My vim settings file

.vimrc

" don't sacrifice functionality and features just to preserve backward compatibility with vi
:set nocompatible
 
" turn on syntax highlighting
:syntax enable
 
" if a given file type (perl, ruby, python, c, etc) has its own special auto-indentation rules, use them
:filetype plugin indent on
 
" turn on auto-indenting (use this if you turn off option ':filetype plugin indent on')
":set ai
 
" make auto-indenting 'smarter' (use this if you turn off option ':filetype plugin indent on')
":set si
 
" optimize syntax highlighting for a dark terminal
:set bg=dark
 
" tabs are 3 spaces wide
:set ts=3
 
" auto-indentation kicks in 3 spaces
:set sw=3
 
" run case insensitive searches by default
:set ic
 
" swap tabs out for spaces
:set expandtab
 
" place a very helpful 'status-bar' at the bottom of the window
:set ruler
 
" highlight matched parens, brackets, beginning and end of code blocks
:set showmatch
 
" show line numbers
:set number
 
" turn off unbearable search highlighting default
:set nohlsearch
 
" automatically strip trailing whitespace when a file is saved
:autocmd BufWritePre * :%s/\s\+$//e
 
" the next two lines use the F5 key to toggle paste mode on/off
:nnoremap <F5> :set invpaste paste?<CR>
:set pastetoggle=<F5>
 
" special folding rules for perl files
:let perl_fold = 1
 
" auto-folding behavior is dictated based on file-type, when applicable
:set foldmethod=syntax
 
" lightly highlight the current line on which the cursor is placed (turn this off if it gets annoying)
:set cursorline
 
" lightly highlight the current column in which the cursor is placed (turn this off if it gets annoying)
:set cursorcolumn
 
" tell vim to scan the file for a modeline that contains in-line vim commands and options, just for that file
:set modeline
 
" the 'modeline' below tells vim that this is a vim command file (duh?)
" vim: set ft=vim :