vimvim-syntax-highlighting

Enable Vim Syntax Highlighting By Default


I know how to turn syntax highlighting on and off in vim by running this in the editor:

:syntax on/off

But I want syntax highlighting to be enabled by default, so I don't have to turn it on every time I run vim.

How do I do this?


Solution

  • Edit your $HOME/.vimrc (Unix/Linux/OSX) or $HOME/_vimrc (Windows) to include the following line:

    syntax on
    

    EDIT

    If your syntax highlighting doesn't work when you start Vim, you probably don't have a $HOME/.vimrc or $HOME/_vimrc (known collectively as vimrc from now on). In that case, you have two options:

    The location of the runtime directory varies between operating systems: