So the "rc" in vimrc means "run commands". And while the term gets abused, by and large what's in vimrc can just be run directly by yourself in vim without a fi

So the "rc" in vimrc means "run commands". And while the term gets abused, by and large what's in vimrc can just be run directly by yourself in vim without a file. All the config file really does is run a list of commands on startup.