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For fun I decided to compile vim from source. Long story short the build seemed to go fine, but when I enter insert mode I cannot use the <BACKSPACE> key to delete existing characters or newlines created using the <ENTER> key in insert mode. The distro's pre-built package does this just fine. I also know there's no problem with the backspace key itself because I can backspace over characters I've just typed, just not existing characters.

It almost makes sense, as vim operates on a per-line basis most of the time. Is there a flag I need to set in order to support this behavior? Or is it faster by design to enter normal mode to delete existing characters/newlines?

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  • Check your .vimrc file. You can copy the one from the pre-built package. Alternatively use dd to delete lines, J to join them, o and O to add new ones.
    – R. Martinho Fernandes
    Commented Feb 16, 2011 at 16:46
  • "backspace over characters I've just typed, just not existing characters" -- what does that even mean? It seems like the backspace is not the problem here.
    – Maxim Sloyko
    Commented Feb 16, 2011 at 16:47
  • @maksymko If you type ":set backspace=" into vim you'll see what I tried to describe. I'll admit I'm not the best with words at times :-)
    – Joe
    Commented Feb 16, 2011 at 16:49
  • @Joe you described what I'm seeing perfectly, I can delete what I just typed, but not what was already there
    – Stephan
    Commented Jul 10, 2014 at 0:08

1 Answer 1

Reset to default
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Wow, second time I've figured out the answer minutes after posting the question.

set backspace=indent,eol,start

Must have been set automatically by the distro's package vimrc. Hope this answer helps someone else! For more info:

:help i_backspacing
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  • 1
    Hmm, after reading that manual, I thought that removing that "start" setting from my setting can be an interesting idea :)
    – Maxim Sloyko
    Commented Feb 16, 2011 at 16:57

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