Comment highlight group does not work without reloading .vimrc

Question

The following line in my ~/.vimrc:

hi Comment ctermfg=gray

does not take effect unless I start Vim and then use :source to reload .vimrc. As far as I can tell, all of the other hi commands work without reloading .vimrc. What could be causing this?

This is my full .vimrc:

filetype indent plugin on                                                       
syntax on                                                                       

set number                                                                      
set relativenumber                                                              

set colorcolumn=80                                                              

set showcmd                                                                     

set expandtab                                                                   
set shiftwidth=4                                                                
set smarttab                                                                    

set list                                                                        
set listchars=tab:>-,trail:~                                                    

hi ColorColumn ctermbg=0                                                        
hi LineNr ctermfg=gray                                                          
hi CursorLineNr ctermfg=gray                                                    
hi Comment ctermfg=gray                                                         
hi Function ctermfg=darkgreen                                                   

hi pythonStatement ctermfg=lightblue                                            
hi pythonConditional ctermfg=lightblue                                          
hi pythonRepeat ctermfg=lightblue                                               
hi pythonException ctermfg=lightblue                                            
hi pythonDecoratorName ctermfg=lightblue                                        
let python_no_number_highlight = 1                                                                                                               

Edit: The output of :verbose hi Comment is:

Comment        xxx term=bold ctermfg=14 guifg=#80a0ff
        Last set from /usr/share/vim/vim80/syntax/syncolor.vim

So it appears that my setting is being overridden by the default syntax file. I will investigate how to solve this when I have time, but would appreciate any tips from more experienced users :)

Answer 1

I can confirm this with the latest vim-nightly.

1. your vimrc loads first (where you have defined your highlighing)
2. then syntax/synload.vim does override it with:

" Set the default highlighting colors.  Use a color scheme if specified.
if exists("colors_name")
  exe "colors " . colors_name
else
  runtime! syntax/syncolor.vim
endif

where syntax/syncolor.vim is the one that defines default colors.

I have tried to setup:

let g:colors_name = "mycolorscheme"
let colors_name = "mycolorscheme"
hi Comment guibg=green

But it still thinks colors_name doesn't exist.

Back to solution: Solution 1

I would suggest to create your own colorscheme .vim/colors/mycolorscheme.vim

set background=light

hi clear
if exists('syntax_on')
    syntax reset
endif

let g:colors_name = 'mycolorscheme'

hi ColorColumn ctermbg=0                                                        
hi LineNr ctermfg=gray                                                          
hi CursorLineNr ctermfg=gray                                                    
hi Comment ctermfg=gray                                                         
hi Function ctermfg=darkgreen                                                   

hi pythonStatement ctermfg=lightblue                                            
hi pythonConditional ctermfg=lightblue                                          
hi pythonRepeat ctermfg=lightblue                                               
hi pythonException ctermfg=lightblue                                            
hi pythonDecoratorName ctermfg=lightblue

and in your vimrc use it:

filetype indent plugin on                                                       
syntax on                                                                       

set number                                                                      
set relativenumber                                                              

set colorcolumn=80                                                              

set showcmd                                                                     

set expandtab                                                                   
set shiftwidth=4                                                                
set smarttab                                                                    

set list                                                                        
set listchars=tab:>-,trail:~ 

let python_no_number_highlight = 1

colorscheme mycolorscheme

Solution 2

Just add colorscheme default before your highlight definitions:

filetype indent plugin on                                                       
syntax on                                                                       

set number                                                                      
set relativenumber                                                              

set colorcolumn=80                                                              

set showcmd                                                                     

set expandtab                                                                   
set shiftwidth=4                                                                
set smarttab                                                                    

set list                                                                        
set listchars=tab:>-,trail:~                                                    

colorscheme default

hi ColorColumn ctermbg=0                                                        
hi LineNr ctermfg=gray                                                          
hi CursorLineNr ctermfg=gray                                                    
hi Comment ctermfg=gray                                                         
hi Function ctermfg=darkgreen                                                   

hi pythonStatement ctermfg=lightblue                                            
hi pythonConditional ctermfg=lightblue                                          
hi pythonRepeat ctermfg=lightblue                                               
hi pythonException ctermfg=lightblue                                            
hi pythonDecoratorName ctermfg=lightblue                                        
let python_no_number_highlight = 1  

PS, looks like colorscheme command does smth that sets up colors_name variable properly?