1. Forum
  2. DOVE-Net
  3. Unix

  • I learned something new today: VI colors

    From Gryphon@VERT/CYBERIA to All on Fri Dec 9 16:57:00 2016
    Hi all!

    So I do a lot of work in Linux and VI is my editor of choice. One thing that vi does well is syntax highlighting. This is something that I think that
    most vi users are aware of. But did you know that there are different color themes that you can use?

    I have a bit of a color vision problem. It is very difficult for me to
    discern the text when it is dark blue on black. But as you know, much of the syntax highlighting uses dark blue on black. I'm not sure how vim decides
    what color to use for the different highlighting, but I've found that it is
    not always comfortable for me.

    It turns out, I can change the highlight themes. If you look in: /usr/share/vim/vim74/colors, you'll see a list of predefined themes:
    blue.vim
    darkblue.vim
    default.vim
    delek.vim
    desert.vim
    elflord.vim
    evening.vim
    industry.vim
    koehler.vim
    morning.vim
    murphy.vim
    pablo.vim
    peachpuff.vim
    ron.vim
    shine.vim
    slate.vim
    torte.vim
    zellner.vim

    The way these themes are used is by changing your ~/.vimrc file. Add the following:
    ---------------------
    color elflord
    syntax on
    ---------------------

    You can obviously play around with the different themes to find the one that you like best.

    Enjoy!

    --- Mystic BBS v1.12 A31 (Raspberry Pi)
    * Origin: Cyberia BBS | Cyberia.Darktech.Org | Kingwood, TX
  • From Hemo@VERT/UJOINT to Gryphon on Fri Dec 9 23:25:58 2016
    Re: I learned something new today: VI colors
    By: Gryphon to All on Fri Dec 09 2016 08:57 am

    So I do a lot of work in Linux and VI is my editor of choice. One thing that vi does well is syntax highlighting. This is something that I think that most vi users are aware of. But did you know that there are different color themes that you can use?

    You can create your own theme if you like.

    And.. keep in mind, vi is NOT vim. They are actually two different beasts. vim is what most of us are using, I think, and the name stands for VI iMproved.

    vi is pretty barebones with less on frill and more on using less memory and being more portable.

    I even run vim on my windows boxes using gvim.

    -- Hemo

    ... An idea is not responsible for the people who believe in it.

    ---
    þ Synchronet þ - Running madly into the wind and screaming - bbs.ujoint.org
  • From Poindexter Fortran@VERT/REALITY to Hemo on Sun Dec 18 14:25:53 2016
    Re: I learned something new today: VI colors
    By: Hemo to Gryphon on Fri Dec 09 2016 03:25 pm

    vi is pretty barebones with less on frill and more on using less memory and being more portable.

    Portable was the key. I remember administering SGI, Sun and Linux boxes, with some FreeBSD thrown in. Having one basic editor across all those platforms was a small blessing.

    ---
    þ Synchronet þ realitycheckBBS -- http://realitycheckBBS.org