How To Show Line Numbers In vi / vim Text Editor

This entry is part 1 of 10 in the series VI / VIM Text Editor

Q. How do I display vi / vim text editor line numbers while writing a shell script or c program? How can I turn on or off this feature?

A. Displaying line numbers under vi / vim can be very useful for debugging code errors and to improve overall readability of a program.

vi / vim show line number command

To display line numbers along the left side of a window, type any one of the following:
:set number
or
:set nu

(Fig.01: Vi / Vim line numbers in action - click to enlarge image)
To turn off line number again enter the same command:
:set nu!
If you need number every time you start vi/vim, append following line to your ~/.vimrc file:
set number
Save and close the file.
Jump to particular line number from a shell prompt, enter:
$ vi +linenumber file.c $ vi +300 initlib.c

Series NavigationTurn on or off color syntax highlighting in vi or vim»

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{ 5 comments… read them below or add one }

1 yoander 05.12.08 at 2:27 pm: Inside vim editor in command mode you can go directly to specific line pressing line number (ex: 50) and shift g.
2 billyduc 05.13.08 at 10:15 am: THat’s really kool
3 Planet Lowyat 05.17.08 at 4:20 pm: Can VI display 3 desire lines such as line x(10), line y(25) and line z(50) only?
4 Dean Nguyen 01.16.09 at 4:16 pm: Hi,

The “:set number or :set nu” is working great in VI.

Thank you!

Dean
5 neeraj sinha 06.07.09 at 9:41 am: Thanks you so much!
it works!