause backspace to backspace over expanded tabs
set smarttab         

" Set case sensitivity on searches
set ignorecase    " Ignore case when searching
set smartcase     "    but, if case is used in the pattern, DON'T ignore it

set ruler         " Show line and column numbers, as well as percent of file
set showcmd       " Show partial command in status line

• Notice that the character ':' is not needed for commands in the vimrc file

Vim On Your Home Machine

• Download and install vim from vim.org


• Edit vim startup file as shown above (on windows, _vimrc in the directory where you installed vim)


• Ada mode in vim 7.1 has some bugs so you should install the Vim Ada bundle which contains new versions of the broken files


• Install the ada bundle vimball by editing it and executing the command ":source %".


• Let me know if this does not seem to work