Thomas Mellman wrote:
When moving from buffer to buffer using
the :bp and :bn commands, vim normally positions the file and cursor
such that the last line visited is presented in the middle of the
screen and the cursor is on that line.
In certain circumstances, however, it does not do this. In those
circumstances, when one opens the file, the cursor is indeed placed
on the last line visited - but that line is positioned at the bottom
of the window.
This apparently only happens when syntax is on - but for all (tested)
syntaxes.
Now, in particular, this happens if the cursor is positioned on the
line of the file that falls within a range starting at the window
height. The extent of this range appears to be a function of the file
length - for example, in one case, the window height is 70 lines. The
range causing the problem starts at line 70 of the file and - for very
long files - extents to line 104. When the cursor is place on line 105,
moving into the buffer causes the last line to be positioned in the
middle of the window. When the cursor is placed on line 104, reentering
the buffer puts the line at the bottom of the window.
In this particular case, if the file is longer than 104
lines but shorter than 139 lines, the event happens anywhere after
line 69 - but note that only lines 35-104 would be required to display
line 70 in the middle of the window.
See ":help 'scrolloff'".
Setting 'scrolloff' to a large number (large enough to always be larger
than half the value of 'lines') will always keep the cursor line near
the middle of the screen, except when it is in the very first or last
few lines of the file (e.g., the first line of the file will never start
"lower" than the first line of the window).
You could also use z. (zed-fullstop or zee-period depending on your
flavour of English) in Normal mode, to move "just once" the cursor line
to the middle.
Best regards,
Tony.
