Editing Turn on syntax coloring in Mac OS X

{{TipImported
|id=283
|previous=282
|next=284
|created=July 11, 2002
|complexity=basic
|author=Mario Martinez
|version=6.0
|rating=153/70
|category1=macOS
|category2=Syntax
}}
Some versions of Mac OS X don't have syntax highlighting support in terminal Vim with default settings.

If you don't have syntax highlighting in any Vim, first make sure something like this is in your .[[vimrc]]:

<pre>
filetype plugin indent on
syntax on
</pre>

If you have that, and still don't get syntax highlighting in Vim running in a terminal (i.e. not a GUI like MacVim), you may need to inform Vim how to handle the terminal.

Something like this is needed, prior to the <code>syntax on</code> command in your .vimrc:
<pre>
set term=builtin_beos-ansi
</pre>

Others (on "Mountain Lion" and "Sierra") reported success with this instead:

<pre>
set term=builtin_ansi
</pre>When using iTerm 2, you can simply do:
 set term=xterm-256colors

==Comments==
The following worked great on OSX 10.10.3 Yosemite, and OSX 10.12.4 Sierra.  I tested it with .py, .html and .php.  Thanks!<blockquote>filetype plugin indent on</blockquote><blockquote>syntax on</blockquote>set term=builtin_ansi Worked like a charm on OS X 10.9 Mavericks, Thanks.

set term=xterm also works on OS X 10.9 Mavericks

<span>set term=builtin_beos-ansi worked like a charm in OS X 1</span>0.10.3 Yosemite. Thanks!

Disclaimer:  Under 10.9 Mavericks with an external keyboard, term=builtin_ansi may make the delete key next to the end key change the character under the cursor rather than delete as expected. term=xterm has this key behave as expected.

[http://dinvim.com DinVim is a vim for Mac OS] that supports syntax coloring out of the box.