diff --git a/pkgs/applications/editors/vim/common.nix b/pkgs/applications/editors/vim/common.nix
index 7ceca4a8902..c91df72f18c 100644
--- a/pkgs/applications/editors/vim/common.nix
+++ b/pkgs/applications/editors/vim/common.nix
@@ -13,6 +13,13 @@ rec {
 
   hardeningDisable = [ "fortify" ];
 
+  postPatch =
+    # Use man from $PATH; escape sequences are still problematic.
+    ''
+      substituteInPlace runtime/ftplugin/man.vim \
+        --replace "/usr/bin/man " "man "
+    '';
+
   meta = with lib; {
     description = "The most popular clone of the VI editor";
     homepage    = http://www.vim.org;
diff --git a/pkgs/applications/editors/vim/configurable.nix b/pkgs/applications/editors/vim/configurable.nix
index 793f554970f..d0a0c63d9d0 100644
--- a/pkgs/applications/editors/vim/configurable.nix
+++ b/pkgs/applications/editors/vim/configurable.nix
@@ -46,7 +46,7 @@ composableDerivation {
 
     name = "vim_configurable-${version}";
 
-    inherit (common) version hardeningDisable enableParallelBuilding meta;
+    inherit (common) version postPatch hardeningDisable enableParallelBuilding meta;
 
     src = builtins.getAttr source {
       "default" = common.src; # latest release
diff --git a/pkgs/applications/editors/vim/default.nix b/pkgs/applications/editors/vim/default.nix
index cf84609921e..8c9a725ddd6 100644
--- a/pkgs/applications/editors/vim/default.nix
+++ b/pkgs/applications/editors/vim/default.nix
@@ -14,7 +14,7 @@ in
 stdenv.mkDerivation rec {
   name = "vim-${version}";
 
-  inherit (common) version src hardeningDisable enableParallelBuilding meta;
+  inherit (common) version src postPatch hardeningDisable enableParallelBuilding meta;
 
   buildInputs = [ ncurses pkgconfig ]
     ++ stdenv.lib.optionals stdenv.isDarwin [ Carbon Cocoa ];