Setup Vim Airline (in Termux)

This article is a bit old and the content may be outdated, so please refer to it with caution and remember to check the latest official materials (such as documentation, etc.)

Vim airline is a tool to enhance the looking of vim. And it is a little tricky to set up, especially in termux.

As I did not install any package manager for vim (in fact, I failed to install and set up Vundle), I need to clone the repo to ~/.vim/pack/dist/start/ to let vim automatically load the package. And I see the airline when I opened vim.

By the way, all packages I tested (NERDTree, indentLine, gitgutter) all support this kind of operation.

Trouble Shooting #

Only mode and filename is displayed! #

For termux disable the auto truncate of section A,B,C and Z is perfect. That is, let other sections truncate at a larger width than your screen.

let g:airline#extensions#default#section_truncate_width = {
    \ 'warning': 80,
    \ 'error': 80,
    \ 'x': 80,
    \ 'y': 80}

vim

Note: Only when nocompatible set can you use \ to continue line.

No fancy `>` s there! #

Enable fancy fonts!

let g:airline_powerline_fonts = 1

vim

There are dots following the mode! #

Set the name of the modes!

let g:airline_mode_map = {
    \ 'c': 'C',
    \ 'n': 'N',
    \ 'V': 'V',
    \ 'i':'I'}

vim

I do not need the section Z so long! #

Set the custom section z!

let g:airline_section_z = '%2l/%L☰%2v'

vim

What if I need a tab bar? #

Enable it and set the good style!

let g:airline#extensions#tabline#enabled=1
let g:airline#extensions#tabline#formatter = 'unique_tail'

vim

The word count is annoying! #

Disable it!

let g:airline#extensions#wordcount#enabled = 0

vim

Fancy style? #

Yes Badwolf!

let g:airline_theme = 'badwolf'

vim

Do not want extra `>` s? #