How to set the default to unfolded when you open a file?

Question

In my .vimrc I've put set foldmethod=syntax to enable folding of methods etc. However, I don't like the default that everytime I open a file, the whole thing is folded. Is there a way to enable foldmethod, yet have files unfolded when I open them?

Answer 1

set foldlevel=99

should open all folds, regardless of method used for folding. With foldlevel=0 all folded, foldlevel=1 only somes, ... higher numbers will close fewer folds.

Answer 2

You can open unfolded file when you put set nofoldenable into your .vimrc file.

Answer 3

You can put this in your .vimrc: au BufRead * normal zR

It declares an automatic command (au), triggered when a buffer is read (BufRead), matching all files (*) and executes the zR (opens all folds) command in normal mode.

Answer 4

You could map it to keys to enable it. For example,

nmap ,f :set foldmethod=syntax<CR>

Then while in normal mode hit the ",f" key combination

Answer 5

You can add

set foldlevelstart=99

to your .vimrc file, and it will start editing any new file with all folds open.

Answer 6

If you want a way to have it display unfolded as soon as it is opened, you can use set foldlevelstart=99 as a lot of answers explained.

But, if you just want to see them unfolded, you can just press zi and it will unfold everything. Another, zi will close them back.

Answer 7

In .vimrc add an autocmd for BufWinEnter to open all folds automatically like this:

autocmd BufWinEnter * silent! :%foldopen!

That tell vim to execute the silent :%foldopen! after opening BunWinEnter event (see :h BufWinEnter). The silent %foldopen! will execute foldopen on the whole buffer thanks to the % and will open all folds recursively because of the !. Any eventual error message will be suppressed by silent. (You could get error messages like E490: No fold found if the buffer actually didn't contain any fold yet)

Note: You could use BufRead instead of BufWinEnter but then if the file has a modeline that enables the folding that will override this autocmd. I mean BufRead autocmds run before the modeline is processed and BufWinEnter will run them after. I find the later to be more useful

Answer 8

autocmd BufReadPost * silent! :%foldopen!

This worked best for me. After a buffer gets opened all folds are opened. This opens them to the correct level.

The set foldenable method was not good, because if I choose to close one fold level, it enabled folding again, and folded every thing to 0 level, instead of just going down one level on the one I activated.

Answer 9

set nofoldenable

Adding this to your .vimrc will temporarily disable folding when you open the file, but folds can still be restored with zc