This also works: :map :set number! "" for insert mode :imap :set number! Another alternative is: :map :let &number=1-&number I do this -- which inverts the 'number' option for every window: func! s:NumToggle() let s:current_winnr = winnr() windo set invnumber exec s:current_winnr."winc w" endfunc map :call NumToggle() You can also do this: noremap :if &number \| set nonumber \| else \| set number \| endif Yes, but it's faster to just do: noremap :set number!