Transitioning to vim. Having issues with indentation

Question

I am recovering from a surgery, thusly, I am transitioning to VIM. As I starting point, I\'ve opted to use the vim-sensible plugin as the foundation of my configuration. Addit

Answer 1

In my vimrc I have the following:

set autoindent
set expandtabs
set shiftwidth=4
set tabstop=4

Actually I just have

set ai et sw=4 ts=4

You can change the specific settings using FileType or BufEnter:

autocmd BufEnter *.py ai et sw=4 ts=4

Answer 2

Vim provides the following buffer local options for managing indention: 'softtabstop', 'shiftwidth', 'tabstop', and 'expandtab'. The idea is to set these options for a specific filetype, e.g. ruby either by using an autocommand or using the after ftplugin directory (my preference).

After directory approach

Add the following to your ~/.vim/after/ftplugin/ruby.vim file:

setlocal softtabstop=2
setlocal shiftwidth=2
setlocal tabstop=2

Autocommand approach

Add the following to your ~/.vimrc file:

augroup MyIndentSettings
  autocmd!
  autocmd FileType ruby setlocal softtabstop=2 shiftwidth=2 tabstop=2
augroup END

Learn more

As you are just starting to vim it is best to learn how to query these options so you can track down future bugs. Querying an option is as simple as :verbose set {option}?, e.g. :verbose set expandtab?.

You may also be interested in Tim Pope's vim-sleuth which heuristically sets indent settings.

For more help see:

:h :set
:h 'softtabstop'
:h 'shiftwidth'
:h 'tabstop'
:h 'expandtab'
:h after-directory