Vim indent JavaScript files with spaces instead of tab

Question

I have the following vimrc configuration which is working fine for Python files:

execute pathogen#infect()
syntax on
filetype plugin indent on
set tabstop=4

So when I press tab it's an alias to 4 spaces.

But it doesnt seem to work with JavaScript files.

When I press tab it always add a tab plus 2 spaces for every indentation. I am ok with the two spaces but how can I replace that tab with 4 spaces?

All the code is indented with spaces I dont want start adding tabs/spaces mix

I know you can specify the tabs/spaces for specific files but I cant make it work

autocmd FileType javascript setlocal shiftwidth=1 tabstop=4

Just a tangent comment: if you want to fix your existing files, the tools expand and unexpand might come in handy. Hope this helps! — Bart Van Loon
– Bart Van Loon, Commented Sep 13, 2017 at 20:15

Ingo Karkat · Accepted Answer · 2017-09-13 11:28:19Z

5

To configure 4-space indentation, you need to :setlocal tabstop=4 expandtab. To be safe, it's recommended to also reset the 'softtabstop' option to 0. Usually, you want the 'shiftwidth' option aligned to the chosen indent; that would be shiftwidth=4:

autocmd FileType javascript setlocal shiftwidth=4 tabstop=4 softtabstop=0 expandtab

I would recommend putting the options into ~/.vim/after/ftplugin/javascript.vim instead of defining lots of :autocmd FileType javascript; it's cleaner and scales better; requires that you have :filetype plugin on, though.

If that doesn't work, some filetype plugin (or another :autocmd) may override your settings. You can check with

:verbose setlocal shiftwidth? tabstop? softtabstop? expandtab?

answered Sep 13, 2017 at 11:28

Ingo Karkat

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4 Comments

lapinkoira Over a year ago

mmm It doesnt work, and the :verbose says it has been defined in vimrc (where I put the autocmd to test it) However it seems to work if I add to the vimrc just set shiftwidth=4 and set expandtab after the configuration written on my question, maybe vim is not detecting the javascript file? or any vim pathogen stuff is overriding it?

Ingo Karkat Over a year ago

Could be; you can check via :setlocal filetype?, which should return javascript.

lapinkoira Over a year ago

yep, it says javascript, it's strange I cannot make it work with autocmd but it works if I just add the options separately at vimrc

Ingo Karkat Over a year ago

Try switching from :autocmd to the file ~/.vim/after/ftplugin/javascript.vim; that gives you at least the precise location with :verbose, and maybe solves a problem with autocmd ordering.

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