A tiny "good defaults" .vimrc, for use when I have to use vim on some server that I need to reconfigure, and there is no good .vimrc present.

.vimrc

syntax on

" indents, whitespace
set autoindent              " keep indenting on newlines
set tabstop=4               " 
set shiftwidth=4            " one tab = four spaces (autoindent)
set softtabstop=4           " one tab = four spaces (tab key)
set smarttab                " 
set expandtab               " don't use hard tabs

set fileformats=unix,dos    " new files starts with unix linebreaks

" Soft word wrapping
set wrap
set linebreak
" jk will traver through soft lines instead of hard lines
nnoremap j gj
nnoremap k gk
vnoremap j gj
vnoremap k gkk

" Search
set ignorecase
set smartcase               " case-ins search, unless there are capitals
set gdefault                " s///g by default

" allow backspacing over everything in insert mode
set backspace=indent,eol,start