Vim powerline (Lokaltog's) weird characters in MacVim

Question

I\'m trying to use Powerline plugin (https://github.com/Lokaltog/vim-powerline) for the first time.

Plugin seems to be installed. I use vundle with the following command

Answer 1

You're referring to two different plugins. vim-powerline is the old vim-only project. Lokaltog/powerline is a new Python-based port, and the code points have changed in this version because the old code points caused a bunch of issues.

You'll have to either:

1. Update your bundle to point to vim-powerline (and remove the rtp option), or
2. Update your font to one of the fonts in https://github.com/Lokaltog/powerline-fonts (or patch your own)

Answer 2

In my case, fonts in the status bar were working in vim (displaying the proper symbols) but not in macvim. Added the following line to the .gvimrc file and it works fine now.

I had specify :h16

set guifont=Source\ Code\ Pro\ for\ Powerline:h16 

Answer 3

If you are using command-line vim (i.e. not a GUI implementation) you may need to specify the patched font in your terminal's preferences.

Answer 4

adding this to the vimrc file fixed it for me:

set guifont=Source\ Code\ Pro\ for\ Powerline "make sure to escape the spaces in the name properly

Source: https://github.com/bling/vim-airline/issues/142

Answer 5

Also make sure you have the right fonts not just the right name get them from https://github.com/Lokaltog/powerline-fonts and that let g:airline_powerline_fonts = 1 that if your using airline

Note:For example "Source code pro" font from http://fontsquirrel.com will give this effect but the "Source code pro for powerline" from the link above will not

Answer 6

I had the same problem. I downloaded "Menlo Regular for Powerline.otf" from https://github.com/Lokaltog/powerline-fonts

I then double clicked on the otf file, which opens up the Font Book application. I clicked install, despite the font giving gibberish symbols in the window. I then set that font as the font for my terminal (simply set it in your termnial preferenes). This fixed the problem in regular terminal vim ($ vim), but did not fix it in MacVim. To fix it in MacVim, I had to add the following line to my .vimrc file:

set guifont=Menlo\ For\ Powerline

The backslashes are necessary to escape the spaces. Everything works great now. Hope this helps others.

Edit: To add a bit more detail, my .vimrc looks like this now:

""" FOR STATUSLINE
set encoding=utf-8 " Necessary to show Unicode glyphs
let g:Powerline_symbols = 'fancy'
set rtp+=/Users/nate/Library/Python/2.7/lib/python/site-packages/powerline/bindings/vim
set nocompatible   " Disable vi-compatibility
set laststatus=2   " Always show the statusline
" For powerline font in MacVim
set guifont=Menlo\ For\ Powerline