lightline.vim

A light and configurable statusline/tabline for Vim

https://github.com/itchyny/lightline.vim

powerline theme (default)

wombat (with the patched font)

jellybeans (with the patched font)

solarized theme (dark)

solarized theme (light)

PaperColor theme (light)

seoul256 theme

landscape theme (with the patched font)

With branch name, read-only mark and modified mark.

landscape is my colorscheme, which is a high-contrast cui-supported colorscheme, available at https://github.com/itchyny/landscape.vim

Why yet another clone of powerline?

• vim-powerline is a nice plugin, but deprecated.
• powerline is a nice plugin, but difficult to configure.
• vim-airline is a nice plugin, but it uses too much functions of other plugins, which should be done by users in .vimrc.

Spirit of this plugin

• Minimalism. The core script is very small.
• Configurability. You can create your own component and easily add to the statusline/tabline.
• Orthogonality. Any plugin should not change the settings of another plugin. Such plugin-crossing settings should be written by users in .vimrc.

Author

itchyny (https://github.com/itchyny)

License

This software is released under the MIT License, see LICENSE.

Installation

Manually

1. Put all files under $VIM.

Pathogen

1. Install with the following command.

    git clone https://github.com/itchyny/lightline.vim ~/.vim/bundle/lightline.vim
   

Vundle (https://github.com/gmarik/Vundle.vim)

1. Add the following configuration to your .vimrc.

    Plugin 'itchyny/lightline.vim'
   

2. Install with :PluginInstall.

NeoBundle (https://github.com/Shougo/neobundle.vim)

1. Add the following configuration to your .vimrc.

    NeoBundle 'itchyny/lightline.vim'
   

2. Install with :NeoBundleInstall.

vim-plug (https://github.com/junegunn/vim-plug)

1. Add the following configuration to your .vimrc.

    Plug 'itchyny/lightline.vim'
   

2. Install with :PlugInstall.

Configuration tutorial

By default, the statusline looks like:

If you use the wombat colorscheme, add the following settings to your .vimrc (or _vimrc on Windows):

let g:lightline = {
      \ 'colorscheme': 'wombat',
      \ }

to get:

If your statusline looks like

and the cool statuslines appear only on :vsp, add

set laststatus=2

to your .vimrc.

If you have problem like

then add

export TERM=xterm-256color

to your .*shrc and add

if !has('gui_running')
  set t_Co=256
endif

to your .vimrc.

If the colors of the statusline do not change from the default colors, move the settings of g:lightline before setting the colorscheme.

If you are reloading your .vimrc via autocmd and get this problem

when saving it you need to add the nested flag to your autocmd like so

augroup reload_vimrc
    autocmd!
    autocmd bufwritepost $MYVIMRC nested source $MYVIMRC
augroup END

Colors appear correctly? Now let's see how to change the appearance.

You may think that the default read-only mark is not so cool:

Then edit the read-only component. The lightline components are stored in g:lightline.component. So you add the settings of g:lightline.component.readonly in your .vimrc. (the following settings are effective with the patched font for vim-powerline):

let g:lightline = {
      \ 'colorscheme': 'wombat',
      \ 'component': {
      \   'readonly': '%{&readonly?"⭤":""}',
      \ }
      \ }

How nice!

But the boundaries are quadrilateral. You may miss the powerline. You have installed a cool font for powerlines, so you can use it.

let g:lightline = {
      \ 'colorscheme': 'wombat',
      \ 'component': {
      \   'readonly': '%{&readonly?"⭤":""}',
      \ },
      \ 'separator': { 'left': '⮀', 'right': '⮂' },
      \ 'subseparator': { 'left': '⮁', 'right': '⮃' }
      \ }

Hurrah! Cool!

If your statusline looks like:

the patched font is not installed.

There are two kinds of patched fonts:

• The patched fonts for vim-powerline: see https://github.com/Lokaltog/vim-powerline/tree/develop/fontpatcher
• The patched fonts for powerline: see https://github.com/Lokaltog/powerline-fonts

Create or download a font and install it. And add the guifont setting to your .vimrc (see :help 'guifont' for more detail). If you are using the vim in a terminal, the font cannot be controlled in .vimrc. Open the setting of the terminal and select the patched font.

This tutorial is based on the former, the font for vim-powerline (Inconsolata for Powerline). If you have installed the patched font for powerline, use the following settings instead.

let g:lightline = {
      \ 'colorscheme': 'wombat',
      \ 'component': {
      \   'readonly': '%{&readonly?"":""}',
      \ },
      \ 'separator': { 'left': '', 'right': '' },
      \ 'subseparator': { 'left': '', 'right': '' }
      \ }

If you have installed the font for powerline and your statusline looks like

remove

set ambiwidth=double

from your .vimrc. If you want to keep this setting, use the patched font for vim-powerline.

• https://github.com/Lokaltog/vim-powerline/tree/develop/fontpatcher

If you will not install a patched font, use ascii characters like:

let g:lightline = {
      \ 'colorscheme': 'wombat',
      \ 'component': {
      \   'readonly': '%{&readonly?"x":""}',
      \ },
      \ 'separator': { 'left': '', 'right': '' },
      \ 'subseparator': { 'left': '|', 'right': '|' }
      \ }

If the triangles do not appear (but you get some spaces or weird characters like <bf> or ¿), firstly try adding

set encoding=utf-8
scriptencoding utf-8

to the head of your .vimrc. Still you have weird characters, use the unicode numbers. For powerline font users:

      \ 'separator': { 'left': "\ue0b0", 'right': "\ue0b2" },
      \ 'subseparator': { 'left': "\ue0b1", 'right': "\ue0b3" }

For vim-powerline font users:

      \ 'separator': { 'left': "\u2b80", 'right': "\u2b82" },
      \ 'subseparator': { 'left': "\u2b81", 'right': "\u2b83" }

Almost all of things go well with the patched font but if the triangle looks weird:

If you are using iTerm2, change the following settings of iTerm2:

• set Profiles>Colors>Minimum contrast to the Lowest.
• set Profiles>Window>Transparency to the Opaquest.

For other terminals, this weird-triangle problem will be resolved by disabling transparency or contrast adjustment.

If you want to get rid of the extraneous default vim mode information that is now provided by lightline:

set noshowmode

Now, let's get back to the tutorial (with the patched font for vim-powerline). You look into a help file to find the marks annoying.

Help files are read-only and no-modifiable? We know that! OK, so you again edit the components.

let g:lightline = {
      \ 'colorscheme': 'wombat',
      \ 'component': {
      \   'readonly': '%{&filetype=="help"?"":&readonly?"⭤":""}',
      \   'modified': '%{&filetype=="help"?"":&modified?"+":&modifiable?"":"-"}'
      \ },
      \ 'separator': { 'left': '⮀', 'right': '⮂' },
      \ 'subseparator': { 'left': '⮁', 'right': '⮃' }
      \ }

Huh? Weird! The subseparators are visible even if the components are empty. In order to hide the subseparators, you can set expressions to g:lightline.component_visible_condition, which should be 1 only when the corresponding component is not empty.

let g:lightline = {
      \ 'colorscheme': 'wombat',
      \ 'component': {
      \   'readonly': '%{&filetype=="help"?"":&readonly?"⭤":""}',
      \   'modified': '%{&filetype=="help"?"":&modified?"+":&modifiable?"":"-"}'
      \ },
      \ 'component_visible_condition': {
      \   'readonly': '(&filetype!="help"&& &readonly)',
      \   'modified': '(&filetype!="help"&&(&modified||!&modifiable))'
      \ },
      \ 'separator': { 'left': '⮀', 'right': '⮂' },
      \ 'subseparator': { 'left': '⮁', 'right': '⮃' }
      \ }

Okay. It works nice. The configuration component_visible_condition is used to control the visibility of the subseparators. You cannot use this variable to control the visibility of the components themselves.

How does lightline decide the components to show in the statusline? It's very simple. The variables to select components are g:lightline.active.left and g:lightline.active.right. For example, you add the g:lightline.active.left in .vimrc.

let g:lightline = {
      \ 'colorscheme': 'wombat',
      \ 'active': {
      \   'left': [ [ 'mode', 'paste' ],
      \             [ 'readonly', 'filename', 'modified' ] ]
      \ },
      \ 'component': {
      \   'readonly': '%{&filetype=="help"?"":&readonly?"⭤":""}',
      \   'modified': '%{&filetype=="help"?"":&modified?"+":&modifiable?"":"-"}'
      \ },
      \ 'component_visible_condition': {
      \   'readonly': '(&filetype!="help"&& &readonly)',
      \   'modified': '(&filetype!="help"&&(&modified||!&modifiable))'
      \ },
      \ 'separator': { 'left': '⮀', 'right': '⮂' },
      \ 'subseparator': { 'left': '⮁', 'right': '⮃' }
      \ }

If the plugin arranges all the components (in a situation you set paste and the file .vimrc is read-only, try to modify):

Again look into g:lightline.active.left.

let g:lightline = {
      \ 'active': {
      \   'left': [ [ 'mode', 'paste' ],
      \             [ 'readonly', 'filename', 'modified' ] ] ...

The mode and paste component are displayed in the same group. The read-only, filename and modified component are in the second group. It corresponds to the structure of g:lightline.active.left. You can configure the components in the statusline by the following four variables:

• g:lightline.active.left
• g:lightline.active.right
• g:lightline.inactive.left
• g:lightline.inactive.right

Of course, your configurations in .vimrc have priority over the default settings in lightline.

Git branch is important for us. And it is a default component in powerline and vim-powerline. However, lightline does not provide the branch feature by default.

In order to show the branch in the statusline, you firstly install the vim-fugitive plugin. Then edit the g:lightline in your .vimrc.

• Add your fugitive component to g:lightline.component.
• Add the condition when the fugitive component has information to g:lightline.component_visible_condition.
• Add the component by inserting 'fugitive' to g:lightline.active.left.

let g:lightline = {
      \ 'colorscheme': 'wombat',
      \ 'active': {
      \   'left': [ [ 'mode', 'paste' ],
      \             [ 'fugitive', 'readonly', 'filename', 'modified' ] ]
      \ },
      \ 'component': {
      \   'readonly': '%{&filetype=="help"?"":&readonly?"⭤":""}',
      \   'modified': '%{&filetype=="help"?"":&modified?"+":&modifiable?"":"-"}',
      \   'fugitive': '%{exists("*fugitive#head")?fugitive#head():""}'
      \ },
      \ 'component_visible_condition': {
      \   'readonly': '(&filetype!="help"&& &readonly)',
      \   'modified': '(&filetype!="help"&&(&modified||!&modifiable))',
      \   'fugitive': '(exists("*fugitive#head") && ""!=fugitive#head())'
      \ },
      \ 'separator': { 'left': '⮀', 'right': '⮂' },
      \ 'subseparator': { 'left': '⮁', 'right': '⮃' }
      \ }

Okay, the branch component is added!

Now, you might get tired of setting both 'component' and 'component_visible_condition'. Or if you want to do something more complicated?

In fact, the components can be created using functions. Add your function names for components to g:lightline.component_function.

let g:lightline = {
      \ 'colorscheme': 'wombat',
      \ 'active': {
      \   'left': [ [ 'mode', 'paste' ],
      \             [ 'fugitive', 'readonly', 'filename', 'modified' ] ]
      \ },
      \ 'component_function': {
      \   'fugitive': 'LightlineFugitive',
      \   'readonly': 'LightlineReadonly',
      \   'modified': 'LightlineModified'
      \ },
      \ 'separator': { 'left': '⮀', 'right': '⮂' },
      \ 'subseparator': { 'left': '⮁', 'right': '⮃' }
      \ }

function! LightlineModified()
  if &filetype == "help"
    return ""
  elseif &modified
    return "+"
  elseif &modifiable
    return ""
  else
    return ""
  endif
endfunction

function! LightlineReadonly()
  if &filetype == "help"
    return ""
  elseif &readonly
    return "⭤"
  else
    return ""
  endif
endfunction

function! LightlineFugitive()
  return exists('*fugitive#head') ? fugitive#head() : ''
endfunction

Fine and readable!

Finally, you come up with concatenating the three components: the read-only mark, the filename and the modified mark. Now you may know what to do.

let g:lightline = {
      \ 'colorscheme': 'wombat',
      \ 'active': {
      \   'left': [ [ 'mode', 'paste' ],
      \             [ 'fugitive', 'filename' ] ]
      \ },
      \ 'component_function': {
      \   'fugitive': 'LightlineFugitive',
      \   'readonly': 'LightlineReadonly',
      \   'modified': 'LightlineModified',
      \   'filename': 'LightlineFilename'
      \ },
      \ 'separator': { 'left': '⮀', 'right': '⮂' },
      \ 'subseparator': { 'left': '⮁', 'right': '⮃' }
      \ }

function! LightlineModified()
  if &filetype == "help"
    return ""
  elseif &modified
    return "+"
  elseif &modifiable
    return ""
  else
    return ""
  endif
endfunction

function! LightlineReadonly()
  if &filetype == "help"
    return ""
  elseif &readonly
    return "⭤"
  else
    return ""
  endif
endfunction

function! LightlineFugitive()
  return exists('*fugitive#head') ? fugitive#head() : ''
endfunction

function! LightlineFilename()
  return ('' != LightlineReadonly() ? LightlineReadonly() . ' ' : '') .
       \ ('' != expand('%:t') ? expand('%:t') : '[No Name]') .
       \ ('' != LightlineModified() ? ' ' . LightlineModified() : '')
endfunction

Oops! We forgot the cool mark for the branch component! (work with the patched font for vim-powerline)

function! LightlineFugitive()
  if exists("*fugitive#head")
    let branch = fugitive#head()
    return branch !=# '' ? '⭠ '.branch : ''
  endif
  return ''
endfunction

How cool!!!

Of course, you can name your component as you wish.

let g:lightline = {
    \ 'active': {
    \   'left': [ [ 'mode', 'paste' ],
    \             [ 'my_component' ] ] },
    \ 'component_function': {
    \   'my_component': 'LightlineComponent', ...

This is the end of the tutorial. For more information, see :help lightline. Good luck with your nice statuslines.

Cool characters for the patched fonts

Symbol	Default	powerline	vim-powerline
separator.left	''	'' (\ue0b0)	'⮀' (\u2b80)
separator.right	''	'' (\ue0b2)	'⮂' (\u2b82)
subseparator.left	'|'	'' (\ue0b1)	'⮁' (\u2b81)
subseparator.right	'|'	'' (\ue0b3)	'⮃' (\u2b83)
branch symbol	--	'' (\ue0a0)	'⭠' (\u2b60)
readonly symbol	--	'' (\ue0a2)	'⭤' (\u2b64)
linecolumn symbol	--	'' (\ue0a1)	'⭡' (\u2b61)

My settings

I show my settings. I use the patched font for vim-powerline.

let g:lightline = {
      \ 'colorscheme': 'landscape',
      \ 'mode_map': { 'c': 'NORMAL' },
      \ 'active': {
      \   'left': [ [ 'mode', 'paste' ], [ 'fugitive', 'filename' ] ]
      \ },
      \ 'component_function': {
      \   'modified': 'LightlineModified',
      \   'readonly': 'LightlineReadonly',
      \   'fugitive': 'LightlineFugitive',
      \   'filename': 'LightlineFilename',
      \   'fileformat': 'LightlineFileformat',
      \   'filetype': 'LightlineFiletype',
      \   'fileencoding': 'LightlineFileencoding',
      \   'mode': 'LightlineMode',
      \ },
      \ 'separator': { 'left': '⮀', 'right': '⮂' },
      \ 'subseparator': { 'left': '⮁', 'right': '⮃' }
      \ }

function! LightlineModified()
  return &ft =~ 'help\|vimfiler\|gundo' ? '' : &modified ? '+' : &modifiable ? '' : '-'
endfunction

function! LightlineReadonly()
  return &ft !~? 'help\|vimfiler\|gundo' && &readonly ? '⭤' : ''
endfunction

function! LightlineFilename()
  return ('' != LightlineReadonly() ? LightlineReadonly() . ' ' : '') .
        \ (&ft == 'vimfiler' ? vimfiler#get_status_string() :
        \  &ft == 'unite' ? unite#get_status_string() :
        \  &ft == 'vimshell' ? vimshell#get_status_string() :
        \ '' != expand('%:t') ? expand('%:t') : '[No Name]') .
        \ ('' != LightlineModified() ? ' ' . LightlineModified() : '')
endfunction

function! LightlineFugitive()
  if &ft !~? 'vimfiler\|gundo' && exists("*fugitive#head")
    let branch = fugitive#head()
    return branch !=# '' ? '⭠ '.branch : ''
  endif
  return ''
endfunction

function! LightlineFileformat()
  return winwidth(0) > 70 ? &fileformat : ''
endfunction

function! LightlineFiletype()
  return winwidth(0) > 70 ? (&filetype !=# '' ? &filetype : 'no ft') : ''
endfunction

function! LightlineFileencoding()
  return winwidth(0) > 70 ? (&fenc !=# '' ? &fenc : &enc) : ''
endfunction

function! LightlineMode()
  return winwidth(0) > 60 ? lightline#mode() : ''
endfunction

When the current window width is narrow, the mode component and the file information component collapse. For example, the gundo buffer is narrow.

Before:

After:

Nice looking, isn't it?

For power users

For users who uses following plugins.

• CtrlP
• Tagbar
• Gundo
• NERDtree
• Syntastic
• unite.vim
• vimfiler.vim
• vimshell.vim

let g:lightline = {
      \ 'colorscheme': 'wombat',
      \ 'active': {
      \   'left': [ [ 'mode', 'paste' ], [ 'fugitive', 'filename' ], ['ctrlpmark'] ],
      \   'right': [ [ 'syntastic', 'lineinfo' ], ['percent'], [ 'fileformat', 'fileencoding', 'filetype' ] ]
      \ },
      \ 'component_function': {
      \   'fugitive': 'LightlineFugitive',
      \   'filename': 'LightlineFilename',
      \   'fileformat': 'LightlineFileformat',
      \   'filetype': 'LightlineFiletype',
      \   'fileencoding': 'LightlineFileencoding',
      \   'mode': 'LightlineMode',
      \   'ctrlpmark': 'CtrlPMark',
      \ },
      \ 'component_expand': {
      \   'syntastic': 'SyntasticStatuslineFlag',
      \ },
      \ 'component_type': {
      \   'syntastic': 'error',
      \ },
      \ 'subseparator': { 'left': '|', 'right': '|' }
      \ }

function! LightlineModified()
  return &ft =~ 'help' ? '' : &modified ? '+' : &modifiable ? '' : '-'
endfunction

function! LightlineReadonly()
  return &ft !~? 'help' && &readonly ? 'RO' : ''
endfunction

function! LightlineFilename()
  let fname = expand('%:t')
  return fname == 'ControlP' && has_key(g:lightline, 'ctrlp_item') ? g:lightline.ctrlp_item :
        \ fname == '__Tagbar__' ? g:lightline.fname :
        \ fname =~ '__Gundo\|NERD_tree' ? '' :
        \ &ft == 'vimfiler' ? vimfiler#get_status_string() :
        \ &ft == 'unite' ? unite#get_status_string() :
        \ &ft == 'vimshell' ? vimshell#get_status_string() :
        \ ('' != LightlineReadonly() ? LightlineReadonly() . ' ' : '') .
        \ ('' != fname ? fname : '[No Name]') .
        \ ('' != LightlineModified() ? ' ' . LightlineModified() : '')
endfunction

function! LightlineFugitive()
  try
    if expand('%:t') !~? 'Tagbar\|Gundo\|NERD' && &ft !~? 'vimfiler' && exists('*fugitive#head')
      let mark = ''  " edit here for cool mark
      let branch = fugitive#head()
      return branch !=# '' ? mark.branch : ''
    endif
  catch
  endtry
  return ''
endfunction

function! LightlineFileformat()
  return winwidth(0) > 70 ? &fileformat : ''
endfunction

function! LightlineFiletype()
  return winwidth(0) > 70 ? (&filetype !=# '' ? &filetype : 'no ft') : ''
endfunction

function! LightlineFileencoding()
  return winwidth(0) > 70 ? (&fenc !=# '' ? &fenc : &enc) : ''
endfunction

function! LightlineMode()
  let fname = expand('%:t')
  return fname == '__Tagbar__' ? 'Tagbar' :
        \ fname == 'ControlP' ? 'CtrlP' :
        \ fname == '__Gundo__' ? 'Gundo' :
        \ fname == '__Gundo_Preview__' ? 'Gundo Preview' :
        \ fname =~ 'NERD_tree' ? 'NERDTree' :
        \ &ft == 'unite' ? 'Unite' :
        \ &ft == 'vimfiler' ? 'VimFiler' :
        \ &ft == 'vimshell' ? 'VimShell' :
        \ winwidth(0) > 60 ? lightline#mode() : ''
endfunction

function! CtrlPMark()
  if expand('%:t') =~ 'ControlP' && has_key(g:lightline, 'ctrlp_item')
    call lightline#link('iR'[g:lightline.ctrlp_regex])
    return lightline#concatenate([g:lightline.ctrlp_prev, g:lightline.ctrlp_item
          \ , g:lightline.ctrlp_next], 0)
  else
    return ''
  endif
endfunction

let g:ctrlp_status_func = {
  \ 'main': 'CtrlPStatusFunc_1',
  \ 'prog': 'CtrlPStatusFunc_2',
  \ }

function! CtrlPStatusFunc_1(focus, byfname, regex, prev, item, next, marked)
  let g:lightline.ctrlp_regex = a:regex
  let g:lightline.ctrlp_prev = a:prev
  let g:lightline.ctrlp_item = a:item
  let g:lightline.ctrlp_next = a:next
  return lightline#statusline(0)
endfunction

function! CtrlPStatusFunc_2(str)
  return lightline#statusline(0)
endfunction

let g:tagbar_status_func = 'TagbarStatusFunc'

function! TagbarStatusFunc(current, sort, fname, ...) abort
    let g:lightline.fname = a:fname
  return lightline#statusline(0)
endfunction

augroup AutoSyntastic
  autocmd!
  autocmd BufWritePost *.c,*.cpp call s:syntastic()
augroup END
function! s:syntastic()
  SyntasticCheck
  call lightline#update()
endfunction

let g:unite_force_overwrite_statusline = 0
let g:vimfiler_force_overwrite_statusline = 0
let g:vimshell_force_overwrite_statusline = 0

Note for developers of other plugins

Appearance consistency matters.

The statusline is an important space for Vim users. Overwriting the statusline forcibly in your plugin is not a good idea. It is not hospitality, but just an annoying feature. If your plugin has such a feature, add an option to be modest.

A good design is the following. Firstly, give the users a clue to judge which buffer is the one your plugin creates. The filename is a manner and the filetype is another. Then, export a function which is useful to be shown in the statusline. Lastly, for advanced users, set important information in buffer variables. So that the users can obtain the condition of the plugin easily.