excluding line numbering from mkview/loadview

Question

I include set number in my .vimrc file to have line numbers automatically displayed upon opening a file. I also use the following code block to automatically save and load the view when closing and opening buffers, mainly for the purpose of saving folds:

augroup AutoSaveFolds
  autocmd!
  autocmd BufWinLeave * mkview
  autocmd BufWinEnter * silent loadview
augroup END 

However, one view setting that I wish to avoid saving is line numbering. Currently, if I hide line numbering and then close a file, line numbering is unset when that file is reopened. This is true even if set number is placed after the augroup block in my .vimrc file.

Can I circumvent this limitation, such that line numbering will automatically be enabled any time a buffer is opened while still allowing fold settings to be persistent?

Answer 1

From :h :mkview:

The output of ":mkview" contains these items: ...

3. Restore mappings, abbreviations and options local to the window if 'viewoptions' contains "options" or "localoptions".

The global option 'viewoptions' controls what will be saved/restored when you execute :mkview, :loadview. Its default value contains the item options. So maybe yours contained options as well, and/or localoptions. Here are how these items are described in :h 'vop:

options options and mappings local to a window or buffer (not global values for local options)

localoptions same as "options"

This may be the reason why your 'number' option was saved/restored. To prevent this, you can remove the items from 'vop':

set vop-=options vop-=localoptions

Or reset 'vop' entirely:

set vop=folds,cursor,curdir
        │     │      │
        │     │      └ save the local working directory
        │     └ save the cursor position
        └ save the folds