Is it possible to visualize the right margin in Vim?

Question

Is there any way to make Vim (or gVim, or both) highlight the right margin of the current buffer?

I have just begun to work with Vim for a while, and find it annoying not to have the right margin visible (say, at column 80).

http://stackoverflow.com/questions/235439/vim-80-column-layout-concerns — Alok Singhal, Feb 02 '10 at 07:22
You can define the textwidth and even set nowrap if you want to. — pavium, Feb 02 '10 at 07:23
New in Vim 7.3: `:set cc=81`, or relative to textwidth: `:set cc=+1`. — Nefrubyr, Sep 22 '10 at 13:57

score 122 · Accepted Answer · edited Aug 05 '15 at 14:46

122

Vim 7.3 introduced colorcolumn.

:set colorcolumn=80

It may be easier for you to remember the short form.

:set cc=80

edited Aug 05 '15 at 14:46

Bruno Bronosky

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answered Jan 03 '11 at 05:23

wilhelmtell

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Take a look at the second answer here: http://stackoverflow.com/questions/235439/vim-80-column-layout-concerns for a compatibility improvement. – mgold Mar 18 '12 at 02:26
1

@mgold never reference an answer by number. The order changes based on votes. Alway use the share link. – Bruno Bronosky Mar 26 '15 at 00:10
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5 months later I have Googled for this again and again found the link above to be annoying. Here is the answer he is talking about http://stackoverflow.com/a/3765575/117471 which shows how to make your vimrc compatible with both vim >=7.3 and <7.3 – Bruno Bronosky Aug 05 '15 at 14:44

ib. · Answer 2 · 2020-02-22T05:58:28.853

There is no simple way to visualize a vertical edge for the textwidth-margin in Vim 7.2 or earlier; starting with version 7.3, there is dedicated colorcolumn option. However, one can highlight all characters beyond the 80-column limit using the :match command:

:match ErrorMsg /\%>80v.\+/

All we need to make it a general solution, is to build the match pattern on the fly to substitute the correct value of the textwidth option:

:autocmd BufWinEnter * call matchadd('ErrorMsg', '\%>'.&l:textwidth.'v.\+', -1)

Jonathan Hartley · Answer 3 · 2011-01-13T18:33:09.797

I've written a vimscript function in my .vimrc to toggle colorcolumn when I press ,8 (comma followed by 8, where comma is the defined leader for user-defined commands, and eight is my mnemonic key for 'show a margin at the 80th column):

" toggle colored right border after 80 chars
set colorcolumn=81
let s:color_column_old = 0

function! s:ToggleColorColumn()
    if s:color_column_old == 0
        let s:color_column_old = &colorcolumn
        windo let &colorcolumn = 0
    else
        windo let &colorcolumn=s:color_column_old
        let s:color_column_old = 0
    endif
endfunction

nnoremap <Leader>8 :call <SID>ToggleColorColumn()<cr>

Why not a simple one-liner: `:nnoremap 8 &cc?':let &cc=0':':let &cc=80'` — DrBeco, Jul 25 '17 at 00:39

score 2 · Answer 4 · edited May 23 '17 at 10:31

I've rewritten the answer of Jonathan Hartley for the older Vim versions like 7.2 as there is no colorcolumn in older Vims.

highlight OverLength ctermbg=red ctermfg=white guibg=#592929

let s:OverLengthToggleVariable=0

function! ToggleOverLength()
        if s:OverLengthToggleVariable == 0
                match OverLength /\%81v.\+/
                let s:OverLengthToggleVariable=1
        else
                match OverLength //
                let s:OverLengthToggleVariable=0
        endif
endfunction

" I like <leader>h since highlight starts with h.                                                                       
nnoremap <leader>h :call ToggleOverLength()<cr>

Is it possible to visualize the right margin in Vim?

4 Answers4