Re: Indenting

On Thursday, October 25, 2012 12:35:57 PM UTC-5, analogsix wrote:
> Thanks guys,
>
> tabstop did it. I read the help text on
> :tabstop, :softtabstop, :expandtab, :shiftwidth
>
> I'll list a description of each according to how I understand it. Can you kindly correct my understanding where I'm mistaken?
>
> :set tabstop=#
> also known as a hard tab. Configuring this setting specifies the number of <space> characters per <tab> character inputted in insert mode.
>

No, this option controls how many spaces are DISPLAYED for a hard tab in the text. It has nothing to do with what characters are actually inserted into the text when you press your <tab> key.

> :set softtabstop=#
> also known as a soft tab (default is 0 which means it is a disabled setting). However if a nonzero number is set that is greater than :tabstop then <Tab>s and <Backspace>s in insert mode will be the equivalent to inserting a number of hard <Tab>s (as specified by :tabstop) as well as <space>s so that the total number of spaces is equivalent to what was specified in :softtabstop. Hence when softtabstop is
>

This option also affects autoindent. Autoindent always works in multiples of your 'shiftwidth' option.

> :set expandtab
> boolean setting (default is off).
> In insert mode, this setting uses the appropriate number of spaces (as specified when ':set autoindent' as well as the ':set shiftwidth=#' option is set) to insert tabs. The number of spaces is specified by 'shiftwidth'.
>

When this setting is on, pressing <tab> in insert mode actually inserts spaces instead of tabs.

> :set shiftwidth
> (default is 8)
> # of spaces to use for each step of autoindent (i.e. 'cindent', '>>', and '<<')

A good example of how these play together is the Vim source code, which if memory serves uses:

shiftwidth=4
tabstop=8
softtabstop=4
noexpandtab

Pressing tab once on an empty line inserts 4 spaces. Pressing it again replaces the 4 spaces with a single hard tab. A third time gives you a single hard tab followed by 4 spaces. A fourth time gives you 2 hard tabs, etc. Automatic indentation with cindent, autoindent, etc. inserts enough tabs, possibly followed by 4 spaces, to reach the appropriate multiple of 'shiftwidth'.

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