From init.vim to init.lua (1)

From init.vim to init.lua

Preface

The nvim supported lua script since Nvim 0.5. And lua is faster than vimscript. Even so, Neovim is not deprecating Vimscript.

Will Neovim deprecate Vimscript?

No. Lua is built-in, but Vimscript is supported with the most advanced Vimscript engine in the world (featuring an AST-producing parser)).

Why Lua?

Lua is a powerful, efficient, lightweight, embeddable scripting language. It supports procedural programming, object-oriented programming, functional programming, data-driven programming, and data description.

Get started with lua in 30 minutes

init.lua, Yes!

We need a lot of plugins when we use Neovim. So there is a plugin manager we need. Here I recommend ‘packer.nvim‘.

Installation

Unix, Linux Installation

git clone --depth 1 https://github.com/wbthomason/packer.nvim\
 ~/.local/share/nvim/site/pack/packer/start/packer.nvim

Windows Powershell Installation

git clone https://github.com/wbthomason/packer.nvim "$env:LOCALAPPDATA\nvim-data\site\pack\packer\start\packer.nvim"

Configuration & Usage

This is directory tree of my configuration:

nvim
├── init.lua
├── lua
│   ├── conf
│   │   ├── plugin1_detaill-conf.lua
│   │   └── plugin2_detaill-conf.lua
│   ├── keymaps.lua
│   ├── localconf.lua
│   ├── lspconf.lua
│   └── plugins.lua
└── plugin
    └── packer_compiled.lua

The entrance file changed from init.vim to init.lua.

Let’s look at the init.lua.

-- nvim/init.lua
require('plugins')
require('lspconf')
require('keymaps')
require('localconf')

The require function can invoke others .lua files.

Why require('lua/plugins') ?

Because the path ~/.config/nvim/lua is contained in the search path by Lua that Nvim built-in.

Let’s omit it.

The extremely important file is plugins.lua. Ok, actually you can use any name if you like. So, here we call it plugins.lua.

Take a look:

-- nvim/lua/plugins.lua
vim.cmd [[packadd packer.nvim]]

return require('packer').startup(function()
	-- Packer can manage itself
	use 'wbthomason/packer.nvim'
	-- Lsp config
	use {
		'williamboman/nvim-lsp-installer',
		config = function()
			require('conf.nvim-lsp-installer-conf')
		end
	}
	use 'neovim/nvim-lspconfig'
	use 'hrsh7th/nvim-cmp'
	use 'hrsh7th/cmp-nvim-lsp'
	use 'saadparwaiz1/cmp_luasnip' -- Snippets source for nvim-cmp
	use 'L3MON4D3/LuaSnip' -- Snippets plugin
	use 'hrsh7th/cmp-buffer'
	use 'hrsh7th/cmp-path'
	use 'hrsh7th/cmp-nvim-lua'
    -- Markdown Preview
	use 'iamcco/markdown-preview.nvim'

    -- lspsaga beautify the windows of lsp
	use {
        'tami5/lspsaga.nvim',
        config = function()
            -- require('conf.lspsaga-conf')
            require('lspsaga').setup{}
        end
    } 

	-- Dashboard
	use {
		'goolord/alpha-nvim',
		requires = { 'kyazdani42/nvim-web-devicons' },
		config = function ()
			require'alpha'.setup(require'alpha.themes.startify'.config)
		end
	}

	-- Comment plugin
	use {
		'numToStr/Comment.nvim',
		config = function()
			require('Comment').setup{}
		end
  	}

	use 'xiyaowong/nvim-cursorword'

	use({
		"NTBBloodbath/galaxyline.nvim",
		-- your statusline
		config = function()
			require("galaxyline.themes.eviline")
		end,
		-- some optional icons
		requires = { "kyazdani42/nvim-web-devicons", opt = true }
	})

	use {'akinsho/bufferline.nvim',
		tag = "v2.*",
		requires = 'kyazdani42/nvim-web-devicons',
		config = function()
			require('bufferline').setup{}
		end
	}

  	-- Dirctory Tree
	use {
    	'kyazdani42/nvim-tree.lua',
    	requires = {
      		'kyazdani42/nvim-web-devicons', -- optional, for file icon
    	},
    	tag = 'nightly', -- optional, updated every week. (see issue #1193)
		config = function()
			require('nvim-tree').setup{}
		end
	}

	use({
		'NTBBloodbath/doom-one.nvim',
		config = function()
			require('doom-one').setup({
				cursor_coloring = false,
				terminal_colors = false,
				italic_comments = false,
				enable_treesitter = true,
				transparent_background = false,
				pumblend = {
					enable = true,
					transparency_amount = 20,
				},
				plugins_integrations = {
					neorg = true,
					barbar = true,
					bufferline = false,
					gitgutter = false,
					gitsigns = true,
					telescope = false,
					neogit = true,
					nvim_tree = true,
					dashboard = true,
					startify = true,
					whichkey = true,
					indent_blankline = true,
					vim_illuminate = true,
					lspsaga = false,
				},
			})
		end,
	})

    use {
        'nvim-telescope/telescope.nvim',
        requires = {
            "nvim-lua/plenary.nvim", -- Lua development module
            "BurntSushi/ripgrep", -- characters finding
            "sharkdp/fd" -- file search
        },
        config = function()
            require('telescope').setup{}
        end
    }
end)

Oh sh*t. It’s so loooooong. Let’s simplify it a bit and explian it.

-- nvim/lua/plugins.lua
vim.cmd [[packadd packer.nvim]]

return require('packer').startup(function()
    -- Packer can manage itself
    use 'wbthomason/packer.nvim'
    -- a plugin come from Github
    use 'user/plugin1'
    -- a plugin come from Github with some configuration
    use {
        'user/plugin2',
        -- some dependences
        requires = {...},
        -- configuration by anonymous funciton
        config = function()
            -- --- code ----
            ...
        end
    }
end)

Now, you can download all plugins that you like. Awesome-Neovim has a lot of awesome plugins.

In the nvim/lua/localconf.lua:

-- nvim/lua/localconf.lua
vim.o.relativenumber = true
vim.o.number = true
vim.o.tabstop = 4
vim.o.shiftwidth = 4
vim.o.smartindent = true
vim.o.termguicolors = true
vim.o.cursorline = true
vim.o.mouse = 'a'
vim.o.scrolloff = 3
vim.o.expandtab = true
vim.o.wildmenu = true
vim.o.ignorecase = true
vim.o.swapfile = false

-- Markdown-Preview.nvim
vim.g.mkdp_filetypes = { 'markdown' }
vim.cmd('autocmd vimenter *.md exec ":MarkdownPreview"')

The global configuration of the editor has been changed in a new way.
If you have any unknown config items, you can use :help ... to query, such as :help vim.o.

Time to pause.