You cannot. From `:h 'number'` (emphasis mine): > Print the line number in front of ***each line*** You can only enable `number` or `relativenumber` for the whole window. See: :help 'number' :help 'relativenumber' **Edit:** In Vim, this isn't feasible because `'signcolumn'` has a max width of 2 characters. However, if you're using NeoVim, it can be feasibly done because the `'signcolumn'` options supports a width of up to 9, so unless you're editing files with > 1 billion lines, there is enough space for line numbers. This might be easier done in Lua (I don't know, I've never written a Lua plugin for Nvim), but here is a solution in Vimscript. No guarantees about performance or "correctness" (it's kind of just thrown together), but it appears to work, let me know if I've missed some bug (spoiler for brevity): let g:custom_number_delimiter='##' let s:sign_id=500 " script level variable of current sign ID function! number#get_section_lines() abort " save cursor pos to restore let l:cursor_pos=[line('.'), col('.')] " Get line number by: " 1. :g/re/p for start of sections " 2. split output of :g/re/p into List " 3. isolate line numbers from output let l:section_start_lnums=number#isolate_lnums(split(execute('g/' . g:custom_number_delimiter . '.\+' . g:custom_number_delimiter . '/p#'), "\n")) " no matches if len(l:section_start_lnums) == 0 return [] endif " restore cursor pos (:g/re/p moves to last match, be nice and put it back) call cursor(cursor_pos) " build list of ranges in the format [[range_start_line, range_end_line], ...] let l:prev_lnum=-1 let l:curr_lnum=-1 let l:sections=[] for lnum in l:section_start_lnums let l:prev_lnum=l:curr_lnum let l:curr_lnum=lnum if l:prev_lnum != -1 call add(l:sections, [l:prev_lnum, l:curr_lnum-1]) endif endfor " logically, final section extends to end of file call add(l:sections, [l:curr_lnum, line('$')]) return l:sections endfunction " gradually trim line until only the line number remains function! number#isolate_lnums(section_lines) abort if a:section_lines[0] =~ "Pattern not found" return [] endif let l:lnums=[] for section_line in a:section_lines " trim trailing characters let l:lnum = substitute(section_line, '^\s\+\d\+\zs.*', '', '') " trim excess whitespace let l:lnum = substitute(l:lnum, '\s', '', 'g') call add(l:lnums, str2nr(l:lnum)) endfor return l:lnums endfunction " define more signs, if needed " note: doesn't abort on error function! number#define_signs(sections) let l:biggest_diff=-1 for section in a:sections let l:curr_diff=section[1]-section[0] let l:biggest_diff=l:curr_diff > l:biggest_diff ? l:curr_diff : l:biggest_diff endfor for i in range(l:biggest_diff+1) " fail silently when lnum is >= 100 in Vim " In NeoVim use :h 'signcolumn' and :h 'number' accordingly exec 'silent! sign define Lnum' . i . ' texthl=LineNr text=' . i endfor endfunction " place signs in buffer " note: doesn't abort on error function! number#place_signs(sections) " clear all of our signs for current buffer exec 'sign unplace * group=CustomNumber buffer=' . bufnr() " no matches if len(a:sections) == 0 return endif " define signs, if needed call number#define_signs(a:sections) for section in a:sections let l:custom_lnum=0 for lnum in range(section[0], section[1]) exec 'silent! sign place ' . s:sign_id . ' line=' . lnum . ' name=Lnum' . l:custom_lnum . ' group=CustomNumber buffer=' . bufnr() let l:custom_lnum+=1 let s:sign_id+=1 endfor endfor endfunction augroup CustomNumber autocmd! autocmd BufEnter,BufNew,TextChanged,TextChangedI,TextChangedP * call number#place_signs(number#get_section_lines()) augroup END And here is what that looks like in Vim: ![example picture](https://i.sstatic.net/qRKYz.png) See: :h 'signcolumn' :h :sign :h :sign-define :h :sign-place :h :sign-unplace