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I had an unrelated problem with vim a while back, that I thought deleting all vim files would help. It did not, but now I have a new problem. Whenever I try to put syntax on, it says:

Error detected while processing /home/jonah/.vimrc: line 16: E484: Can't open file /usr/share/vim/syntax/syntax.vim

I've tried reinstalling fully, but it doesn't fix the issue.

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  • Edit your question and paste your .vimrc where it "It turns syntax highlighting on with 'syntax on'. – Theodcyning 4 mins ago " Commented Apr 14, 2014 at 14:18
  • It turns syntax highlighting on with 'syntax on'. Commented Apr 14, 2014 at 14:20
  • @Theodcyning What is the exact code? Commented Apr 14, 2014 at 14:21
  • @admdrew The entire line is just 'syntax on'. Commented Apr 14, 2014 at 14:22
  • What is the content of /usr/share/vim/syntax/syntax.vim ? Commented Apr 14, 2014 at 14:25

1 Answer 1

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You still have a broken Vim installation with missing runtime files. The file $VIMRUNTIME/syntax/syntax.vim needs to be there. You should never modify / remove system runtime files in /usr/share/vim yourself! Use your distribution's package manager (you didn't tell which Linux disto you're using) to completely reinstall Vim, and ensure that the file is there.

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I'm using synaptic, how do I do this? Both completely removing and reinstalling have not worked.
On Ubuntu, the runtime is in the vim-runtime package, not in vim / vim-gnome. Try reinstalling that.

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