A vim plugin manager is a must for any die-hard vim user. You can find a few option available out there. My personal favorite is vim-plug which is a beautiful and minimalist plugin for vim. Let us see how to install and use this plugin on Linux or Unix-like system.
How to install vim-plug
Naturally, you must have vim installed on your system. For demo purpose I am using Ubuntu and MacOS. Simple download plug.vim and put it in the “autoload” directory:$ mkdir -p ~/.vim/autoload/
$ cd ~/.vim/autoload/
Let us grab the plug.vim either using wget command or curl command:$ wget https://raw.githubusercontent.com/junegunn/vim-plug/master/plug.vim
OR$ curl -O https://raw.githubusercontent.com/junegunn/vim-plug/master/plug.vim
How do I configure vim-plug vim plugin manager for Linux or Unix?
The syntax is as follows in ~/.vimrc:
" Specify a directory for plugins call plug#begin('~/.vim/plugged') " Any valid git URL is allowed for plugin Plug 'valid git URL' " Shorthand notation for plugin Plug 'foo/bar' " Initialize plugin system call plug#end() |
Example
Let us say you want to use a vim plugin named ansible-vim for syntax highlighting Ansible’s common filetypes. You need to append the following in your ~/.vimrc file:
call plug#begin('~/.vim/plugged') " Install ansible plugin Plug 'pearofducks/ansible-vim' " Make vim pretty with nova-vim Plug 'sheerun/vim-polyglot' Plug 'trevordmiller/nova-vim' call plug#end() |
Save and close the file.
Install ansible-vim and other plugin
Start the vim text editor:$ vim
To see status type:
:PlugStatus
To install ansible-vim type:
:PlugInstall
Sample session:
To update plugins type::PlugUpdate
To upgrade vim-plug itself type the following within vim session::PlugUpgrade
Conclusion
Of course, if you are happy with vundle or pathogen, then no need to switch. However, I liked this one better. For more information see the following pages:
