Master Vim Syntax Highlighting: Enable, Customize, and Persist Color Schemes

Installing and Verifying Vim

On Ubuntu, Vim is usually pre‑installed; if not, run sudo apt-get install vim. Verify the installation with vim --version (or vim -version).

Creating a Sample Bash Script

Create a file named login.sh with the following content:

#!/bin/bash

echo "Type your username"
read username

echo "Type your password"
read password

if [[ $username == "admin" && $password == "secret" ]]; then
  echo "Authorized user"
else
  echo "Unauthorized user"
fi

Open it in Vim with vim login.sh.

Enabling and Disabling Syntax Highlighting

While editing, press ESC and type :syntax on to turn highlighting on, or :syntax off to turn it off.

Making Highlighting Permanent

Edit your .vimrc (e.g., sudo vim ~/.vimrc) and add the line syntax on to enable highlighting for every session, or syntax off to disable it.

Changing the Color Scheme

Vim ships with many schemes located in /usr/share/vim/vim*/colors/. List them with ls -l /usr/share/vim/vim*/colors/. To apply a scheme temporarily, open a file and run :colorscheme morning. To make it permanent, add the following to .vimrc:

color evening
set background=dark

Choosing a Scheme by Language

Vim automatically selects a language‑specific scheme. You can override it, for example, to view a Python file with Perl syntax highlighting by typing :set syntax=perl and pressing Enter.

Understanding Highlight Groups

Vim defines nine main highlight groups that control what gets colored:

Identifier : variables

Statement : keywords such as if, else, while Comment : comments

Type : data types like int, double, string PreProc : pre‑processor directives (e.g., #include)

Constant : literals, numbers, strings, true/false

Special : special symbols such as \t, \n Underlined : underlined text

Error : error highlighting

Customizing Highlight Colors

Use the :hi command to change a group's color. For example, to make all statements red: :hi Statement ctermfg=red After running the command, keywords like if and else appear in red. The same approach works for comments, constants, types, etc., allowing you to craft a personal color scheme.

Putting It All Together

By combining temporary commands ( :syntax on, :colorscheme) with permanent settings in .vimrc, you can fully control Vim’s appearance for any language, making code reading more comfortable and visually appealing.