Vim startup errors (invalid expression) Debian

Question

I'm having issues setting up Vim. Firstly I'm having a bunch of errors when start up Vim, I get these errors:

Error detected while processing /home/lee/.vimrc:
line    5:
E492: Not an editor command: generate helptags for everything in 'runtimepath'
Error detected while processing /home/lee/.vim/plugin/fuf.vim:
line   13:
***** L9 library must be installed! *****
Error detected while processing /home/lee/.vim/plugin/refactor.vim:
line   45:
E492: Not an editor command: ^M
line   53:
E492: Not an editor command: ^M
line   55:
E15: Invalid expression: ["auto", "const", "double", "float", "int", "short", "struct", "unsigned", "break", "continue", "else", "for", "long", "signed", "switch", "void", "case", "default", "enum", "goto", "register", "sizeof", "typedef", "volatile", "char", "do", "extern", "if", "return", "static", "union", "while", "asm", "dynamic_cast", "namespace", "reinterpret_cast", "try", "bool", "explicit", "new", "static_cast", "typeid", "catch", "false", "operator", "template", "typename", "class", "friend", "private", "this", "using", "const_cast", "inline", "public", "throw", "virtual", "delete", "mutable", "protected", "true", "wchar_t", "size_t"]^M
line   56:
E492: Not an editor command: ^M
line   58:
E15: Invalid expression: '\<\h\w*\>'^M
line   59:
E15: Invalid expression: '\s*[*&]*\s*'^M
line   60:
E121: Undefined variable: s:IdentifierPattern
E15: Invalid expression: s:IdentifierPattern . s:TypePostfixPattern^M
line   62:
E121: Undefined variable: s:TypeElementPattern
E15: Invalid expression: '\%(' . s:TypeElementPattern . '\%(' . s:TemplateParameterPattern . s:TypePostfixPattern . '\)*' . s:TypePostfixPattern . '\)\+'^M
line   64:
E15: Invalid expression: '\%(\s\+\n*\s*\|\n\+\|\s*\n*\s\+\)'^M
line   65:
E121: Undefined variable: s:TypeIdentifierPattern
E15: Invalid expression: s:TypeIdentifierPattern . s:MissableSeperatorPattern . s:IdentifierPattern . '\%\(\[\d*\]\)*'^M
line   66:
E121: Undefined variable: s:TypeIdentifierPattern
E15: Invalid expression: '^\s*\%(' . s:TypeIdentifierPattern . s:SeperatorPattern. '\|' . s:IdentifierPattern . '::\)\+' ^M
line   67:
E121: Undefined variable: s:VariableDeclarationPattern
E15: Invalid expression: '(' .  s:MissableSeperatorPattern . '\%(' . s:VariableDeclarationPattern . '\%(\s*,' . s:MissableSeperatorPattern . s:VariableDeclarationPattern . '\)*\)*\s*)'^M
line   68:
E121: Undefined variable: s:FunctionPerfixPattern
E15: Invalid expression: s:FunctionPerfixPattern . s:MissableSeperatorPattern . s:IdentifierPattern . s:MissableSeperatorPattern . s:ParameterListPattern . '[^(){;]*'^M
line   69:
E121: Undefined variable: s:FunctionPattern
E15: Invalid expression: s:FunctionPattern . s:MissableSeperatorPattern . '\%(;\)\@='^M
line   70:
E121: Undefined variable: s:FunctionPattern
E15: Invalid expression: s:FunctionPattern . s:MissableSeperatorPattern . '\%({\)\@='^M
line   71:
E492: Not an editor command: ^M
line   72:
E488: Trailing characters
line  114:
E492: Not an editor command: ^M
line  115:
E488: Trailing characters
line  182:
E492: Not an editor command: ^M
line  183:
E488: Trailing characters
line  220:
E492: Not an editor command: ^M
line  221:
E488: Trailing characters
line  240:
E492: Not an editor command: ^M
line  241:
E488: Trailing characters
line  285:
E492: Not an editor command: ^M
line  286:
E488: Trailing characters
line  359:
E492: Not an editor command: ^M
line  360:
E488: Trailing characters
line  372:
E492: Not an editor command: ^M
line  374:
E488: Trailing characters
line  411:
E492: Not an editor command: ^M
line  412:
E488: Trailing characters
line  424:
E492: Not an editor command: ^M
line  425:
E488: Trailing characters
line  432:
E492: Not an editor command: ^M
line  433:
E488: Trailing characters
Press ENTER or type command to continue

Also, when I try to run :helptags ~/.vim/doc it doesn't load at all. It just shows a blank editor screen.

I would appreciate your help, I've searched the web for solutions but I've been unable to fix it. I really want to start using Vim. Thank you!

EDIT: I added my .vimrc

set nocompatible
call pathogen#infect()
execute pathogen#infect()
call pathogen#helptags()
generate helptags for everything in 'runtimepath'
syntax on
filetype plugin indent on

Answer 1

Oh my gosh! I see several issues:

E492: Not an editor command: generate helptags for everything in 'runtimepath'

You must have a line starting with generate helptags ... somewhere (your ~/.vimrc?); it should be a comment: Prepend a " to the line.

---

***** L9 library must be installed! *****

The FuzzyFinder plugin requires another plugin; you can get it at L9 - Vim-script library.

---

Error detected while processing /home/lee/.vim/plugin/refactor.vim:
line   45:
E492: Not an editor command: ^M

That's caused by Vimscript files that have Windows-style CR-LF line endings when used on Linux. Open the corresponding file(s) in Vim and convert them to Unix-style endings via

:w ++ff=unix

---

I hope you'll start to see the light after these. A link to your full Vim config would be helpful to further diagnose this. If you're new to Vim, it's recommended to start with a lean .vimrc, and only gradually add plugins, as you become more proficient and identify the needs.

Answer 2

For the E492: Not an editor command: ^M part, I actually got the same problem but the above answers didn't help. So I found this and it works for me:

For Cygwin (which I use): install dos2unix from the package installer

For Ubuntu/Debian:

sudo apt-get install tofrodos; sudo ln -s /usr/bin/fromdos /usr/bin/dos2unix

For CentOS, Fedora, ...:

sudo yum install dos2unix

Then use it this way:

dos2unix ~/.vimrc

That should clean all CRLF from the file

Answer 3

I see these types of errors:

Error detected while processing ~/.vim/plugin/<some_plugin_giving_you_error>:
line   45:
E492: Not an editor command: ^M

when a .gitconfig has Windows relevant [core] settings but used on a Linux box. Then when a plugin is downloaded by either a Vim plugin manager or manually, these errors start showing up.

So I would suggest checking your Git settings, delete the downloaded files, and try again.