Vim - indent with spaces in Python

Question

I've been using Vim for a while heard people saying indent with spaces is a better practice when programming in Python so I configured my .vimrc as below:

au BufNewFile,BufRead *.py,*.java,*.cpp,*.c,*.h,*.md,*.html,*.css,*.js
    \ set expandtab |
    \ set tabstop=4 |
    \ set softtabstop=4 |
    \ set shiftwidth=4 |
    \ set textwidth=120 |
    \ set autoindent |
    \ set fileformat=unix |

Everything works well so far. But I noticed unlike other editors for example vscode or sublime. Vim does not keep the indent in a line gap between code.

The cursor will indent itself when I hit enter but if I leave that line blank when I return to that line the cursor will appear at the beginning of the line.

Here is an example (@ as cursor):

Class RandomClass:
    code... # 1) hit <enter> and change line
    @ # 2) cursor will appear in here. auto indented. good 3) now hit <enter> again and leave this as a line gap
    code... # 4) code something and 5) return back to the line gap

    # 6) now the cursor '@' would appear at the beginning of the line without indentation

Is this what it suppose to be?

not a vim expert, but why do you have autoindent commented out? Seems like that could be the reason — griffin_cosgrove
– griffin_cosgrove, Commented Jan 5, 2021 at 19:27
I believe that's just a stack overflow formatting thing. I've edited it so it does not look at being commented out. thanks. — yixin0829
– yixin0829, Commented Jan 5, 2021 at 19:41
Not sure if this works for Python, but for most languages you can press cc on an empty line to get into insert mode with the cursor already indented. — Travis
– Travis, Commented Jan 5, 2021 at 21:19
See vi.stackexchange.com/questions/5760/… for starting insert at the right indentation on a line where Vim stripped it. — filbranden
– filbranden, Commented Jan 6, 2021 at 15:27

romainl · Accepted Answer · 2021-01-05 20:52:44Z

3

Is this what it suppose to be?

Yes, if there is no code on the line, then there is no need to indent it.

answered Jan 5, 2021 at 20:52

romainl

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1 Comment

yixin0829 Over a year ago

Thanks. I also followed the tips in this post and there is a work around config I can add to .vimrc which I found in here

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