Re: $VIMRC over .vimrc ?

On Thu, Mar 19, 2026 at 3:56 AM Christopher <crestchristopher@gmail.com> wrote:
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> On Wednesday, March 18, 2026 at 3:48:41 PM UTC-4 Ben Knoble wrote:
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> Le 18 mars 2026 à 14:33, Christopher <crestchr...@gmail.com> a écrit :
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> On Wednesday, March 18, 2026 at 11:48:15 AM UTC-4 D. Ben Knoble wrote:
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> On Tuesday, March 17, 2026 at 10:38:51 AM UTC-4 Christopher wrote:
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> When initializing Vim it searches first for $MYVIMRC, although that file doesn't exist in my case so it immediately goes to .vimrc. I'm reading the documentation on how to create this $VIMRC file as so that it's read first, rather then the .vimrc file ?
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> I'm afraid your question isn't clear to me, but let's look at `:help myvimrc`:
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> c. Five places are searched for initializations. The first that exists
> is used, the others are ignored. The `$MYVIMRC` environment variable is
> set to the file that was first found, unless `$MYVIMRC` was already set
> when using VIMINIT. The `$MYVIMDIR` environment variable is
> set to the personal 'rtp' directory, however it is not verified
> that the directory actually exists.
> I The environment variable VIMINIT (see also |compatible-default|) (*)
> The value of $VIMINIT is used as an Ex command line.
> II The user vimrc file(s):
> "$HOME/.vimrc" (for Unix) (*)
> "$HOME/.vim/vimrc" (for Unix) (*)
> "$XDG_CONFIG_HOME/vim/vimrc" (for Unix) (*)
> "s:.vimrc" (for Amiga) (*)
> "home:.vimrc" (for Amiga) (*)
> "home:vimfiles:vimrc" (for Amiga) (*)
> "$VIM/.vimrc" (for Amiga) (*)
> "$HOME/_vimrc" (for Win32) (*)
> "$HOME/vimfiles/vimrc" (for Win32) (*)
> "$VIM/_vimrc" (for Win32) (*)
> "$HOME/config/settings/vim/vimrc" (for Haiku) (*)
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> Note: For Unix and Amiga, when ".vimrc" does not exist,
> "_vimrc" is also tried, in case an MS-DOS compatible file
> system is used. For MS-Windows ".vimrc" is checked after
> "_vimrc", in case long file names are used.
> Note: For Win32, "$HOME" is checked first. If no "_vimrc" or
> ".vimrc" is found there, "$VIM" is tried. See |$VIM| for when
> $VIM is not set.
> III The environment variable EXINIT.
> The value of $EXINIT is used as an Ex command line.
> IV The user exrc file(s). Same as for the user vimrc file, but with
> "vimrc" replaced by "exrc". But only one of ".exrc" and "_exrc" is
> used, depending on the system. And without the (*)!
> V The default vimrc file, $VIMRUNTIME/defaults.vim. This sets up
> options values and has "syntax on" and "filetype on" commands,
> which is what most new users will want. See |defaults.vim|.
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> So, unless you use VIMINIT to set MYVIMRC, MYVIMRC is intended to be set _by Vim_ to the file it finds.
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> Most folks I know use either ~/.vimrc or ~/.vim/vimrc (with equivalent ~/_vimrc or ~/vimfiles/vimrc on Windows).
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> I read the documentation, therefore like with many I also use the system wide .vimrc file when starting vim. I want to know how to set the $MYVIMRC as the documentation ?
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> Vim should set it automatically; ":let $MYVIMRC" should show the value, for example.
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> I don't recommend using the system-wide vimrc for anything beyond extremely niche use cases (maybe special hardware or software settings?). The per-user vimrc is more predictable to reason about. In a single-user environment this may matter less, but still.
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> In my case running the command ":let $MYVIMRC" returns a invalid expression.

Indeed. Should be ":echo $MYVIMRC" then. (I usually go with :let for…
reasons… but it apparently doesn't work here.)

--
D. Ben Knoble

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