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Useful Vim Settings Without Plugins

Here are some settings that I use in Vim to make it useful without having to install a ton of plugins.

File Search

set path+=**
set wildmenu

Setting the path variable will allow Vim to search subdirectories and turn on tab completion.

Setting the wildmenu will show a list of matching files in a popup line when tab completion is used.

Once these two are set, you can use :find with tab and * to autocomplete and wildcard-match files.

Tag Jumping

command! MakeTags !ctags -R .

To use this, ctags must be installed. When this command is issued, a tags file is created. Then, you can use ^] to jump to a tag that's under the cursor. Use g^] for an ambiguous tag search. Use ^t to jump back to where you were. Issue the command as needed to update the tags file. (^ means the control key.)

Autocomplete

To autocomplete words while typing, use control x to start the autocomplete.

Then use control n for local completes (from within the file), control f for file name completes, and control ] for tag completes.