Clojure.vim

Configurable Clojure syntax highlighting, indentation (and more) for Vim and Neovim!

Tip

This plugin comes packaged with Vim and Neovim. However if you would like to always use the latest version, you can install this plugin like you would any other.

Make sure your vimrc contains the following options to enable all features:

syntax on
filetype plugin indent on

Syntax highlighting

g:clojure_syntax_keywords

Syntax highlighting of public vars in clojure.core is provided by default, but additional symbols can be highlighted by adding them to the g:clojure_syntax_keywords variable.

let g:clojure_syntax_keywords = {
    \   'clojureMacro': ["defproject", "defcustom"],
    \   'clojureFunc': ["string/join", "string/replace"]
    \ }

(See s:clojure_syntax_keywords in the syntax script for a complete example.)

There is also a buffer-local variant of this variable (b:clojure_syntax_keywords) that is intended for use by plugin authors to highlight symbols dynamically.

By setting b:clojure_syntax_without_core_keywords, vars from clojure.core will not be highlighted by default. This is useful for namespaces that have set (:refer-clojure :only []).

g:clojure_discard_macro

Set this variable to 1 to enable highlighting of the "discard reader macro". Due to current limitations in Vim's syntax rules, this option won't highlight stacked discard macros (e.g. #_#_). This inconsistency is why this option is disabled by default.

Indentation

Clojure indentation differs somewhat from traditional Lisps, due in part to the use of square and curly brackets, and otherwise by community convention. As these conventions are not universally followed, the Clojure indent script offers ways to adjust the indentation.

Warning

The indentation code has recently been rebuilt which included the removal/replacement of the following configuration options:

Config option	Replacement (if any)
clojure_maxlines
clojure_cljfmt_compat	clojure_indent_style
clojure_align_subforms	clojure_indent_style
clojure_align_multiline_strings	clojure_indent_multiline_strings
clojure_fuzzy_indent
clojure_fuzzy_indent_blacklist
clojure_special_indent_words	clojure_indent_rules
'lispwords'	clojure_indent_rules

Indentation style

The clojure_indent_style config option controls the general indentation style to use. Choose from several common presets:

Value	Default	Description
standard	✅	Conventional Clojure indentation. (Clojure Style Guide.)
traditional		Indent like traditional Lisps. (Earlier versions of Clojure.vim indented like this.)
uniform		Indent uniformly to 2 spaces with no alignment (a.k.a. Tonsky indentation).

let g:clojure_indent_style = 'uniform'      " Set the default...
let b:clojure_indent_style = 'traditional'  " ...or override it per-buffer.

Indentation rules

Note

These options are ignored if an indentation style of "uniform" is selected.

clojure_indent_rules & clojure_fuzzy_indent_patterns

Multi-line strings

Control alignment of new lines within Clojure multi-line strings and regular expressions with clojure_indent_multiline_strings.

Note

Indenting with = will not alter the indentation within multi-line strings, as this could break intentional formatting.

Pick from the following multi-line string indent styles:

Value	Default	Description
standard	✅	Align to the front of the " or #" delimiter. Ideal for doc-strings.
pretty		Align to the back of the " or #" delimiter.
traditional		No indent: align to left edge of file.

let g:clojure_indent_multiline_strings = 'pretty'       " Set the default...
let b:clojure_indent_multiline_strings = 'traditional'  " ...or override it per-buffer.

Code folding

Setting g:clojure_fold to 1 will enable the folding of Clojure code. Any list, vector or map that extends over more than one line can be folded using the standard Vim fold commands.

(Note that this option will not work with scripts that redefine the bracket regions, such as rainbow parenthesis plugins.)

Insert-mode completion

Very basic insert-mode completion of special forms and public vars from clojure.core is included in Clojure.vim. Invoke it with Ctrl x Ctrl o or Ctrl x Ctrl u.

Contribute

Pull requests are welcome! Make sure to read the CONTRIBUTING.md for useful information.

Acknowledgements

Clojure.vim is a continuation of vim-clojure-static. Vim-clojure-static was created by Sung Pae. The original copies of the packaged runtime files came from Meikel Brandmeyer's VimClojure project with permission. Thanks to Tim Pope for advice in #vim on IRC.

License

Clojure.vim is licensed under the Vim License for distribution with Vim.

• Copyright © 2020–2025, The clojure-vim contributors.
• Copyright © 2013–2018, Sung Pae.
• Copyright © 2008–2012, Meikel Brandmeyer.
• Copyright © 2007–2008, Toralf Wittner.

See LICENSE for more details.