This is a list of directories which will be searched for runtime files: filetype.vim filetypes by file name new-filetype scripts.vim filetypes by file contents new-filetype-scripts autoload/ automatically loaded scripts autoload-functions colors/ color scheme files :colorscheme compiler/ compiler files :compiler doc/ documentation write-local-help ftplugin/ filetype plugins write-filetype-plugin import/ files that are found by :import indent/ indent scripts indent-expression keymap/ key mapping files mbyte-keymap lang/ menu translations :menutrans menu.vim GUI menus menu.vim pack/ packages :packadd plugin/ plugin scripts write-plugin print/ files for printing postscript-print-encoding spell/ spell checking files spell syntax/ syntax files mysyntaxfile tutor/ files for vimtutor tutor

And any other file searched for with the :runtime command.

The defaults for most systems are setup to search five locations:

1. In your home directory, for your personal preferences.

2. In a system-wide Vim directory, for preferences from the system administrator.

3. In $VIMRUNTIME, for files distributed with Vim.

4. In the "after" directory in the system-wide Vim directory. This is for the system administrator to overrule or add to the distributed defaults (rarely needed)

5. In the "after" directory in your home directory. This is for personal preferences to overrule or add to the distributed defaults or system-wide settings (rarely needed).

More entries are added when using packages. If it gets very long then :set rtp will be truncated, use :echo &rtp to see the full string.

Note that, unlike 'path', no wildcards like "**" are allowed. Normal wildcards are allowed, but can significantly slow down searching for runtime files. For speed, use as few items as possible and avoid wildcards. See :runtime. Example:

:set runtimepath=~/vimruntime,/mygroup/vim,$VIMRUNTIME

This will use the directory "~/vimruntime" first (containing your personal Vim runtime files), then "/mygroup/vim" (shared between a group of people) and finally "$VIMRUNTIME" (the distributed runtime files). You probably should always include $VIMRUNTIME somewhere, to use the distributed runtime files. You can put a directory before $VIMRUNTIME to find files which replace a distributed runtime files. You can put a directory after $VIMRUNTIME to find files which add to distributed runtime files. When Vim is started with --clean the home directory entries are not included. This option cannot be set from a modeline or in the sandbox, for security reasons.

(default: Unix: "$HOME/.vim, $VIM/vimfiles, $VIMRUNTIME, $VIM/vimfiles/after, $HOME/.vim/after" Amiga: "home:vimfiles, $VIM/vimfiles, $VIMRUNTIME, $VIM/vimfiles/after, home:vimfiles/after" MS-Windows: "$HOME/vimfiles, $VIM/vimfiles, $VIMRUNTIME, $VIM/vimfiles/after, $HOME/vimfiles/after" macOS: "$VIM:vimfiles, $VIMRUNTIME, $VIM:vimfiles:after" Haiku: "$BE_USER_SETTINGS/vim, $VIM/vimfiles, $VIMRUNTIME, $VIM/vimfiles/after, $BE_USER_SETTINGS/vim/after" VMS: "sys$login:vimfiles, $VIM/vimfiles, $VIMRUNTIME, $VIM/vimfiles/after, sys$login:vimfiles/after")