=================
Powerline for vim
=================
:Author: Kim Silkebækken (kim.silkebaekken+vim@gmail.com)
:Source: https://github.com/Lokaltog/vim-powerline
:Version: β
Introduction
------------
Powerline is a utility plugin which allows you to create better-looking,
more functional vim statuslines. See the screenshots below for
a demonstration of the plugin's capabilities.
It's recommended that you install the plugin using Pathogen_ or Vundle_.
After the plugin is installed update your help tags and see ``:help
Powerline`` for instructions on how to enable and configure the plugin.
See the `Troubleshooting`_ section below if you're having any issues with
the plugin or the font patcher.
**Note:** You need a patched font to be able to use the symbols in the
statusline. An experimental Python/fontforge-based font patcher is included
in the ``fontpatcher`` directory. See ``fontpatcher/README.rst`` for usage
instructions.
.. _Pathogen: https://github.com/tpope/vim-pathogen
.. _Vundle: https://github.com/gmarik/vundle
Screenshots
-----------
.. image:: http://i.imgur.com/MsuIB.png
Troubleshooting
---------------
I can't see the fancy symbols, what's wrong?
Make sure that you have ``let g:Powerline_symbols = 'fancy'`` in your
``vimrc`` file. The settings may be loaded too late if you have this in
``gvimrc``, so always put this in your ``vimrc``.
Clear the cache using ``:PowerlineClearCache`` and restart vim.
Make sure that you've configured gvim or your terminal emulator to use
a patched font.
Make sure that vim is compiled with the ``--with-features=big`` flag.
The fancy symbols look a bit blurry or "off"!
Make sure that you have patched all variants of your font (i.e. both the
regular and the bold font files).
I'm unable to patch my font, what should I do?
Font patching is only known to work on most Linux and OS X machines. If
you have followed the instructions in the fontpatcher README and still
have problems, please submit an issue on GitHub.
You can download some community-contributed patched fonts from the
`Powerline wiki`_ if you don't want to mess around with the font
patcher.
The Syntastic/Fugitive statusline flags don't work!
These flags should work without any configuration. If you installed
either plugin after Powerline, you'll have to clear the cache using
``:PowerlineClearCache`` and restart vim.
The colors are weird in the default OS X Terminal app!
The default OS X Terminal app is known to have some issues with the
Powerline colors. Please use another terminal emulator. iTerm2 should
work fine.
The arrows may have the wrong colors if you have changed the "minimum
contrast" slider in the color tab of your OS X settings.
The statusline has strange characters like ``^B`` in it!
Please add ``set encoding=utf-8`` to your ``vimrc``.
You may also need to set your ``LANG`` and ``LC_*`` environment
variables to a UTF-8 locale (e.g. ``LANG=en_US.utf8``). Consult your
Linux distro's documentation for information about setting these
variables correctly.
The statusline has a lot of ``^`` or underline characters in it!
You need to configure the ``fillchars`` setting to disable statusline
fillchars (see ``:h fillchars`` for details). Add this to your
``vimrc`` to solve this issue::
set fillchars+=stl:\ ,stlnc:\
The statusline is hidden/only appears in split windows!
Make sure that you have ``set laststatus=2`` in your ``vimrc``.
I'm using tmux and Powerline looks like crap, what's wrong?
You need to tell tmux that it has 256-color capabilities. Add this to
your ``.tmux.conf`` to solve this issue::
set -g default-terminal "screen-256color"
If you use iTerm2, make sure that you have enabled the setting 'Set
locale variables automatically' in Profiles > Terminal > Environment.
If you have any other issues and you can't find the answer in the docs,
please submit an issue on GitHub.
.. _`Powerline wiki`: https://github.com/Lokaltog/vim-powerline/wiki/Patched-fonts
