Display value of :set option

Kristian picture Kristian · Aug 21, 2012 · Viewed 10.2k times · Source

If you don't give :colorscheme an argument then it shows the name of the colorscheme that vim is currently using. Is there a similar way in vim to show if an option is set or what the value of the option is set to if it isn't a boolean? For example, if I wanted to know whether autoindent is set or I wanted to know the value of textwidth, how would I find that?

Answer

pb2q picture pb2q · Aug 21, 2012

Use the :set command.

  • :set autoindent? prints the option, and its value, if any. Vim toggle options (booleans, options that are on/off), like autoindent, are prefixed with no to indicate that they're turned off, so :set autoindent? will display autoindent or noautoindent.
  • :set autoindent turns autoindent on.
    • this form turns toggle options on
    • for number or string options, this shows the value of the option, so :set textwidth will also print the value of the option. For number or string options, :set option is equivalent to :set option?.
  • :set autoindent! inverts the option. autoindent becomes noautoindent.
  • :set autoindent& reverts autoindent to its default value.
  • Set number or string options with :set option=value, e.g. set tabstop=3