DISQUS

penno · 5 years ago

Does anyone know how to make line numbers the default?? :?

qmchenry · 5 years ago

If you are in a UNIX operating system, you can create a file in your home directory called .exrc that vi will read when it starts. Just put set number on its own line as well as any other set. To see what other options are available and their current values, use :set all from within vi.

penno · 5 years ago

That works wonderfully! Thank you very much!! :D

Anonymous · 4 years ago

Alternativley you can see the current cursor postiton with :set ruler

trilobites · 1 year ago

wow, thanks. very helpful!

thanks · 1 year ago

thanks

pandiano · 12 months ago

MANY THX!!!!!!!!!!!!!

robertmarkbram · 10 months ago

Helped me!

tom · 9 months ago

helped me too!

Rob · 9 months ago

Is it possible to get vim to show line numbers by default? I need them more often than not.

Quinn McHenry · 9 months ago

Sure thing -- just add

:set number

to the file .vimrc in your home directory.

Sometime when you get bored, type :set all while in vim.. it'll show you all the available options. Chances are if there's some behavior you don't like in vim, you can tweak it.

Sandy · 9 months ago

Thanks. It was helpful for me

Joe · 9 months ago

Nice... had forgotten my vi

Vasanth · 7 months ago

thanks it helped!

Dave · 7 months ago

too easy.. :-)

James · 5 months ago

Good tip. I get horizontal lines underneath the numbers, is that supposed to happen?

Nick · 4 months ago

You can also add:
set number
~/.vimrc

Dushi · 2 months ago

that was so helpful. thanx...

Tim Broder · 2 months ago

sweet, thanks

Rick Graham · 1 month ago

This is what I was looking for.

Here's what I did:

Edit ~/.vimrc

add these lines:

nnoremap <silent> <F6> :set number<CR>
nnoremap <silent> <S-F6> :set nonumber<CR>

Now, F6 turns line numbers on, Shift F6 turns them off.

Cédric Bosdonnat · 1 month ago

@Rick: you can use only one shortcut to toggle the line numbers also with the following line (note the ! after the number which mean "toggle" for vi):

nnoremap <silent> <F6> :set number!<CR>

Website

Original page

Subscribe

Community

Top Commenters

Popular Threads

Tech-Recipes: Show line numbers in vi or vim | UNIX | Tech-Recipes