How to turn on syntax highlighting in VIM 7.3 OSX
vim
Solution
NEVER do anything in `$VIM` as it will work only by luck, cause unexpected behaviors and likely be overwritten next time Vim is updated.
What you have put in `/usr/share/vim/vimrc` should be in `~/.vimrc`.
`filetype on` and `syntax on` are the bare minimum you need in your `~/.vimrc` for syntax highlighting to work.
`$ vim ~/.vimrc` gives you syntax highlighting because the file is recognized by Vim as a vim file. Filetype detection is mostly dependent on file extensions so you can't expect any syntax highlighting in a file called `test`.
`$ vim test.py`, on the other hand, should give you syntax highlighting.
If the filetype is not detected, you can force it with `:set filetype=python`.
Problem
System = OSX 10.9.4 I am trying to turn on syntax highlighting in vim while using the terminal. However, I am unable to get it to work properly. Things I've tried: located the vimrc file and added the following code: ``` set ai " auto indenting set history=100 " keep 100 lines of history set ruler " show the cursor position syntax on " syntax highlighting set hlsearch " highlight the last searched term filetype plugin on " use the file type plugins ``` Located vimrc under directory: ``` cd /usr/share/vim/ ``` The interesting thing is that once I add the code to the vimrc using vim, followed by exiting (x), and re-opening the file again, syntax is correctly highlighted in the vimrc. However, when I try to make a new vim file called "test", copy the same code, save and exit. Re-open it, the syntax is not highlighted at all. It appears that syntax highlighting only works when I open the actually vimrc file---and not when I try to create a new one or open another file that should have syntax highlighting. - I've also tried to create a .vimrc (exact copy) under the ~/ (directory). No success. Made a new file called "test" and tried turning it on while active as well: ``` vim test ``` "then within vim" ``` :syntax on ``` I am really confused as to why this partially works. Any help is much appreciated. Cheers! p.s. I have followed these instructions as well from: http://geekology.co.za/article/2009/03/how-to-enable-syntax-highlighting-and-other-options-in-vim *I am aware of macvim, but would like a solution for the native vim in terminal. Thanks.