How do I make Emacs auto-indent my C code?

Question

I\'m just starting to get a feel for emacs, but I am frustrated with it\'s tendency to not indent when I press the return key. I know if I press C-j it will do it, but I can\'t

Answer 1

The easy way to do that is to use electric-indent-mode. If you want to enable it manually, just do

M-x electric-indent-mode

In order to enable it automatically, say the following in your .emacs:

(electric-indent-mode)

This will be the default in Emacs 24.4.