NeoVIm does not automatically load ~/.nvimrc file

Question

I was looking to get into learning a text editor for programming. However, I've quickly run into a little snag that I can't seem to find a solution to.

I have modified my /home/user/.nvimrc file to add some plugins and I can load it using :source ~/.nvimrc, however, it never loads automatically. :scriptnames shows a list of scripts in /usr/, but mysteriously absent from the list is the .nvimrc file in my home directory. Again, I can load it in the command line, but I'd like to not have to use :so ~/.nvimrc every time I open a file.

I am not using sudo to run vim.

How can I solve this problem? Is this something everybody has to do?

score 33 · Answer 1 · answered Apr 19 '17 at 09:47

33

Could be this issue: https://github.com/neovim/neovim/issues/3530

Summary:

New location is ~/.config/nvim/init.vim

To keep ~/.nvimrc you can source it from the new location:

mkdir -p ~/.config/nvim
echo 'source ~/.nvimrc' > ~/.config/nvim/init.vim

answered Apr 19 '17 at 09:47

Doktor OSwaldo

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Or you could use a symlink. – Tommaso Thea May 11 '18 at 12:49
I am having trouble in configuring neovim on Windows (no problems on linux or mac): I cannot figure out where a vimrc or .nvimrc is first installed. – Antonio Sesto Feb 03 '23 at 06:09
@AntonioSesto that is an entirely different question. This may help https://vi.stackexchange.com/questions/13505/where-do-i-put-my-vimrc-file-for-neovim-on-windows – Doktor OSwaldo Feb 03 '23 at 07:29

score 4 · Answer 2 · answered Jul 15 '22 at 19:02

4

:help config lists the paths for each OS:

Unix                    ~/.config/nvim/init.vim         (or init.lua)
Windows                 ~/AppData/Local/nvim/init.vim   (or init.lua)
$XDG_CONFIG_HOME        $XDG_CONFIG_HOME/nvim/init.vim  (or init.lua)

answered Jul 15 '22 at 19:02

Eric Eskildsen

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on Windows nothing is in the folder specified: the folder does not exist. Do you happen to know where it actually is? – Antonio Sesto Feb 03 '23 at 06:10
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@AntonioSesto That's the location where Neovim will look for the file once you create it. Just create the directory and an empty file there. Then you can start putting settings in it. – Eric Eskildsen Feb 03 '23 at 17:29
you can also use this command in nvim to open the file `:execute 'edit ' . stdpath('config') . '\init.vim'` (it should be cross-platform as well) – Avinash R Aug 03 '23 at 06:09

score 3 · Answer 3 · answered Apr 19 '17 at 15:33

3

Instead of referring to your rc file directly, consider using $MYVIMRC:

:e $MYVIMRC
:source $MYVIMRC

Reference: Learn Vim the Hard Way/Editing your vimrc

answered Apr 19 '17 at 15:33

Jim U

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Avinash R · Answer 4 · 2023-08-03T06:25:58.580

0

If you want to open the RC file without leaving neovim - esp., when you want to install a plugin while working and on windows '~' doesn't get expanded, you can use the command

:execute 'edit ' . stdpath('config') . '/init.vim'

Benefit of using this method is that, it is a cross-platform solution

Ref: https://neovim.io/doc/user/builtin.html#stdpath()

edited Aug 03 '23 at 06:25

answered Aug 03 '23 at 06:15

Avinash R

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NeoVIm does not automatically load ~/.nvimrc file

4 Answers4