Display line numbers

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created February 25, 2001 · complexity basic · author scrott · version 5.7

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Enabling/Disabling Line Numbers in Vim

Enabling

This will display line numbers along the left side of a window:

:set number

or:

:set nu

Disabling

This will turn off the line number display:

:set nonumber

or:

:set nonu

or:

:set nu!

Creating a Mapping to Toggle Line Numbers

You can also define a mapping to toggle the option, for example:

:nmap <C-N><C-N> :set invnumber<CR>

By pressing Ctrl-N twice in normal mode, Vim toggles between showing and hiding line numbers.

Enabling Line Numbers on Startup

To enable line numbers on startup, simply add the following to your .vimrc

 set number

or:

set nu

Adding Line Numbers Only to Certain Files

Create a filetype plugin for each filetype where you'd like to have numbering enabled (see :help ftplugin-overrule) and add the following line to it:

setl number

Changing Gutter Column Width

If you have Vim version 7 or greater, you can change the width of the "gutter" column used for numbering:

:set numberwidth=3

You can use the number column for the text of wrapped lines:

:set cpoptions+=n

Finally, you can change the color used for the line numbers. For example:

:highlight LineNr term=bold cterm=NONE ctermfg=DarkGrey ctermbg=NONE gui=NONE guifg=DarkGrey guibg=NONE

Displaying relative line numbers

To display line numbers relative to the line with the cursor (for example to easily know what number to use in .,.+number operations):

:set relativenumber

References

• :help 'number'
• :help 'numberwidth' (Vim 7 and greater only)
• :help :highlight