Re: Color Definition at VIM Invocation???

On 02/09/11 21:19, Ken Schmitt wrote:
> I am currently using VIM version 5.7 running on a HP-UX hp9000s800
> workstation. I am running WRQ Reflection for UNIX and Digital Version
> 10.0 terminal emulation software in VAX VT220 in color mode on a PC
> running Windows XP Pro.
>
> When I start VIM I want to redefine some c language colors with the
> highlight commands in the .vimrc startup file, but these commands are
> ignored at startup. Once I am running, I can type
>
> :.source .vimrc
>
> In my home directory and the highlight commands are processed properly
> and the colors are seen.
>
> My .vimrc file content is:
>
> set showcmd
>
> set showmatch
>
> set ignorecase
>
> set incsearch
>
> set autowrite
>
> syntax on
>
> set nocompatible
>
> set tabstop=4
>
> set textwidth=132
>
> highlight link cConditional VisualNOS
>
> highlight link cRepeat VisualNOS
>
> highlight link cStatement VisualNOS
>
> highlight link cLabel VisualNOS
>
> highlight link cStructure VisualNOS
>
> highlight link cStorageClass VisualNOS
>
> The 6 highlight commands will not work at VIM invocation time.
>
> Why does this not work at startup as having to type the ":.source
> .vimrc" command every time I want to edit a file is counterproductive?
>
> Regards
>
> */Ken Schmitt/*

You should not have to source your vimrc again. In fact, doing so may be
part of the problem, since ":syntax on" earlier on clears anything you
defined on the previous pass and sets the defaults again.

Another part of the problem might be using Vim 5.7, which is more than
ten years obsolete, see the dates (from
ftp://ftp.vim.org/pub/vim/patches/ ):
5.7.001 2000-06-25
5.7.030 2001-04-24
5.8.001 2001-06-04
6.0.001 2001-09-27
6.1.001 2002-03-30
6.2.001 2003-06-02
6.3.001 2004-06-09
6.4.001 2005-10-17
7.0.001 2006-05-19
7.1.001 2007-11-20
7.2.001 2008-08-17
7.3.001 2010-08-16
7.3.293 2011-09-02

(m.n.001 is actually the first bugfix for release m.n, listed because
it's easier for me to find the dates of patchlevels than those of releases)

On Unix, you can compile Vim yourself, see
http://vim.wikia.com/wiki/Getting_the_Vim_source_with_Mercurial
http://users.skynet.be/antoine.mechelynck/vim/compunix.htm

If you don't have admin rights on the Unix system, you should convince
an admin that it is more than time to upgrade his software. You might
also (as a temporary stopgap measure, if you have access to a compiler)
compile a modern Vim and install it in your $HOME directory.

On Windows, I recommend using the "Vim without Cream" distribution,
available as an installer named gvim-<version>.exe from
http://sourceforge.net/projects/cream/files/

Are you sure you want to change these colors only in C sources?
Otherwise you could change the groups to which they are linked:

hi! link Conditional VisualNOS
hi! link Repeat VisualNOS

etc. (though defining them as aliases of VisualNOS sounds like a strange
choice to me. Ah, well, there's no accounting for tastes.)

The exclamation mark is important: without it, new links for groups
already defined will be silently ignored. But I'm not sure if it already
existed in Vim 5.7. If it didn't, then use

hi clear Conditional
hi link Conditional VisualNOS
hi clear Repeat
hi link Repeat VisualNOS
etc.

However, the "right" way to do all this would be to define your own
colorscheme. If you only want to define a few highlight groups and leave
the rest at the default, you could let Vim define them: copy
$VIMRUNTIME/colors/default.vim to $HOME/.vim/colors/ (creating any
not-yet-existing directory as you go along), change the filename
(keeping the .vim extension), and edit the file, adding your :hi
commands in it (somewhere near the middle), and replacing "default" by
the new basename of your file in the ":let colors_name" statement near
the end. Any highlight groups that you don't define will remain at the
Vim "factory default".

Then add a :colo[rscheme] statement in your vimrc to invoke that new
colorscheme, see :help :colorscheme

Best regards,
Tony.
--
Earn cash in your spare time -- blackmail your friends

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