vim @7.3.102_0 LaTeX Error

[smokejumperit@…]

Ever since upgrading, when I create a file which ends with ".tex" and contains only the line "\documentclass{article}" (or any LaTeX file beginning with that line), and then open it with vim, I get a screen full of errors like:

E10: \ should be followed by /, ?, or &

That screen of errors goes away quickly, and then everything works fine.

[raimue (Rainer Müller)]

I can't reproduce this. I suppose you have some plugin which tries to parse the tex file and can't handle that.

Does it still happen without plugins and .vimrc disabled?

vim --noplugin -u /dev/null

[smokejumperit@…]

Using your tip, I tracked it down to "syntax enable" in ~/.exrc. That's not a surprise, given the behavior.

To my knowledge, I never installed syntax highlighting for LaTeX---it just shipped with vi. That's why I opened a ticket for MacPorts. Where/how would I find the syntax highlighting script that might be causing the problem?

[raimue (Rainer Müller)]

If you are using ~/.exrc it is very likely that vim is running in compatible mode, emulating the classic vi. Check for this using :set compatible?. If it says 'compatible', the script syntax is limited and does not support line continuation using '\' which the syntax file in question probably uses. Try adding a set nocompatible at the beginning of your .exrc or even switch to .vimrc which would set this automatically.

[smokejumperit@…]

Alright, I'm embarrassed to say that fixed it. Thanks for the tip.

Robert.