Vim startup errors (invalid expression) Debian - vim

Question

I'm having issues setting up Vim. Firstly I'm having a bunch of errors when start up Vim, I get these errors:
Error detected while processing /home/lee/.vimrc:
line 5:
E492: Not an editor command: generate helptags for everything in 'runtimepath'
Error detected while processing /home/lee/.vim/plugin/fuf.vim:
line 13:
***** L9 library must be installed! *****
Error detected while processing /home/lee/.vim/plugin/refactor.vim:
line 45:
E492: Not an editor command: ^M
line 53:
E492: Not an editor command: ^M
line 55:
E15: Invalid expression: ["auto", "const", "double", "float", "int", "short", "struct", "unsigned", "break", "continue", "else", "for", "long", "signed", "switch", "void", "case", "default", "enum", "goto", "register", "sizeof", "typedef", "volatile", "char", "do", "extern", "if", "return", "static", "union", "while", "asm", "dynamic_cast", "namespace", "reinterpret_cast", "try", "bool", "explicit", "new", "static_cast", "typeid", "catch", "false", "operator", "template", "typename", "class", "friend", "private", "this", "using", "const_cast", "inline", "public", "throw", "virtual", "delete", "mutable", "protected", "true", "wchar_t", "size_t"]^M
line 56:
E492: Not an editor command: ^M
line 58:
E15: Invalid expression: '\<\h\w*\>'^M
line 59:
E15: Invalid expression: '\s*[*&]*\s*'^M
line 60:
E121: Undefined variable: s:IdentifierPattern
E15: Invalid expression: s:IdentifierPattern . s:TypePostfixPattern^M
line 62:
E121: Undefined variable: s:TypeElementPattern
E15: Invalid expression: '\%(' . s:TypeElementPattern . '\%(' . s:TemplateParameterPattern . s:TypePostfixPattern . '\)*' . s:TypePostfixPattern . '\)\+'^M
line 64:
E15: Invalid expression: '\%(\s\+\n*\s*\|\n\+\|\s*\n*\s\+\)'^M
line 65:
E121: Undefined variable: s:TypeIdentifierPattern
E15: Invalid expression: s:TypeIdentifierPattern . s:MissableSeperatorPattern . s:IdentifierPattern . '\%\(\[\d*\]\)*'^M
line 66:
E121: Undefined variable: s:TypeIdentifierPattern
E15: Invalid expression: '^\s*\%(' . s:TypeIdentifierPattern . s:SeperatorPattern. '\|' . s:IdentifierPattern . '::\)\+' ^M
line 67:
E121: Undefined variable: s:VariableDeclarationPattern
E15: Invalid expression: '(' . s:MissableSeperatorPattern . '\%(' . s:VariableDeclarationPattern . '\%(\s*,' . s:MissableSeperatorPattern . s:VariableDeclarationPattern . '\)*\)*\s*)'^M
line 68:
E121: Undefined variable: s:FunctionPerfixPattern
E15: Invalid expression: s:FunctionPerfixPattern . s:MissableSeperatorPattern . s:IdentifierPattern . s:MissableSeperatorPattern . s:ParameterListPattern . '[^(){;]*'^M
line 69:
E121: Undefined variable: s:FunctionPattern
E15: Invalid expression: s:FunctionPattern . s:MissableSeperatorPattern . '\%(;\)\#='^M
line 70:
E121: Undefined variable: s:FunctionPattern
E15: Invalid expression: s:FunctionPattern . s:MissableSeperatorPattern . '\%({\)\#='^M
line 71:
E492: Not an editor command: ^M
line 72:
E488: Trailing characters
line 114:
E492: Not an editor command: ^M
line 115:
E488: Trailing characters
line 182:
E492: Not an editor command: ^M
line 183:
E488: Trailing characters
line 220:
E492: Not an editor command: ^M
line 221:
E488: Trailing characters
line 240:
E492: Not an editor command: ^M
line 241:
E488: Trailing characters
line 285:
E492: Not an editor command: ^M
line 286:
E488: Trailing characters
line 359:
E492: Not an editor command: ^M
line 360:
E488: Trailing characters
line 372:
E492: Not an editor command: ^M
line 374:
E488: Trailing characters
line 411:
E492: Not an editor command: ^M
line 412:
E488: Trailing characters
line 424:
E492: Not an editor command: ^M
line 425:
E488: Trailing characters
line 432:
E492: Not an editor command: ^M
line 433:
E488: Trailing characters
Press ENTER or type command to continue
Also, when I try to run :helptags ~/.vim/doc it doesn't load at all. It just shows a blank editor screen.
I would appreciate your help, I've searched the web for solutions but I've been unable to fix it. I really want to start using Vim. Thank you!
EDIT: I added my .vimrc
set nocompatible
call pathogen#infect()
execute pathogen#infect()
call pathogen#helptags()
generate helptags for everything in 'runtimepath'
syntax on
filetype plugin indent on

Answer 1

Oh my gosh! I see several issues:
E492: Not an editor command: generate helptags for everything in 'runtimepath'
You must have a line starting with generate helptags ... somewhere (your ~/.vimrc?); it should be a comment: Prepend a " to the line.
***** L9 library must be installed! *****
The FuzzyFinder plugin requires another plugin; you can get it at L9 - Vim-script library.
Error detected while processing /home/lee/.vim/plugin/refactor.vim:
line 45:
E492: Not an editor command: ^M
That's caused by Vimscript files that have Windows-style CR-LF line endings when used on Linux. Open the corresponding file(s) in Vim and convert them to Unix-style endings via
:w ++ff=unix
I hope you'll start to see the light after these. A link to your full Vim config would be helpful to further diagnose this. If you're new to Vim, it's recommended to start with a lean .vimrc, and only gradually add plugins, as you become more proficient and identify the needs.

Answer 2

For the E492: Not an editor command: ^M part, I actually got the same problem but the above answers didn't help.
So I found this and it works for me:
For Cygwin (which I use): install dos2unix from the package installer
For Ubuntu/Debian:
sudo apt-get install tofrodos; sudo ln -s /usr/bin/fromdos /usr/bin/dos2unix
For CentOS, Fedora, ...:
sudo yum install dos2unix
Then use it this way:
dos2unix ~/.vimrc
That should clean all CRLF from the file

Answer 3

I see these types of errors:
Error detected while processing ~/.vim/plugin/<some_plugin_giving_you_error>:
line 45:
E492: Not an editor command: ^M
when a .gitconfig has Windows relevant [core] settings but used on a Linux box. Then when a plugin is downloaded by either a Vim plugin manager or manually, these errors start showing up.
So I would suggest checking your Git settings, delete the downloaded files, and try again.

Answer 4

Simple option in linux.
Goto the bundle folder ~/.vim/bundle or the specific package dir execute find . | xargs dos2unix.

Answer 5

the simple way without any tools involve:
more .vimrc #prepare for the copy paste
vi .vimrc #start with a blank .vimrc
copy paste the original .vimrc content to the blank .vimrc
done

Answer 6

Error detected while processing /home/lee/.vimrc:
line 5:
E492: Not an editor command: generate helptags for everything in 'runtimepath'
That line is not commented
Error detected while processing /home/lee/.vim/plugin/fuf.vim:
line 13:
***** L9 library must be installed! *****
FuzzyFinder needs the L9 library but it didn't find it.
Error detected while processing /home/lee/.vim/plugin/refactor.vim:
line 45:
E492: Not an editor command: ^M
On Linux, Vim doesn't like Windows line endings and you seem to have a lot of them.
line 55:
E15: Invalid expression: ["auto", "const", "double", "float", "int", "short", "struct", "unsigned", "break", "continue", "else", "for", "long", "signed", "switch", "void", "case", "default", "enum", "goto", "register", "sizeof", "typedef", "volatile", "char", "do", "extern", "if", "return", "static", "union", "while", "asm", "dynamic_cast", "namespace", "reinterpret_cast", "try", "bool", "explicit", "new", "static_cast", "typeid", "catch", "false", "operator", "template", "typename", "class", "friend", "private", "this", "using", "const_cast", "inline", "public", "throw", "virtual", "delete", "mutable", "protected", "true", "wchar_t", "size_t"]^M
Same as above, the trailing ^M is the problem.
line 58:
E15: Invalid expression: '\<\h\w*\>'^M
And so on…
This command
:%s/<C-v><CR>//
should reduce the number of errors. <C-v><CR> means "hit Ctrl+V, then hit the Enter key".
Please show us your ~/.vimrc so that we can help you further.