Mastering Vim

Setting variables

You've already discovered some basics of Vimscript syntax. To set internal Vim options, you use the set keyword:

set background=dark

To assign a value to a non-internal variable, use the let keyword:

let animal_name = 'Miss Cattington'

Vimscript doesn't have explicit booleans, so 1 is treated as true and 0 as false:

let is_cat = 1

Since we're assigning variables, let's talk about scopes. Vim handles variable and function scopes with prefixes, like so:

let g:animal_name = 'Miss Cattington'let w:is_cat=1

Each letter has a unique meaning, in particular the following:

• g: global scope (default if scope is not specified)
• v: global defined by Vim
• l: local scope (default within a function if scope is not specified)
• b: current ...