Thursday, August 26, 2010

Customizing Unix Shell

A few tools that really make working in a unix shell more enjoyable.

Byobu - Replaces "screen" for a screen with a more useful display

Change .bashrc file to include the following

# Shell colors
export LS_OPTIONS='--color=auto'
eval "`dircolors`"
alias ls='ls $LS_OPTIONS'

alias screen='byobu'


Create .vimrc file to make working in VIM easier

" URL: http://vim.wikia.com/wiki/Example_vimrc
" Authors: http://vim.wikia.com/wiki/Vim_on_Freenode
" Description: A minimal, but feature rich, example .vimrc. If you are a
" newbie, basing your first .vimrc on this file is a good choice.
" If you're a more advanced user, building your own .vimrc based
" on this file is still a good idea.

"------------------------------------------------------------
" Features {{{1
"
" These options and commands enable some very useful features in Vim, that
" no user should have to live without.

" Set 'nocompatible' to ward off unexpected things that your distro might
" have made, as well as sanely reset options when re-sourcing .vimrc
set nocompatible

" Attempt to determine the type of a file based on its name and possibly its
" contents. Use this to allow intelligent auto-indenting for each filetype,
" and for plugins that are filetype specific.
filetype indent plugin on

" Enable syntax highlighting
syntax on

" Set font according to system
set gfn=Monospace\ 10
set shell=/bin/bash

if has("gui_running")
set guioptions-=T
set t_Co=256
set background=dark
colorscheme peaksea
set nonu
else
colorscheme zellner
set background=dark

set nonu
endif

set encoding=utf8
try
lang en_US
catch
endtry

set ffs=unix,dos,mac "Default file types

"------------------------------------------------------------
" Must have options {{{1
"
" These are highly recommended options.

" One of the most important options to activate. Allows you to switch from an
" unsaved buffer without saving it first. Also allows you to keep an undo
" history for multiple files. Vim will complain if you try to quit without
" saving, and swap files will keep you safe if your computer crashes.
set hidden

" Better command-line completion
set wildmenu

" Show partial commands in the last line of the screen
set showcmd

" Highlight searches (use <C-L> to temporarily turn off highlighting; see the
" mapping of <C-L> below)
set hlsearch

" Modelines have historically been a source of security vulnerabilities. As
" such, it may be a good idea to disable them and use the securemodelines
" script, <http://www.vim.org/scripts/script.php?script_id=1876>.
" set nomodeline


"------------------------------------------------------------
" Usability options {{{1
"
" These are options that users frequently set in their .vimrc. Some of them
" change Vim's behaviour in ways which deviate from the true Vi way, but
" which are considered to add usability. Which, if any, of these options to
" use is very much a personal preference, but they are harmless.

" Use case insensitive search, except when using capital letters
set ignorecase
set smartcase

" Allow backspacing over autoindent, line breaks and start of insert action
set backspace=indent,eol,start

" When opening a new line and no filetype-specific indenting is enabled, keep
" the same indent as the line you're currently on. Useful for READMEs, etc.
set autoindent

" Stop certain movements from always going to the first character of a line.
" While this behaviour deviates from that of Vi, it does what most users
" coming from other editors would expect.
set nostartofline

" Display the cursor position on the last line of the screen or in the status
" line of a window
set ruler

" Always display the status line, even if only one window is displayed
set laststatus=2

" Instead of failing a command because of unsaved changes, instead raise a
" dialogue asking if you wish to save changed files.
set confirm

" No sound on errors
set novisualbell
set noerrorbells
set t_vb=
set tm=500

" Enable use of the mouse for all modes
set mouse=v

" Set the command window height to 2 lines, to avoid many cases of having to
" "press <Enter> to continue"
set cmdheight=2

" Display line numbers on the left
" set number

" Quickly time out on keycodes, but never time out on mappings
set notimeout ttimeout ttimeoutlen=200

" Use <F11> to toggle between 'paste' and 'nopaste'
set pastetoggle=<F11>


"------------------------------------------------------------
" Indentation options {{{1
"
" Indentation settings according to personal preference.

" Indentation settings for using 2 spaces instead of tabs.
" Do not change 'tabstop' from its default value of 8 with this setup.
set shiftwidth=2
set softtabstop=2
set expandtab

" Indentation settings for using hard tabs for indent. Display tabs as
" two characters wide.
"set shiftwidth=2
"set tabstop=2


"------------------------------------------------------------
" Mappings {{{1
"
" Useful mappings

" Map Y to act like D and C, i.e. to yank until EOL, rather than act as yy,
" which is the default
map Y y$

" Map <C-L> (redraw screen) to also turn off search highlighting until the
" next search
nnoremap <C-L> :nohl<CR><C-L>


"------------------------------------------------------------