You could also consider use the database extension plugin for Vim, which provides a lot of features for Postgress. script#356 db_ext.vim One other way of using vim with the \e command in psql is to set the PSQL_EDITOR environment variable. On a redhat system you'd do the following: export PSQL_EDITOR=vim When using old versions of psql the buffer does not have the .sql extension. If you want syntax highlighting use: export PSQL_EDITOR='vim +"set syntax=sql" '