mistfly statusline is a simple, fast and informative statusline for Vim and
(legacy) Neovim coded in Vimscript.
π Contemporary Neovim users will need to use the pure-Lua linefly plugin instead of mistfly.
mistfly provides a number of useful builtin components:
- Git changes
- Diagnostic status
- Macro-recording status
- Current search count
- Spell status
- Indent status (tabs or spaces and their associated width)
mistfly also provides optional tabline support when the appropriate setting
is enabled; refer to
mistflyTabLine.
mistfly will adapt it's colors to the colorscheme currently in effect. Colors can also be customized if desired.
Lastly, mistfly is a lean statusline plugin clocking in at about 500 lines
of code. For comparison, the
lightline,
airline and
lualine statusline plugins
contain over 3,600, 7,300 and 8,200 lines of code respectively. In fairness, the
latter plugins are more featureful, configurable and visually pleasing.
statusline plugin if layout flexibility is desired.
The above screenshots are using the nightfly colorscheme and the Iosevka font with Git changes, diagnostics and indent-status enabled.
A startup comparison of mistfly against various popular statusline
plugins, with their out-of-the-box defaults, on a clean and minimal Neovim setup
with the moonfly colorscheme.
The Neovim startup times in the following table are provived by the
dstein64/vim-startuptime plugin.
Startup times are the average of five consecutive runs. Note, stock is run
without any statusline plugin.
| stock | mistfly | lightline | airline | lualine |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 18.0ms | 18.7ms | 22.0ms | 76.0ms | 23.2ms |
Startup times as of March 2024 on my system; performance on other systems will vary.
mistfly requires Vim 8 (or later) or Neovim 0.8 (or earlier); Neovim 0.9 (or later) is not supported; the pure-Lua linefly plugin should instead be used with contemporary versions of Neovim.
mistfly requires a GUI capable version of Vim or Neovim with an
appropriate colorscheme set. A GUI client, or a modern version of Vim or
Neovim with the termguicolors option enabled in a true-color terminal, is
required.
Please also make sure that the laststatus option is set to either: 1, 2
or 3.
Install bluz71/vim-mistfly-statusline with your preferred plugin manager.
Plug 'bluz71/vim-mistfly-statusline'{ 'bluz71/vim-mistfly-statusline' },Please do not lazy-load mistfly.
The mistfly-statusline layout consists of three groupings, the left-side, middle and right-side as follows:
+-------------------------------------------------+
| A | B | C | D M W | X | Y | Z |
+-------------------------------------------------+
| Section | Purpose |
|---|---|
A* |
Mode status (normal, insert, visual, command and replace modes) |
| B | Filename (refer below for details) |
C* |
Git branch name (if applicable) |
D* |
Plugins notification (git, diagnostic and session status) |
| W | Optional search count and spell status |
| X | Current position |
Y* |
Total lines and current location as percentage |
| Z | Optional indent status (spaces and tabs shift width) |
Sections marked with a * are linked to a highlight group and are colored,
refer to the next section for details.
Sections C, D & W will not be displayed when the statusline width is less
than 80 columns.
Note, filenames will be displayed as follows:
-
Pathless filenames only for files in the current working directory
-
Relative paths in preference to absolute paths for files not in the current working directory
-
~-style home directory paths in preference to absolute paths -
Possibly shortened, for example
foo/bar/bazz/hello.txtwill be displayed asf/b/b/hello.txtwhenstatuslinewidth is less than 120 columns. -
Possibly trimmed. A maximum of four path components will be displayed for a filename; if a filename is more deeply nested then only the four most significant components, including the filename, will be displayed with an ellipsis prefix symbol used to indicate path trimming.
Sections marked with * in the previous section are linked to the following
custom highlight groups with their associated fallbacks if the current
colorscheme does not support mistfly.
| Segment | Custom Highlight Group | Synthesized Highlight Fallback |
|---|---|---|
| Normal Mode | MistflyNormal |
Directory |
| Insert Mode | MistflyInsert |
String |
| Visual Mode | MistflyVisual |
Statement |
| Command Mode | MistflyCommand |
WarningMsg |
| Replace Mode | MistflyReplace |
Error |
Note, the following colorschemes support mistfly, either within the colorscheme (moonfly & nightfly) or within this plugin (all others):
Lastly, if the fallback colors do not suit then it is very easy to override with your own highlights.
π Here is a simple example of customized mistfly colors. Save the
following at the end of your initialization file after setting your
colorscheme.
highlight! link MistflyNormal DiffChange
highlight! link MistflyInsert WildMenu
highlight! link MistflyVisual IncSearch
highlight! link MistflyCommand WildMenu
highlight! link MistflyReplace ErrorMsg| Option | Default State |
|---|---|
| mistflySeparatorSymbol | βͺ |
| mistflyProgressSymbol | β |
| mistflyActiveTabSymbol | βͺ |
| mistflyGitBranchSymbol | ξ |
| mistflyErrorSymbol | E |
| mistflyWarningSymbol | W |
| mistflyInformationSymbol | I |
| mistflyEllipsisSymbol | β¦ |
| mistflyTabLine | Disabled |
| mistflyWithFileIcon | Enabled |
| mistflyWithGitBranch | Enabled |
| mistflyWithGitStatus | Enabled |
| mistflyWithDiagnosticStatus | Enabled |
| mistflyWithSessionStatus | Enabled |
| mistflyWithSearchCount | Disabled |
| mistflyWithSpellStatus | Disabled |
| mistflyWithIndentStatus | Disabled |
The mistflySeparatorSymbol option specifies which character symbol to use
for segment separators in the statusline.
By default, the βͺ character (Unicode U+23AA) will be displayed.
To specify your own separator symbol please add the following to your initialization file:
" Vimscript initialization file
let g:mistflySeparatorSymbol = '<<SYMBOL-OF-YOUR-CHOOSING>>'-- Lua initialization file
vim.g.mistflySeparatorSymbol = '<<SYMBOL-OF-YOUR-CHOOSING>>'The mistflyProgressSymbol option specifies which character symbol to use to
indicate location-as-percentage in the statusline.
By default, the β character (Unicode U+2193) will be displayed.
To specify your own progress symbol, or no symbol at all, please add the following to your initialization file:
" Vimscript initialization file
let g:mistflyProgressSymbol = '<<SYMBOL-OF-YOUR-CHOOSING-OR-EMPTY>>'-- Lua initialization file
vim.g.mistflyProgressSymbol = '<<SYMBOL-OF-YOUR-CHOOSING-OR-EMPTY>>'The mistflyActiveTabSymbol option specifies which character symbol to use to
signify the active tab in the tabline.
By default, the βͺ character (Unicode U+25AA) will be displayed.
To specify your own active tab symbol please add the following to your initialization file:
" Vimscript initialization file
let g:mistflyActiveTabSymbol = '<<SYMBOL-OF-YOUR-CHOOSING>>'-- Lua initialization file
vim.g.mistflyActiveTabSymbol = '<<SYMBOL-OF-YOUR-CHOOSING>>'The mistflyGitBranchSymbol option specifies which character symbol to use
when displaying Git branch details.
By default, the ξ character (Powerline U+E0A0) will be displayed. Many
modern monospace fonts will contain that character.
To specify your own Git branch symbol, or no symbol at all, please add the following to your initialization file:
" Vimscript initialization file
let g:mistflyGitBranchSymbol = '<<SYMBOL-OF-YOUR-CHOOSING-OR-EMPTY>>'-- Lua initialization file
vim.g.mistflyGitBranchSymbol = '<<SYMBOL-OF-YOUR-CHOOSING-OR-EMPTY>>'The mistflyErrorSymbol option specifies which character symbol to use when
displaying diagnostic errors.
By default, the E character will be displayed.
To specify your own error symbol please add the following to your initialization file:
" Vimscript initialization file
let g:mistflyErrorSymbol = '<<SYMBOL-OF-YOUR-CHOOSING>>'-- Lua initialization file
vim.g.mistflyErrorSymbol = '<<SYMBOL-OF-YOUR-CHOOSING>>'The mistflyWarningSymbol option specifies which character symbol to use when
displaying diagnostic warnings.
By default, the W character will be displayed.
To specify your own warning symbol please add the following to your initialization file:
" Vimscript initialization file
let g:mistflyWarningSymbol = '<<SYMBOL-OF-YOUR-CHOOSING>>'-- Lua initialization file
vim.g.mistflyWarningSymbol = '<<SYMBOL-OF-YOUR-CHOOSING>>'The mistflyInformationSymbol option specifies which character symbol to use
when displaying diagnostic information.
By default, the I character will be displayed.
To specify your own information symbol please add the following to your initialization file:
" Vimscript initialization file
let g:mistflyInformationSymbol = '<<SYMBOL-OF-YOUR-CHOOSING>>'-- Lua initialization file
vim.g.mistflyInformationSymbol = '<<SYMBOL-OF-YOUR-CHOOSING>>'The ellipsis_symbol option specifies which character symbol to use when
indicating truncation, for example, deeply nested path truncation.
By default, the β¦ character will be displayed.
To specify your own ellipsis symbol please add the following to your initialization file:
" Vimscript initialization file
let g:mistflyEllipsisSymbol = '<<SYMBOL-OF-YOUR-CHOOSING>>'-- Lua initialization file
vim.g.mistflyEllipsisSymbol = '<<SYMBOL-OF-YOUR-CHOOSING>>'The mistflyTabLine option specifies whether to let this plugin manage the
tabline in addition to the statusline.
By default, tabline management will not be undertaken.
If enabled, mistfly will render a simple numbered, and clickable,
window-space layout in the tabline; note, no buffers will be displayed in
the tabline since there are many plugins that already provide that
capability.
To enable tabline support please add the following to your initialization
file:
" Vimscript initialization file
let g:mistflyTabLine = v:true-- Lua initialization file
vim.g.mistflyTabLine = trueπ‘ Mappings, such as the following, may be useful to quickly switch between the numbered window-spaces:
nnoremap <Leader>1 1gt
nnoremap <Leader>2 2gt
nnoremap <Leader>3 3gt
nnoremap <Leader>4 4gt
nnoremap <Leader>5 5gt
nnoremap <Leader>6 6gt
nnoremap <Leader>7 7gt
nnoremap <Leader>8 8gt
nnoremap <Leader>9 9gtA screenshot of the tabline:
The mistflyWithFileIcon option specifies whether a filetype icon, from a
Nerd Font, will be displayed prior to the filename in the statusline.
Note, a Nerd Font must be active and the vim-devicons or nvim-web-devicons plugin must also be installed and active.
By default, a filetype icon will be displayed if possible.
To disable the display of a filetype icon please add the following to your initialization file:
" Vimscript initialization file
let g:mistflyWithFileIcon = v:false-- lua initialization file
vim.g.mistflyWithFileIcon = falseThe mistflyWithGitBranch option specifies whether to display Git branch
details in the statusline.
By default, Git branches will be displayed in the statusline.
To disable the display of Git branches in the statusline please add the
following to your initialization file:
" Vimscript initialization file
let g:mistflyWithGitBranch = v:false-- Lua initialization file
vim.g.mistflyWithGitBranch = falseThe mistflyWithGitStatus option specifies whether to display the Git status
of the current buffer in the statusline.
The Gitsigns, GitGutter and Signify plugins are supported.
By default, the Git status will be displayed if one of the above plugins is loaded.
To disable the display of Git status in the statusline please add the
following to your initialization file:
" Vimscript initialization file
let g:mistflyWithGitStatus = v:false-- Lua initialization file
vim.g.mistflyWithGitStatus = falseThe mistflyWithDiagnosticStatus option specifies whether to indicate the
presence of the diagnostics in the current buffer.
Neovim Diagnositics, ALE and Coc are supported.
By default, diagnostics will be displayed if one of the above plugins is loaded.
If diagnostic display is not wanted then please add the following to your initialization file:
" Vimscript initialization file
let g:mistflyWithDiagnosticStatus = v:false-- Lua initialization file
vim.g.mistflyWithDiagnosticStatus = falseThe mistflyWithSessionStatus option specifies whether to display
Obsession session details in the
statusline.
By default, session details will be displayed if the plugin is loaded.
To disable the display of session details in the statusline please add the
following to your initialization file:
" Vimscript initialization file
let g:mistflyWithSessionStatus = v:false-- Lua initialization file
vim.g.mistflyWithSessionStatus = falseThe mistflyWithSearchCount option specifies whether to display the search
count in the statusline.
By default, search count will not be displayed.
To enable the display of the search count in the statusline please add the
following to your initialization file:
" Vimscript initialization file
let g:mistflyWithSearchCount = v:true-- Lua initialization file
vim.g.mistflyWithSearchCount = trueNote, the search count is only displayed when the hlsearch option is set and
the search count result is not zero.
The mistflyWithSpellStatus option specifies whether to display the spell
status in the statusline.
By default, spell status will not be displayed.
To enable spell status in the statusline please add the following to your
initialization file:
" Vimscript initialization file
let g:mistflyWithSpellStatus = v:true-- Lua initialization file
vim.g.mistflyWithSpellStatus = trueThe mistflyWithIndentStatus option specifies whether to display the
indentation status as the last component in the statusline.
By default, indentation status will not be displayed.
Note, if the expandtab option is set, for the current buffer, then tab stop
will be displayed, for example Tab:4 (tab equals four spaces); if on the
other hand noexpandtab option is set then shift width will be displayed
instead, for example Spc:2 ('spc' short for 'space').
To enable indentation status please add the following to your initialization file:
" Vimscript initialization file
let g:mistflyWithIndentStatus = v:true-- Lua initialization file
vim.g.mistflyWithIndentStatus = true
