vim-plug: A Vim Script repository from IcedNet

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A minimalist Vim plugin manager.

Pros.

Minimalist design
- Just one file with no dependencies. Super easy to set up.
- Concise, intuitive syntax that you can learn within minutes. No boilerplate code required.
- No feature bloat
Extremely stable with flawless backward compatibility
- Works perfectly with all versions of Vim since 2006 and all versions of Neovim ever released
Super-fast parallel installation/update
Creates shallow clones to minimize disk space usage and download time
On-demand loading for faster startup time
Can review and rollback updates
Branch/tag/commit support
Post-update hooks
Support for externally managed plugins

Installation

Download plug.vim and put it in the "autoload" directory.

Click to see the instructions

Vim

Unix

curl -fLo ~/.vim/autoload/plug.vim --create-dirs \
    https://raw.githubusercontent.com/junegunn/vim-plug/master/plug.vim

You can automate the process by putting the command in your Vim configuration file as suggested here.

Windows (PowerShell)

iwr -useb https://raw.githubusercontent.com/junegunn/vim-plug/master/plug.vim |`
    ni $HOME/vimfiles/autoload/plug.vim -Force

Neovim

Unix, Linux

sh -c 'curl -fLo "${XDG_DATA_HOME:-$HOME/.local/share}"/nvim/site/autoload/plug.vim --create-dirs \
       https://raw.githubusercontent.com/junegunn/vim-plug/master/plug.vim'

Linux (Flatpak)

curl -fLo ~/.var/app/io.neovim.nvim/data/nvim/site/autoload/plug.vim --create-dirs \
    https://raw.githubusercontent.com/junegunn/vim-plug/master/plug.vim

Windows (PowerShell)

iwr -useb https://raw.githubusercontent.com/junegunn/vim-plug/master/plug.vim |`
    ni "$(@($env:XDG_DATA_HOME, $env:LOCALAPPDATA)[$null -eq $env:XDG_DATA_HOME])/nvim-data/site/autoload/plug.vim" -Force

Usage

Add a vim-plug section to your ~/.vimrc (or ~/.config/nvim/init.vim for Neovim)

Begin the section with call plug#begin()
List the plugins with Plug commands
End the section with call plug#end()

For example,

call plug#begin()

" List your plugins here
Plug 'tpope/vim-sensible'

call plug#end()

Reload the file or restart Vim, then you can,

:PlugInstall to install the plugins
:PlugUpdate to install or update the plugins
:PlugDiff to review the changes from the last update
:PlugClean to remove plugins no longer in the list

Note

That's basically all you need to know to get started. The rest of the document is for advanced users who want to know more about the features and options.

Getting Help

See tutorial page to learn more about the basics of vim-plug
See tips and FAQ pages for common problems and questions

Examples

The following examples demonstrate the additional features of vim-plug.

Vim script example

call plug#begin()
" The default plugin directory will be as follows:
"   - Vim (Linux/macOS): '~/.vim/plugged'
"   - Vim (Windows): '~/vimfiles/plugged'
"   - Neovim (Linux/macOS/Windows): stdpath('data') . '/plugged'
" You can specify a custom plugin directory by passing it as the argument
"   - e.g. `call plug#begin('~/.vim/plugged')`
"   - Avoid using standard Vim directory names like 'plugin'

" Make sure you use single quotes

" Shorthand notation for GitHub; translates to https://github.com/junegunn/seoul256.vim.git
Plug 'junegunn/seoul256.vim'

" Any valid git URL is allowed
Plug 'https://github.com/junegunn/vim-easy-align.git'

" Using a tagged release; wildcard allowed (requires git 1.9.2 or above)
Plug 'fatih/vim-go', { 'tag': '*' }

" Using a non-default branch
Plug 'neoclide/coc.nvim', { 'branch': 'release' }

" Use 'dir' option to install plugin in a non-default directory
Plug 'junegunn/fzf', { 'dir': '~/.fzf' }

" Post-update hook: run a shell command after installing or updating the plugin
Plug 'junegunn/fzf', { 'dir': '~/.fzf', 'do': './install --all' }

" Post-update hook can be a lambda expression
Plug 'junegunn/fzf', { 'do': { -> fzf#install() } }

" If the vim plugin is in a subdirectory, use 'rtp' option to specify its path
Plug 'nsf/gocode', { 'rtp': 'vim' }

" On-demand loading: loaded when the specified command is executed
Plug 'preservim/nerdtree', { 'on': 'NERDTreeToggle' }

" On-demand loading: loaded when a file with a specific file type is opened
Plug 'tpope/vim-fireplace', { 'for': 'clojure' }

" Unmanaged plugin (manually installed and updated)
Plug '~/my-prototype-plugin'

" Call plug#end to update &runtimepath and initialize the plugin system.
" - It automatically executes `filetype plugin indent on` and `syntax enable`
call plug#end()
" You can revert the settings after the call like so:
"   filetype indent off   " Disable file-type-specific indentation
"   syntax off            " Disable syntax highlighting

" Color schemes should be loaded after plug#end().
" We prepend it with 'silent!' to ignore errors when it's not yet installed.
silent! colorscheme seoul256

Lua example for Neovim

In Neovim, you can write your configuration in a Lua script file named init.lua. The following code is the Lua script equivalent to the Vim script example above.

local vim = vim
local Plug = vim.fn['plug#']

vim.call('plug#begin')

-- Shorthand notation for GitHub; translates to https://github.com/junegunn/seoul256.vim.git
Plug('junegunn/seoul256.vim')

-- Any valid git URL is allowed
Plug('https://github.com/junegunn/vim-easy-align.git')

-- Using a tagged release; wildcard allowed (requires git 1.9.2 or above)
Plug('fatih/vim-go', { ['tag'] = '*' })

-- Using a non-default branch
Plug('neoclide/coc.nvim', { ['branch'] = 'release' })

-- Use 'dir' option to install plugin in a non-default directory
Plug('junegunn/fzf', { ['dir'] = '~/.fzf' })

-- Post-update hook: run a shell command after installing or updating the plugin
Plug('junegunn/fzf', { ['dir'] = '~/.fzf', ['do'] = './install --all' })

-- Post-update hook can be a lambda expression
Plug('junegunn/fzf', { ['do'] = function()
  vim.fn['fzf#install']()
end })

-- If the vim plugin is in a subdirectory, use 'rtp' option to specify its path
Plug('nsf/gocode', { ['rtp'] = 'vim' })

-- On-demand loading: loaded when the specified command is executed
Plug('preservim/nerdtree', { ['on'] = 'NERDTreeToggle' })

-- On-demand loading: loaded when a file with a specific file type is opened
Plug('tpope/vim-fireplace', { ['for'] = 'clojure' })

-- Unmanaged plugin (manually installed and updated)
Plug('~/my-prototype-plugin')

vim.call('plug#end')

-- Color schemes should be loaded after plug#end().
-- We prepend it with 'silent!' to ignore errors when it's not yet installed.
vim.cmd('silent! colorscheme seoul256')

Commands

Command	Description
`PlugInstall [name ...] [#threads]`	Install plugins
`PlugUpdate [name ...] [#threads]`	Install or update plugins
`PlugClean[!]`	Remove unlisted plugins (bang version will clean without prompt)
`PlugUpgrade`	Upgrade vim-plug itself
`PlugStatus`	Check the status of plugins
`PlugDiff`	Examine changes from the previous update and the pending changes
`PlugSnapshot[!] [output path]`	Generate script for restoring the current snapshot of the plugins

`Plug` options

Option	Description
`branch`/`tag`/`commit`	Branch/tag/commit of the repository to use
`rtp`	Subdirectory that contains Vim plugin
`dir`	Custom directory for the plugin
`as`	Use different name for the plugin
`do`	Post-update hook (string or funcref)
`on`	On-demand loading: Commands or `<Plug>`-mappings
`for`	On-demand loading: File types
`frozen`	Do not remove and do not update unless explicitly specified

Global options

Flag	Default	Description
`g:plug_threads`	16	Default number of threads to use
`g:plug_timeout`	60	Time limit of each task in seconds (Ruby & Python)
`g:plug_retries`	2	Number of retries in case of timeout (Ruby & Python)
`g:plug_shallow`	1	Use shallow clone
`g:plug_window`	`-tabnew`	Command to open plug window
`g:plug_pwindow`	`vertical rightbelow new`	Command to open preview window in `PlugDiff`
`g:plug_url_format`	`https://git::@github.com/%s.git`	`printf` format to build repo URL (Only applies to the subsequent `Plug` commands)

Keybindings

D - PlugDiff
S - PlugStatus
R - Retry failed update or installation tasks
U - Update plugins in the selected range
q - Close the window
:PlugStatus
- L - Load plugin
:PlugDiff
- X - Revert the update

Post-update hooks

There are some plugins that require extra steps after installation or update. In that case, use the do option to describe the task to be performed.

Plug 'Shougo/vimproc.vim', { 'do': 'make' }
Plug 'ycm-core/YouCompleteMe', { 'do': './install.py' }

If the value starts with :, it will be recognized as a Vim command.

Plug 'fatih/vim-go', { 'do': ':GoInstallBinaries' }

To call a Vim function, you can pass a lambda expression like so:

Plug 'junegunn/fzf', { 'do': { -> fzf#install() } }

If you need more control, you can pass a reference to a Vim function that takes a dictionary argument.

function! BuildYCM(info)
  " info is a dictionary with 3 fields
  " - name:   name of the plugin
  " - status: 'installed', 'updated', or 'unchanged'
  " - force:  set on PlugInstall! or PlugUpdate!
  if a:info.status == 'installed' || a:info.force
    !./install.py
  endif
endfunction

Plug 'ycm-core/YouCompleteMe', { 'do': function('BuildYCM') }

A post-update hook is executed inside the directory of the plugin and only run when the repository has changed, but you can force it to run unconditionally with the bang-versions of the commands: PlugInstall! and PlugUpdate!.

Tip

Make sure to escape BARs and double-quotes when you write the do option inline as they are mistakenly recognized as command separator or the start of the trailing comment.

Plug 'junegunn/fzf', { 'do': 'yes \| ./install' }

But you can avoid the escaping if you extract the inline specification using a variable (or any Vim script expression) as follows:

let g:fzf_install = 'yes | ./install'
Plug 'junegunn/fzf', { 'do': g:fzf_install }

`PlugInstall!` and `PlugUpdate!`

The installer takes the following steps when installing/updating a plugin:

git clone or git fetch from its origin
Check out branch, tag, or commit and optionally git merge remote branch
If the plugin was updated (or installed for the first time)
1. Update submodules
2. Execute post-update hooks

The commands with the ! suffix ensure that all steps are run unconditionally.

On-demand loading of plugins

" NERD tree will be loaded on the first invocation of NERDTreeToggle command
Plug 'preservim/nerdtree', { 'on': 'NERDTreeToggle' }

" Multiple commands
Plug 'junegunn/vim-github-dashboard', { 'on': ['GHDashboard', 'GHActivity'] }

" Loaded when clojure file is opened
Plug 'tpope/vim-fireplace', { 'for': 'clojure' }

" Multiple file types
Plug 'kovisoft/paredit', { 'for': ['clojure', 'scheme'] }

" On-demand loading on both conditions
Plug 'junegunn/vader.vim',  { 'on': 'Vader', 'for': 'vader' }

" Code to execute when the plugin is lazily loaded on demand
Plug 'junegunn/goyo.vim', { 'for': 'markdown' }
autocmd! User goyo.vim echom 'Goyo is now loaded!'

Note

Should I set up on-demand loading?

You probably don't need to.

A properly implemented Vim plugin should already load lazily without any help from a plugin manager (:help autoload). So there are few cases where these options actually make much sense. Making a plugin load faster is the responsibility of the plugin developer, not the user. If you find a plugin that takes too long to load, consider opening an issue on the plugin's issue tracker.

Let me give you a perspective. The time it takes to load a plugin is usually less than 2 or 3ms on modern computers. So unless you use a very large number of plugins, you are unlikely to save more than 50ms. If you have spent an hour carefully setting up the options to shave off 50ms, you will have to start Vim 72,000 times just to break even. You should ask yourself if that's a good investment of your time.

Make sure that you're tackling the right problem by breaking down the startup time of Vim using --startuptime.

vim --startuptime /tmp/log

On-demand loading should only be used as a last resort. It is basically a hacky workaround and is not always guaranteed to work.

Tip

You can pass an empty list to on or for option to disable the loading of the plugin. You can manually load the plugin using plug#load(NAMES...) function.

See https://github.com/junegunn/vim-plug/wiki/tips#loading-plugins-manually

Collaborators

Jan Edmund Lazo - Windows support
Jeremy Pallats - Python installer

License

MIT

IcedNet/vim-plug

Pros.

Installation

Vim

Unix

Windows (PowerShell)

Neovim

Unix, Linux

Linux (Flatpak)

Windows (PowerShell)

Usage

Getting Help

Examples

Vim script example

Lua example for Neovim

Commands

Plug options

Global options

Keybindings

Post-update hooks

PlugInstall! and PlugUpdate!

On-demand loading of plugins

Should I set up on-demand loading?

Collaborators

License

`Plug` options

`PlugInstall!` and `PlugUpdate!`