Set MacVim default font

Question

How do I set the default font for MacVim?

I have tried adding the following line

set guifont = Monaco:h12

to either of the following files:

~/.vimrc
~/.gvimrc
~/Applications/MacVim/MacVim.app/Contents/Resources/vim/vimrc
~/Applications/MacVim/MacVim.app/Contents/Resources/vim/gvimrc
~/Applications/MacVim/MacVim.app/Contents/Resources/vim/.vimrc
~/Applications/MacVim/MacVim.app/Contents/Resources/vim/.gvimrc

I restarted MacVim, but it still won't set the default font. Anything I missed?

UPDATE: I can issue the set guifont command in runtime and it works fine. It just doesn't seem to read it off my startup files.

I use a font different from the default with the above command in `~/.vimrc` and it works perfectly fine. Perhaps you might want to check if the particular font exists... — abcd, Dec 13 '11 at 01:47
@yoda I actually tried doing `set guifont=Monaco:h12` during runtime and it works fine. I'm not sure why it doesn't read it off the startup files I mentioned. — Kit, Dec 13 '11 at 01:58
You may use `vim -D` to enter [debug mode](http://vimdoc.sourceforge.net/htmldoc/repeat.html#debug-scripts) and then `step` through vim startup scripts to see what is going on. — user688996, Dec 13 '11 at 02:19
@kit: The code in your post has spaces before and after the equals sign in your `set guifont` statement. If it's really that way in your vimrc then take the spaces out, they're not valid around equals sign in set statements (actually I think a space before the equals is okay, but not after). — Herbert Sitz, Dec 13 '11 at 04:16

Kit · Accepted Answer · 2012-01-11T06:47:31.330

142

Place this in .gvimrc:

set guifont=Monaco:h12

Note the lack of spaces around the equals sign.

edited Jan 11 '12 at 06:47

answered Dec 13 '11 at 06:50

Kit

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You can also just put this in your `.vimrc` file. – Hustlion Apr 01 '17 at 11:41
I changed to use Monaco:h12 and the torte color scheme, and it works well. – Craig S. Anderson May 06 '19 at 21:02
1

Having added that to `~/.vimrc` there is no effect on the font actually usedin `macvim` – WestCoastProjects Dec 21 '19 at 20:06

New Alexandria · Answer 2 · 2017-02-27T22:46:41.377

98

If you need to set a font with spaces in the name, use backslashes in your .gvimrc:

set guifont=Fira\ Code:h12

edited Feb 27 '17 at 22:46

answered Jan 09 '13 at 20:28

New Alexandria

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Do you use this font in general for programming? – Jul 13 '13 at 23:00
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I swear by it, yes. In addition to a 'retina display' my eye strain has dropped to nearly-zero – New Alexandria Aug 01 '13 at 14:37
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This is **really helpful** especially when you need set up powerline fonts. – junhan Aug 13 '19 at 22:55

score 28 · Answer 3 · answered Aug 07 '14 at 19:09

The most complete answer should be this:

set guifont=Source\ Code\ Pro\ ExtraLight:h18

I looked around and each answer and tutorial I found didn't specify how to set the typeface.

After setting your font manually using the Font window, if you are unsure exactly what to put type:

:set guifont

This will show you the exact string value you need to put in your .vimrc file, including the typeface.

score 8 · Answer 4 · answered Nov 27 '15 at 03:00

8

Attach my fonts setting.

" - font type and size setting.
if has('win32')
    set guifont=Consolas:h12   " Win32.
elseif has('gui_macvim')
    set guifont=Monaco:h14     " OSX.
else
    set guifont=Monospace\ 12  " Linux.
endif

answered Nov 27 '15 at 03:00

Chu-Siang Lai

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Hustlion · Answer 5 · 2017-04-01T11:53:35.927

4

To deal with not just English characters, you can put this in your .vimrc file (guifontwide deals with Chinese characters):

if has("gui_running")
    set guifont=Consolas:h14
    set guifontwide=Hiragino\ Sans\ GB
    set linespace=2
endif

edited Apr 01 '17 at 11:53

answered Apr 01 '17 at 11:45

Hustlion

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I'm guessing `wide` means each character is encoded by more than 8 bits, hence it's wide? Or does it actually appear wide? – Kit Apr 07 '17 at 05:52

score 3 · Answer 6 · answered Jan 10 '16 at 23:42

3

If you're on Mac, add these lines to your ~/.vimrc:

set gfn=Monaco:h13
set linespace=2

answered Jan 10 '16 at 23:42

Farshid Ashouri

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Set MacVim default font

6 Answers6