So I found this solution on StackOverflow here: Vim 80 column layout concerns
If I type a long line in my file, I would like the characters that exceed a limit of 80 characters to be highlighted. A lot of people seem to think that this solution works fine, but I have it in my vimrc file and it behaves as though nothing has changed at all. My long lines do not get highlighted.
highlight OverLength ctermbg=red ctermfg=white guibg=#592929
match OverLength /\%81v.\+/
For reference, here is my entire .vimrc
, which isn't that long:
" You'll need to add the following to your ~/.vimrc so that pathogen will be loaded
" properly. Filetype detection must be off when you run the commands so its best to
" You'll need to add the following to your ~/.vimrc so that pathogen will be loaded
" execute them first:
"filetype off
call pathogen#runtime_append_all_bundles()
call pathogen#helptags()
"filetype on
syntax on
let mapleader = ","
let g:CommandTMaxHeight=25
imap ii <Esc>
map <S-Enter> O<Esc>
map <CR> o<Esc>
set guioptions-=T
set guioptions-=r
set hlsearch
highlight OverLength ctermbg=red ctermfg=white guibg=#592929
match OverLength /\%79v.\+/
set nocompatible
set ruler
set number
set shellcmdflag=-ic
set list
set expandtab
set tabstop=4
set softtabstop=4
nmap <C-k> ddkP
nmap <C-j> ddp
vmap <C-k> xkP`[V`]
vmap <C-j> xp`[V`]
au! BufWritePost vimrc source %
colorscheme vividchalk