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I just installed Vim again and noticed there is no .vim directory in my /home directory. I have read that if I create .vim myself then this will override the values in /etc/vim. My questions:

  1. Should the new directory that I create be /home/.vim or /home/myusername/.vim?
  2. Should I delete /etc/vim and its content when the new */.vim is created, or should I just leave it be?
  3. Can I put .vimrc or even vimrc (without period) inside the new .vim directory?
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3 Answers 3

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  1. It's always /home/myusername/.something when it's about personalisation. As long as your home dir is /home/mysername, of course. I'm not sure however if this can be a directory or has to be a file. If it's not stated in man vim, there's always trial and error.

  2. No, you don't need to delete /etc/vim. Personalisations in the home dir should take precedence over the general /etc settings. Btw, there can also be something like /usr/share/vim/vimrc too. Sometimes the general settings in /etc/ are linked to /usr/share/something.

  3. As noted in point 1, vim's documentation should be consulted. Trial and error if no details can be found in there.

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  • this is a good answer, but for #3, the .vimrc file should be in your home dir, not in the .vim dir. Commented Oct 16, 2017 at 22:31
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    @JacobMinshall ~/.vimrc or ~/.vim/vimrc both work. Commented Oct 17, 2017 at 0:26
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  1. $HOME/.vim
  2. No
  3. $HOME/.vim/vimrc or $HOME/.vimrc

  1. Personalization happens in your home directory, $HOME. This is usually /home/username on Linux, or /Users/username on macOS, or /usr/username on some old-fashioned systems.

  2. Personalization of user applications never ever requires you to delete files installed by a package, and rarely requires even modification to files under /etc. Unix is a multi-user operating system: If you started deleting files under /etc just because you had your own personal configuration in $HOME, then you would break things for other users of the system.

  3. See :help vimrc in Vim.

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1: the directory should be in "/home/username/" and not in "/home"(can be .vim or .vimrc by the way the 'rc' stands from run command 2: you should leave it there .Take a simply backup otherwise 3: that won't affect much as the .vimrc is the ones running commands for several things (aesthetics, primarily)but better to leave it where it previously was. Side note- if you have many vim installations then there might be multiple .vi directories. Happened once with me .I had vi tiny vim and gvim all together and yet nothing was conflicted . I just left things as they were

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  • Are you sure that you’re answering the question? Commented Oct 17, 2017 at 3:46
  • @Scott Thanks .I was Not to the point . Just a rook Commented Oct 17, 2017 at 7:21

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