[macos] How to run mvim (MacVim) from Terminal?

I have MacVim installed and I am trying to set it up as the editor for Git (version control), but I can't run 'mvim' from the command line as it isn't recognised. How do I setup mvim so I can run it from Terminal?

In addition, if you want to use MacVim (or GVim) as $VISUAL or $EDITOR, you should be aware that by default MacVim will fork a new process from the parent, resulting in the MacVim return value not reaching the parent process. This may confuse other applications, but Git seems to check the status of a temporary commit message file, which bypasses this limitation. In general, it is a good practice to export VISUAL='mvim -f' to ensure MacVim will not fork a new process when called, which should give you what you want when using it with your shell environment.

If you have homeBrew installed, this is all you have to do:

brew install macvim
brew linkapps

Then type mvim in your terminal to run MacVim.

If you go the brew route, the best way to install would be:

brew install macvim --with-override-system-vim

That will provide mvim, vim, vi, view, etc. in /usr/local/bin (all symlinked to the copy in the Cellar). This also removes the need to create any aliases and also changes your vi, vim, etc. to all use the same Vim distribution as your MacVim.

I don't think I'd to add anything to the path, did

brew install macvim

mvim -v

should then open macvim in the terminal, you can also go ahead and alias that

alias vim='mvim -v'

Here's what I did:

After building Macvim I copied mvim to one of my $PATH destinations (In this case I chose /usr/local/bin)

cp -v [MacVim_source_folder]/src/MacVim/mvim /usr/local/bin

Then when you invoke mvim it is now recognised but there is an annoying thing. It opens the visual MacVim window, not the one in terminal. To do that, you have to invoke

mvim -v

To make sure every time you call mvim you don't have to remember to add the '-v' you can create an alias:

alias mvim='mvim -v'

However, this alias will only persist for this session of the Terminal. To have this alias executed every time you open a Terminal window, you have to include it in your .profile The .profile should be in your home directory. If it's not, create it.

cd ~
mvim -v .profile

include the alias command in there and save it.

That's it.

I'm adding Bard Park's comment here for that was the real answer for me:

Since mvim is simply a shell script, you can download it directly from the MacVim source at GitHub here: http://raw.github.com/b4winckler/macvim/master/src/MacVim/mvim

Assume MacVim is installed in the Application folder.

Instead of adding MacVim path to your environment, create a link by typing this in terminal:

sudo ln -s /Applications/MacVim.app/Contents/bin/mvim /usr/local/bin/mvim

Then, open a new terminal window/tab and type mvim.

If you already have macVim installed: /Applications/MacVim.app/Contents/MacOS/Vim -g will give you macVim GUI.

just add an alias.

i use gvim because that is what i use on linux for gnome-vim.

alias gvim='/Applications/MacVim.app/Contents/MacOS/Vim -g'

For Mac .app bundles, you should install them via cask, if available, as using symlinks can cause issues. You may even get the following warning if you brew linkapps:

Unfortunately brew linkapps cannot behave nicely with e.g. Spotlight using either aliases or symlinks and Homebrew formulae do not build "proper" .app bundles that can be relocated. Instead, please consider using brew cask and migrate formulae using .apps to casks.

For MacVim, you can install with:

brew cask install macvim

You should then be able to launch MacVim like you do any other macOS app, including mvim or open -a MacVim from a terminal session.

UPDATE: A bit of clarification about brew and brew cask. In a nutshell, brew handles software at the unix level, whereas brew cask extends the functionality of brew into the macOS domain for additional functionality such as handling the location of macOS app bundles. Remember that brew is also implemented on Linux so it makes sense to have this division. There are other resources that explain the difference in more detail, such as What is the difference between brew and brew cask? so I won't say much more here.

This works for me:

? brew link --overwrite macvim
Linking /usr/local/Cellar/macvim/8.0-146_1... 12 symlinks created

I'd seriously recommend installing MacVim via MacPorts (sudo port install MacVim).

When installed, MacPorts automatically updates your profile to include /opt/local/bin in your path, and so when mvim is installed as /opt/local/bin/mvim during the install of MacVim you'll find it ready to use straight away.

When you install the MacVim port the MacVim.app bundle is installed in /Applications/MacPorts for you too.

A good thing about going the MacPorts route is that you'll also be able to install git too (sudo port install git-core) and many many other ports. Highly recommended.