Restoring VIM to default state

Question

I'm really frustrated with getting going using VIM. I'm just trying to do some minor customizations to the vimrc file. I made some minor changes, but they didn't do what I had hoped. So, I went back in and removed the lines that I had added, reverting back to my original file. Now, I can't even get into VIM! When I type "vim filename.xxx" from the terminal, I just go right back to a command prompt. No error message, no file opens, nothing. It's as if I just hit the enter key.

I tried uninstalling and reinstalling VIM, but same results. Does anyone know what I can do to get VIM back to its original state? I'm using Ubuntu 11.

Answer 1

I would suggest first uninstalling but purging, reinstalling, and making sure your local user edits are removed.

• Purge to remove the package config files: sudo apt-get purge vim.
• Clean out any personalizations: rm -Rf ~/.vim ~/.vimrc ~/.viminfo.
• Reinstall Vim again: sudo apt-get install vim.

Answer 2

Try removing the ~/.vimrc and ~/.viminfo files and the ~/.vim directory. These usually contain configuration information so getting rid of them should give you a fresh start