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syntaxcompatibilityvi

vi refusing syntax on

I am not working on my normal computer and only have access to Ubuntu Lucid 10.04. I have added an alias to my .bashrc file to create the alias

alias vi='vim'

I have then added the following 3 lines to my ~/.vimrc file.

syntax on
set nu
set ai

vi is refusing to accept the syntax on command and when I do a :version syntax has a - rather than a + in the past I believe I have only had to take the above steps to get out of legacy mode and to switch syntax highlighting on.

Solution

  • :version is showing you what options Vim was compiled with. So if it says -syntax, it means you're running a Vim that has no support for syntax highlighting, not that syntax highlighting is turned off.

    If you have no control over the system, your best bet is to just install your own Vim (with support for all your favorite features) into your user directory, and alias vi to run that version.