Spell Check In Vim

Tip: you can use spell checking in vim!

set spell spelllang=en_us

Actually, leaving off the spelllang will probably work for you too. Your system is probably set to use a default language.

I’ve been using vim for years and didn’t know about this… so much to learn about vi/vim.

When the cursor is over a mis-spelled word, enter z= to see a list of suggestions.

Turn spell checking off with set nospell.

Tip 2: You can also set syntax highlighting.

setf markdown

Usually vim can tell what kind of code I’m working on if I open up an existing file, but this command is really handy for when you’re opening up a new empty file.

Tip 3: Open vim with these settings already set.

vim -c "set spell spelllang=en_us" -c "setf markdown"

I know there’s a vim configuration file somewhere where you can set these options also, but while it might make sense to turn on spell check by default, it doesn’t make sense to set a syntax highlighting.