Mac OS X Tiger in a Nutshell

Options Used by :set

The following table describes the options to :set. The first column includes the optional abbreviation, if there is one, and uses an equals sign to show that the option takes a value. The second column gives the default, and the third column describes the behavior of the enabled option.

Option	Default	Description
autoindent (ai)	noai	In insert mode, indent each line to the same level as the line above or below.
autoprint (ap)	ap	Display changes after each editor command. (For global replacement, display last replacement.)
autowrite (aw)	noaw	Automatically write (save) file if changed, before opening another file with :n or before giving an external command with :!.
background (bg)		Describe the background so the editor can choose appropriate highlighting colors. Default value of dark or light depends on the environment in which the editor is invoked. (vim)
backup (bk)	nobackup	Create a backup file when overwriting an existing file. (vim)
backupdir= (bdir)	.,~/tmp/,~/	Name directories in which to store backup files if possible. The list of directories is comma-separated and in order of preference. (vim)
backupext= (bex)	~	String to append to filenames for backup files. (vim)
beautify (bf)	nobf	Ignore all control characters during input (except tab, newline, or formfeed).
cindent (cin)	nocindent	Insert indents in appropriate C format. (vim)
compatible (cp)	cp	Make vim behave more like vi. Default ...