Question

I want to make a script which will quickly replace the .vimrc file on unix type machines. The problem is that on the machines I am working vim is not located in home, and it doesn’t search for the vimrc in the home folder.

Basically the terminal command analog for what is :echo $VIMRUNTIME in Vim.

Answer 1

According to VIM’s help for vimrc:

Four places are searched for initializations.  The first that exists
is used, the others are ignored.  The $MYVIMRC environment variable is
set to the file that was first found, unless $MYVIMRC was already set
and when using VIMINIT.
-  The environment variable VIMINIT (see also |compatible-default|) (*)
   The value of $VIMINIT is used as an Ex command line.
-  The user vimrc file(s):
        "$HOME/.vimrc"  (for Unix and OS/2) (*)
        "s:.vimrc"      (for Amiga) (*)
        "home:.vimrc"   (for Amiga) (*)
        "$VIM/.vimrc"   (for OS/2 and Amiga) (*)
        "$HOME/_vimrc"  (for MS-DOS and Win32) (*)
        "$VIM/_vimrc"   (for MS-DOS and Win32) (*)
    Note: For Unix, OS/2 and Amiga, when ".vimrc" does not exist,
    "_vimrc" is also tried, in case an MS-DOS compatible file
    system is used.  For MS-DOS and Win32 ".vimrc" is checked
    after "_vimrc", in case long file names are used.
    Note: For MS-DOS and Win32, "$HOME" is checked first.  If no
    "_vimrc" or ".vimrc" is found there, "$VIM" is tried.
    See |$VIM| for when $VIM is not set.
-  The environment variable EXINIT.
   The value of $EXINIT is used as an Ex command line.
-  The user exrc file(s).  Same as for the user vimrc file, but with
   "vimrc" replaced by "exrc".  But only one of ".exrc" and "_exrc" is
   used, depending on the system.  And without the (*)!

So each user on your system could have a .vimrc stashed away in a different location, and might even be named differently.

Do you really want to take away the freedom of the users to customize VIM as they please?