FAQ & Troubleshooting

FAQ

Table of Contents:

It's not working at all:

• Why isn't it working? How come I don't see any icons?

Syntax or color highlighting:

• How did you get color matching based on file type in NERDtree?
• How did you get color matching on just the glyph/icon in NERDtree?

Re-sourcing vimrc:

• How do I solve issues after re-sourcing my vimrc?

Weird artifacts after/on the glyphs:

• Why do I have artifacts after (or instead) of icons?
• Square brackets around icons?

Fonts:

• Do I have to use a patched font such as Nerd Fonts?

Why does this exist? How did this start?

---

Why isn't it working? How come I don't see any icons?

• Are you using the patched font provided in the separate repo (Nerd Fonts) or are you patching your own?

• NOTE: if running vim and no font set it will default to the terminal font that is set

• check what the vim/gvim font is set to, from ex mode:

  :set guifont?

• check if the plugin is loaded (should give '1'), from ex mode:

  :echo loaded_webdevicons

• check if the plugin is enabled (should give '1'), from ex mode:

  :echo g:webdevicons_enable

• check if the plugin is enabled for NERDTree (should give '1'), from ex mode:

  • this should NOT need to be set under normal circumstances

  :echo g:webdevicons_enable_nerdtree

• check if you are able to see the characters, from ex mode:

  :echo g:WebDevIconsUnicodeDecorateFileNodesDefaultSymbol

• if all this looks correct you may try this to see if any files show flags

  • last resort, see if you can even set the default symbol and have it display anywhere (NERDTree, vim-airline's statusline, vim-airlines's tabline), from ex mode:

  :let g:WebDevIconsUnicodeDecorateFileNodesDefaultSymbol='x'

---

How did you get color matching based on file type in NERDtree?

• You can either use this additional plugin: vim-nerdtree-syntax-highlight created by @tiagofumo (please note that this plugin has been known to cause slow navigation in NERDTree as documented here: https://github.com/tiagofumo/vim-nerdtree-syntax-highlight/issues/17)

• Or you can use my current settings from: https://github.com/scrooloose/nerdtree/issues/201#issuecomment-9954740

  " NERDTrees File highlighting
  function! NERDTreeHighlightFile(extension, fg, bg, guifg, guibg)
   exec 'autocmd FileType nerdtree highlight ' . a:extension .' ctermbg='. a:bg .' ctermfg='. a:fg .' guibg='. a:guibg .' guifg='. a:guifg
   exec 'autocmd FileType nerdtree syn match ' . a:extension .' #^\s\+.*'. a:extension .'$#'
  endfunction
  
  call NERDTreeHighlightFile('jade', 'green', 'none', 'green', '#151515')
  call NERDTreeHighlightFile('ini', 'yellow', 'none', 'yellow', '#151515')
  call NERDTreeHighlightFile('md', 'blue', 'none', '#3366FF', '#151515')
  call NERDTreeHighlightFile('yml', 'yellow', 'none', 'yellow', '#151515')
  call NERDTreeHighlightFile('config', 'yellow', 'none', 'yellow', '#151515')
  call NERDTreeHighlightFile('conf', 'yellow', 'none', 'yellow', '#151515')
  call NERDTreeHighlightFile('json', 'yellow', 'none', 'yellow', '#151515')
  call NERDTreeHighlightFile('html', 'yellow', 'none', 'yellow', '#151515')
  call NERDTreeHighlightFile('styl', 'cyan', 'none', 'cyan', '#151515')
  call NERDTreeHighlightFile('css', 'cyan', 'none', 'cyan', '#151515')
  call NERDTreeHighlightFile('coffee', 'Red', 'none', 'red', '#151515')
  call NERDTreeHighlightFile('js', 'Red', 'none', '#ffa500', '#151515')
  call NERDTreeHighlightFile('php', 'Magenta', 'none', '#ff00ff', '#151515')
  call NERDTreeHighlightFile('ds_store', 'Gray', 'none', '#686868', '#151515')
  call NERDTreeHighlightFile('gitconfig', 'Gray', 'none', '#686868', '#151515')
  call NERDTreeHighlightFile('gitignore', 'Gray', 'none', '#686868', '#151515')
  call NERDTreeHighlightFile('bashrc', 'Gray', 'none', '#686868', '#151515')
  call NERDTreeHighlightFile('bashprofile', 'Gray', 'none', '#686868', '#151515')

  Note: If the colors still are not highlighting, try invoking such as:

  autocmd VimEnter * call NERDTreeHighlightFile('jade', 'green', 'none', 'green', '#151515')
  

  per: https://github.com/ryanoasis/vim-devicons/issues/49#issuecomment-101753558

---

How did you get color matching on just the glyph/icon in NERDtree?

• You can add something like this to your vimrc

  " NERDTrees File highlighting only the glyph/icon
  " test highlight just the glyph (icons) in nerdtree:
  autocmd filetype nerdtree highlight haskell_icon ctermbg=none ctermfg=Red guifg=#ffa500
  autocmd filetype nerdtree highlight html_icon ctermbg=none ctermfg=Red guifg=#ffa500
  autocmd filetype nerdtree highlight go_icon ctermbg=none ctermfg=Red guifg=#ffa500
  
  autocmd filetype nerdtree syn match haskell_icon ## containedin=NERDTreeFlags
  " if you are using another syn highlight for a given line (e.g.
  " NERDTreeHighlightFile) need to give that name in the 'containedin' for this
  " other highlight to work with it
  autocmd filetype nerdtree syn match html_icon ## containedin=NERDTreeFlags,html
  autocmd filetype nerdtree syn match go_icon ## containedin=NERDTreeFlags

---

How do I solve issues after re-sourcing my vimrc?

• Try adding this to the bottom of your vimrc

  if exists("g:loaded_webdevicons")
    call webdevicons#refresh()
  endif

---

Why do I have artifacts after (or instead) of icons?

• Dots after icons in NERDTree (on GVim), try:

autocmd FileType nerdtree setlocal nolist

source: Issue #110

• Newly created files in NERDTree are slow to show the glyph (icon)
  • check your current setting of :updatetime?
  • try setting updatetime in your vimrc to a lower value like 250, for more info see: Issue #153

Square brackets around icons

• By default if your Vim supports conceal you should not see these, debug steps:

  • Check if the plugin feature is set (should be 1):

  echo g:webdevicons_conceal_nerdtree_brackets

  • Check that your vim was compiled with the conceal feature (should be +conceal):

  #### from terminal
  vim --version | grep conceal

  • Check the conceallevel (should be 3):

  set conceallevel?

---

Do I have to use a patched font such as Nerd Fonts?

VimDevIcons was desired to work with Nerd Fonts, however you do not have to use a patched font or even Nerd Fonts specified glyphs. You have 2 main options:

fontconfig fallback

1. Install one of the NERD Font symbol fonts:

• Symbols Nerd Font:style=1000-em
• OR:
• Symbols Nerd Font:style=2048-em

2. Install 10-nerd-font-symbols.conf for Fontconfig

• for additional information see: Issue #124 and Nerd Fonts fontconfig

Use your own glyph codepoints

• specify your own glyphs and/or use your own font (see: Character Mappings)

---

Rationale: Why does this exist? How did this start?

After seeing the awesome theme for Atom (seti-ui) and the awesome plugins work done for NERDTree and vim-airline and wanting something like this for Vim I decided to create my first plugin.