Why vim is changing first letter to g after opening a file

Question

When I open a file, eg vim .bashrc, vim opens the file and change the first letter to g. What I see is the following:

g To the extent p         


        

Answer 1

Strange enough, but it works for me. I created a ~/.vimrc file:

syntax on   
set background=dark

The 2nd option disable the bug.

Answer 2

So it appers to be a vim issue. So far I gathered only two solutions:

• Reinstall to older version of vim. i reinstalled to 7.4.752-1 and bug is gone.
• Change cygwin terminal to anyone but "xterm*" (right-click on title bar -> Options... -> Terminal -> Type)

Answer 3

make sure you dont set the visual bell in your .vimrc

set visualbell

in case you have it then just delete it :)

Answer 4

I am on ArchLinux. vim 8.0.0987-1 always decreases a number upon opening a file (as if xtrl+x pressed). Downgrade to 8.0.0722-1 fixed the issue.

Answer 5

I had the exact same problem

I found out it was a bug in my ssh client (mobaXterm).

Updating (to mobaXterm 'personal edition v9.1') resolved the issue.

Answer 6

The exact same thing was happening to me! It wasn't occurring in gvim, so I thought maybe something was going on in my .vimrc. I zeroed-out my .vimrc but it was still happening. Only when I completely deleted my .vimrc did this behavior stop. As suggested,I rolled back to an older version (7.3.1152-1) with cygwin setup and that fixed it. I did not have to change any terminal settings, however. It makes sense because I updated cygwin yesterday, when I started seeing the errant g's.