By default, Vim/vi do not show line numbers on the left side of the terminal. As an advanced command-line text editor Vim/Vi provides advanced features for showing line numbers like relative and hybrid line numbering.
Why Show Vim/Vi Line Numbers?
Line numbers can be used for different reasons from different points of user view. Below you can find some of them.
- Later find a specific line or part of the file easily
- Provide line number or line number range others
- Explain specified part of the content in a document
Line Number Types
Vim/Vi provides 3 different line number types or modes. The default line number type is called as Absolute line numbers.
- Absolute Line Numbers are used normal line numbers where line number 1 starts from the start of the given file and the start of the file is the reference point for counting line numbers.
- Relative Line Numbers are used to show the distance to the cursor which is relative and change with the cursor movement.
- Hybrid Line Numbers provides both Absolute and Relative Line numbers at the same time for practical usage.
Show Absolute Line Numbers
The most popular line numbering mode is absolute line numbers or simply line numbers. We can display line numbers by using the set number Vim/Vi command but first we should enter to the command mode by following these steps.
- First, enter the command mode by pressing the Esc key from the keyboard.
- Then press double-colon or
:in order to start Vim/Vi command mode. - The last step is using the following command to show or display absolute line numbers.
:set number
We can also use the command completion features where we can put set nu to show line numbers.
In general from the command mode the following : set number command can be used to show line numbers.
:set numberMake Absolute Line Numbers Permanent
As we quit from Vim/Vi the relative number configuration will be lost because the settings done via Vim/Vi command line are temporary. We can make the displaying absolute line number permanent by adding the following configuration to the settings file. For the current user, the configuration file is ~/.vimrc .If you want to make the relative line numbers permanent for all system users change the general configuration file which is used by all users. Add previously defined configuration into the file /etc/vim/vimrc .
:set numberShow Relative Line Numbers
Relative line numbers can be used to show line numbers according to the cursor position or line number. The relative line number command is set relativenumber by following the steps below.
- First, enter the command mode by pressing the Esc key from the keyboard.
- Then press double-colon or
:in order to start Vim/Vi command mode. - The last step is using the following command to show or display absolute line numbers.
:set relativenumber
We can see that the current absolute line number of the cursor is shown in the first row. The second row shows the relative line numbers according to the cursor.
Alternatively, we can use the shortened command for relative line number command set rnu.
:set rnuMake Relative Line Numbers Permanent
As we quit from Vim/Vi the relative number configuration will be lost because the settings done via Vim/Vi command line are temporary. We can make the displaying relative line number permanent by adding the following configuration to the settings file. For the current user, the configuration file is ~/.vimrc .
:set relativenumberIf you want to make the relative line numbers permanent for all system users change the general configuration file which is used by all users. Add previously defined configuration into the file /etc/vim/vimrc .
Show Hybrid Line Numbers
As stated previously hybrid line numbers will show both absolute and relative line numbers at the same time. Actually, after Vim 7.4, both relative and absolute lines numbers can be displayed at the same time. Also, we have seen previously that we can first show the absolute line number and then relative line numbers where both of them can be displayed without any conflict. For hybrid line numbers we will set both number and relativenumber configuration like below.
:set relativenumber numberAlternatively, we can enable the hybrid line numbers in separate commands like below which are the same as the previous example.
:set relativenumber
:set numberChange Line Number Column Width
For smaller files the lines numbers can be easily fit into the number column width but if the file is big and there are a lot of lines. We can use the configuration named numberwidth in order to set the line number column width. In the following example, we will set the line number width to 4. But keep in mind that this configuration will work for Vim 7.0 and later versions.
:set numberwidth=4Hide/Disable Line Numbers
We can also hide or disable line numbers by using the : set nonumber command. Press ESC and run the following Vim/Vi command to hide all absolute and relative numbers.
:set nonumber