How to turn on color syntax highlighting in vi or vim

[lcs01]

I've been using Ubuntu over a year now. I always use vim to do the progaming work. I know vim has a feature with color syntax highlighting. But I don't know how to make it work.

I did lots of research online and tried different things in my .vimrc and .gvimrc files. However, I just could not make the color highlighting work!!

I know all other settings in my .vimrc file are working, except 'syntax on' takes no effects at all.

The following is my .vimrc:

set nocompatible      " We're running Vim, not Vi!
set ai nu ic lisp sm ht=2 ts=2 sw=2
[COLOR=red]syntax on[/color] [b]" this line not working[/b] 
map z :w
map q :q
map wq :wq
map qq :q!
abb taht that
abb teh the
abb waht what

To me, 'syntax on' would turn the color highighting. But it does not work. I put the same line in .gvimrc, it does not work either.

I also tried ':syntax on' in a vim session. Not working!!

BTW, I must admit that I don't know the difference between .vimrc and .gvimrc. I am not even sure whether I can have both of them in my $HOME dir.

I also tried the suggestions at this site:


Vim Color Editor HOW-TO (Vi Improved with syntax color highlighting)

http://www.faqs.org/docs/Linux-HOWTO/Vim-HOWTO.html

No luck.

Could someone help? Thanks!!

 

[AdaHacker]

Do you have the syntax files installed? By default, Ubuntu ships with a package they call tiny-vim, which is a very minimal vim installation. To get the syntax highlighting files, you need to have the vim-runtime package installed.

 

[mtodorov69]

Can you give the output of ``env''?

Also, it would be useful to have the output of ``vim --version''
It may be that the syntax highlighting was not included at compile time in your distribution's vim.

It is unlikely for a popular distribution like Ubuntu, but let us eliminate that.

mtodorov69

 

[lcs01]

Thank you, AdaHacker and mtodorov69, for your help.

To AdaHacker, how can I tell if vim-runtime package is installed? Where to get this package?

To mtodorov69, $ENV is not set at all. What value should it be? And here is the output of 'vim --version':

[b]% vim --version[/b]
-bash: vim: command not found
[b]% vi --version[/b]
VIM - Vi IMproved 6.3 (2004 June 7, compiled Aug 22 2005 09:39:14)
Included patches: 1-21, 23-24, 26, 28-34, 36-37, 39-40, 42-43, 45-46, 81-82
Compiled by <bugzilla@redhat.com>
Tiny version without GUI.  Features included (+) or not (-):
-arabic -autocmd -balloon_eval -browse +builtin_terms -byte_offset -cindent
-clientserver -clipboard -cmdline_compl -cmdline_hist -cmdline_info -comments
-cryptv -cscope -dialog -diff -digraphs -dnd -ebcdic -emacs_tags -eval
-ex_extra -extra_search -farsi -file_in_path -find_in_path -folding -footer
+fork() -gettext -hangul_input +iconv -insert_expand -jumplist -keymap -langmap
 -libcall -linebreak -lispindent -listcmds -localmap -menu -mksession
-modify_fname -mouse -mouse_dec -mouse_gpm -mouse_jsbterm -mouse_netterm
-mouse_xterm +multi_byte -multi_lang -netbeans_intg -osfiletype -path_extra
-perl -printer -python -quickfix -rightleft -ruby -scrollbind -signs
-smartindent -sniff -statusline -sun_workshop -syntax -tag_binary
-tag_old_static -tag_any_white -tcl +terminfo -termresponse -textobjects -title
 -toolbar -user_commands -vertsplit -virtualedit -visual -viminfo -vreplace
+wildignore -wildmenu -windows +writebackup -X11 -xfontset -xim -xsmp
-xterm_clipboard -xterm_save
   system vimrc file: "/etc/vimrc"
     user vimrc file: "$HOME/.vimrc"
      user exrc file: "$HOME/.exrc"
  fall-back for $VIM: "/usr/share/vim"
Compilation: gcc -c -I. -Iproto -DHAVE_CONFIG_H     -O2 -g -pipe -m32 -march=i386 -mtune=pentium4 -D_GNU_SOURCE -D_FILE_OFFSET_BITS=64
Linking: gcc   -L/usr/local/lib -o vim       -lselinux -ltermcap -lacl

Again, your help is highly appreciated.

 

[lcs01]

I guess I showed some dumbness in my previous post. What a shame! I forgot how to print env's, but I recalled it:

[b]% printenv[/b]
HOSTNAME=myhost
TERM=xterm
SHELL=/bin/bash
HISTSIZE=1000
SSH_CLIENT=::ffff:###.###.###.### 42894 22
CVSROOT=:pserver:cvs:/home/cvs
OLDPWD=/home/xxx/
SSH_TTY=/dev/pts/0
USER=cyan
LS_COLORS=no=00:fi=00:di=00;34:ln=00;36:pi=40;33:so=00;35:bd=40;33;01:cd=40
;33;01:or=01;05;37;41:mi=01;05;37;41:ex=00;32:*.cmd=00;32:*.exe=00;32:*
.com=00;32:*.btm=00;32:*.bat=00;32:*.sh=00;32:*.csh=00;32:*.tar=00;31:*
.tgz=00;31:*.arj=00;31:*.taz=00;31:*.lzh=00;31:*.zip=00;31:*.z=00;31:*
.Z=00;31:*.gz=00;31:*.bz2=00;31:*.bz=00;31:*.tz=00;31:*.rpm=00;31:*.cpio=

00;31:*.jpg=00;35:*.gif=00;35:*.bmp=00;35:*.xbm=00;35:*.xpm=00;35:*.png=
00;35:*.tif=00;35:
MAIL=/var/spool/mail/xxx
PATH=/usr/kerberos/bin:/usr/local/bin:/bin:/usr/bin:/usr/X11R6/bin
INPUTRC=/etc/inputrc
PWD=/home/xxx/yyy
EDITOR=vi
LANG=en_US.UTF-8
SHLVL=1
HOME=/home/xxx
LOGNAME=xxx
PRINTER=upstairsprinter
CLASSPATH=...
SSH_CONNECTION=::ffff:###.###.###.### 42894 ::ffff:10.41.1.172 22
LESSOPEN=|/usr/bin/lesspipe.sh %s
G_BROKEN_FILENAMES=1
_=/usr/bin/printenv

 

[mtodorov69]

Hi lcs01,

Your terminal is xterm which is sufficient for color display, but as I suspected, there is a -syntax switch in your vim --version output. Which means, sadly, that whoever is maintaining vim package at Redhat thinks you don't need syntax highlighting.

At my Debian sarge, vim is shipped with +syntax.

Are you able to download source and recompile vim?

./configure
make
make install

should be sufficient.

Good luck,

mtodorov69

 

[lcs01]

Thanks for your advice, mtodorov69.

I have a root privilege so that I suppose I should be able to recompile it. However, is there an easy way to reset this env? I meant to set this one on in one of the system files? If so, how?

Thanks gain.

 

[mtodorov69]

lcs01,

If it is a compile-time switch, the code for syntax highlighting might not have been included at all in your binary.

I am afraid a recompile is a must in this case.

Clean way to do this is to uninstall system's vim package and configure vim to install under /usr/local.

I.e.

% ./configure --prefix=/usr/local
% make

Greetz,
mtodorov69

 

[Ghodmode]

Try [tt]syntax enable[/tt]

From [tt]:help syntax[/tt]

This command switches on syntax highlighting:

	[blue]:syntax enable[/blue]

--
-- Ghodmode

Give a man a fish and he'll come back to buy more... Teach a man to fish and you're out of business.

 

[mtodorov69]

:syntax enable is synonimous to syntax on and cannot enable colouring if the code for doing the stuff wasn't enabled at compile time IMHO.

 

[Ghodmode]

mtodorov,
Checking [tt]:help syntax[/tt] again shows that [tt]syntax enable[/tt] and [tt]syntax on[/tt] are not synonymous. However, either one should turn on the colors.

You're right about the compile-time option. I didn't read the thread carefully enough the first time.

lcs,
You probably don't need to go through the effort of compiling the source. Just make sure you install the right packages. [tt]dpkg-query[/tt] can tell you what you have installed. I think that you just have vim-tiny installed. Then [tt]apt-get[/tt] can install whatever you want that you don't have.

I use Vim heavily, so I have a lot installed ...

@home:~$ dpkg-query -l vim
Desired=Unknown/Install/Remove/Purge/Hold
| Status=Not/Installed/Config-files/Unpacked/Failed-config/Half-installed
|/ Err?=(none)/Hold/Reinst-required/X=both-problems (Status,Err: uppercase=bad)
||/ Name                       Version                    Description
+++-==========================-==========================-====================================================================
ii  vim                        7.0-164+1ubuntu7.2         Vi IMproved - enhanced vi editor
vince@home:~$ dpkg-query -l *vim*
Desired=Unknown/Install/Remove/Purge/Hold
| Status=Not/Installed/Config-files/Unpacked/Failed-config/Half-installed
|/ Err?=(none)/Hold/Reinst-required/X=both-problems (Status,Err: uppercase=bad)
||/ Name                       Version                    Description
+++-==========================-==========================-====================================================================
un  gvim                       <none>                     (no description available)
ii  vim                        7.0-164+1ubuntu7.2         Vi IMproved - enhanced vi editor
ii  vim-common                 7.0-164+1ubuntu7.2         Vi IMproved - Common files
ii  vim-doc                    7.0-164+1ubuntu7.2         Vi IMproved - HTML documentation
un  vim-full                   <none>                     (no description available)
ii  vim-gnome                  7.0-164+1ubuntu7.2         Vi IMproved - enhanced vi editor - with GNOME2 GUI
un  vim-gtk                    <none>                     (no description available)
ii  vim-gui-common             7.0-164+1ubuntu7.2         Vi IMproved - Common GUI files
un  vim-lesstif                <none>                     (no description available)
un  vim-perl                   <none>                     (no description available)
un  vim-python                 <none>                     (no description available)
un  vim-ruby                   <none>                     (no description available)
ii  vim-runtime                7.0-164+1ubuntu7.2         Vi IMproved - Runtime files
un  vim-scripts                <none>                     (no description available)
un  vim-tcl                    <none>                     (no description available)
ii  vim-tiny                   7.0-164+1ubuntu7.2         Vi IMproved - enhanced vi editor - compact version

--
-- Ghodmode

Give a man a fish and he'll come back to buy more... Teach a man to fish and you're out of business.

 

[lcs01]

Thank you, Ghodmode, for your help. But I guess that I have to ask some dumb questions again.

What is 'dpkg-query'? I googled it and got impression that it is a linux command? However, it does not look like a conventional unix/linux command to me. And I can not find it on my linux box using the command 'find'.

 

[Ghodmode]

In spite of what the kind of people who chant RTFM!! all day long say, there are no dumb questions. Please never hesitate to ask

Always start with the man page [tt]man dpkg-query[/tt] will tell you a lot. Sometimes man pages will even tell you where to get more information.

dpkg-query is part of dpkg, a set of tools used to help manage the Debian package management system. Since Ubuntu is based on Debian, it has all of the same tools.

Specifically, dpkg-query has a lot of options that allow you to query the database that contains information about the packages installed on your computer.

--
-- Ghodmode

Give a man a fish and he'll come back to buy more... Teach a man to fish and you're out of business.