On some of my linux boxes, vi remembers where I was the last time I edited a file and takes me to that spot the next time I edit the same file.

On others, it doesn't, and just puts me at the top of the file every time.

How do I configure this behaviour? I like going back to where I last was!

--Charlie

Put the following in ~/vimrc (or /etc/vimrc to make it global):

autocmd BufReadPost *
\ if line("'\"") > 0 && line("'\"") <= line("$") |
\ exe "normal g`\"" |
\ endif

You could put checks around it, take a look at /usr/share/vim/vim62/vimrc_example.vim (62 could be higher/lower).

Hope this helps.

That code is already in vimrc, but doesn't seem to work on Red Hat Enterprise Linux machines. It's surrounded by an "if" block, though, that is testing for "autocmd"... I wonder if Red Hat failed to compile vim with autocommand!

Thanks for the help, though - I keep forgetting that vi on linux is usually really vim (for which I thank all ghods, since I have to use real vi on HPUX and vim is better).

Only way I know of to check is this: $ strings /usr/bin/vim | grep autocmd

On all my machines (5), all with 'autocmd enabled vim' the output is:
doautocmd
+autocmd

I don't believe RedHat would leave it out, it's one of the more powerfull extra's that vim has to offer (compared to vi) and they put it in vimrc (at least they did not take it out).

You probably tried this already, but just in case: Did you try to put the relevant part of the code into your ~/.vimrc? Maybe the /etc/vimrc isn't read (which is something to check out, if so).

It's not much to go on, but maybe it helps.