show/hide hidden characters in Vim

listchars.vim

" hide hidden chars
:set nolist

" show hidden characters in Vim
:set list

" settings for hidden chars
" what particular chars they are displayed with
:set lcs=tab:▒░,trail:▓,nbsp:░
" or
:set listchars=tab:▒░,trail:▓,nbsp:░
" \u2592\u2591 are used for tab, \u2593 for trailing spaces in line, and \u2591 for nbsp.
" In Vim help they suggest using ">-" for tab and "-" for trail.

" change showbreak when line numbers are on or off.
" show no char when line numbers are on, and \u21aa otherwise.
au OptionSet number :if v:option_new | set showbreak= |
                   \ else | set showbreak=↪ |
                   \ endif