Re: $VIMRC over .vimrc ?

On Thu, Mar 19, 2026 at 3:56=E2=80=AFAM Christopher <crestchristopher@gmail=
.com> wrote:
>
>
>
> On Wednesday, March 18, 2026 at 3:48:41=E2=80=AFPM UTC-4 Ben Knoble wrote=
:
>
>
> Le 18 mars 2026 =C3=A0 14:33, Christopher <[email protected]> a =C3=
=A9crit :
>
> =EF=BB=BF
>
>
>
> On Wednesday, March 18, 2026 at 11:48:15=E2=80=AFAM UTC-4 D. Ben Knoble w=
rote:
>
> On Tuesday, March 17, 2026 at 10:38:51=E2=80=AFAM UTC-4 Christopher wrote=
:
>
> When initializing Vim it searches first for $MYVIMRC, although that file =
doesn't exist in my case so it immediately goes to .vimrc. I'm reading the =
documentation on how to create this $VIMRC file as so that it's read first,=
 rather then the .vimrc file ?
>
>
> I'm afraid your question isn't clear to me, but let's look at `:help myvi=
mrc`:
>
>      c. Five places are searched for initializations.  The first that exi=
sts
> is used, the others are ignored.  The `$MYVIMRC` environment variable is
> set to the file that was first found, unless `$MYVIMRC` was already set
> when using VIMINIT.  The `$MYVIMDIR` environment variable is
> set to the personal 'rtp' directory, however it is not verified
> that the directory actually exists.
> I   The environment variable VIMINIT (see also |compatible-default|) (*)
>     The value of $VIMINIT is used as an Ex command line.
> II  The user vimrc file(s):
>     "$HOME/.vimrc"   (for Unix) (*)
>     "$HOME/.vim/vimrc"   (for Unix) (*)
>     "$XDG_CONFIG_HOME/vim/vimrc"  (for Unix) (*)
>     "s:.vimrc"   (for Amiga) (*)
>     "home:.vimrc"   (for Amiga) (*)
>     "home:vimfiles:vimrc"   (for Amiga) (*)
>     "$VIM/.vimrc"   (for Amiga) (*)
>     "$HOME/_vimrc"   (for Win32) (*)
>     "$HOME/vimfiles/vimrc"   (for Win32) (*)
>     "$VIM/_vimrc"   (for Win32) (*)
>     "$HOME/config/settings/vim/vimrc" (for Haiku) (*)
>
> Note: For Unix and Amiga, when ".vimrc" does not exist,
> "_vimrc" is also tried, in case an MS-DOS compatible file
> system is used.  For MS-Windows ".vimrc" is checked after
> "_vimrc", in case long file names are used.
> Note: For Win32, "$HOME" is checked first.  If no "_vimrc" or
> ".vimrc" is found there, "$VIM" is tried.  See |$VIM| for when
> $VIM is not set.
> III The environment variable EXINIT.
>     The value of $EXINIT is used as an Ex command line.
> IV  The user exrc file(s).  Same as for the user vimrc file, but with
>     "vimrc" replaced by "exrc".  But only one of ".exrc" and "_exrc" is
>     used, depending on the system.  And without the (*)!
> V   The default vimrc file, $VIMRUNTIME/defaults.vim.  This sets up
>     options values and has "syntax on" and "filetype on" commands,
>     which is what most new users will want.  See |defaults.vim|.
>
> So, unless you use VIMINIT to set MYVIMRC, MYVIMRC is intended to be set =
_by Vim_ to the file it finds.
>
> Most folks I know use either ~/.vimrc or ~/.vim/vimrc (with equivalent ~/=
_vimrc or ~/vimfiles/vimrc on Windows).
>
>
> I read the documentation, therefore like with many I also use the system =
wide .vimrc file when starting vim. I want to know how to set  the $MYVIMRC=
 as the documentation ?
>
>
> Vim should set it automatically; =E2=80=9C:let $MYVIMRC=E2=80=9D should s=
how the value, for example.
>
> I don=E2=80=99t recommend using the system-wide vimrc for anything beyond=
 extremely niche use cases (maybe special hardware or software settings?). =
The per-user vimrc is more predictable to reason about. In a single-user en=
vironment this may matter less, but still.
>
>
> In my case running the command ":let $MYVIMRC" returns a invalid expressi=
on.

Indeed. Should be ":echo $MYVIMRC" then. (I usually go with :let for=E2=80=
=A6
reasons=E2=80=A6 but it apparently doesn't work here.)

--=20
D. Ben Knoble

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