How do I indent a particular block of code in Vim?

Question

In Aptana Studio when I have to format code I choose a block of code and then press Ctrl + Shift + F.

What is the equivalent of this in Vim?

I.e., say we got the below lines of code:

function() {
var test = "Hello, World!";
var test2 = "Hello, World! Again";
}

The final output I want to see is well formatted code like below:

function(){
  var test = "Hello, World!";
  var test2 = "Hello, World! Again";
}

Answer 1

If Vim knows the language you are using, you can use the = key to auto-indent a section of code.

Within the block type =a}, or to auto-indent the entire file by typing gg=G.

Answer 2

Use >i{ (right-shift inside current block), or better yet, =a{ (properly indent the current block), plus having a proper indent mode enabled (e.g. :set cindent).

If you're opening up a whole file that's badly indented, you might want to start off with gg=G (re-indent the whole file).

Answer 3

You can use

set shiftwidth=2

to indent with two spaces, as I can see in your example, and then:

V

to insert in visual mode block,

j

to go one line down and select both,

>

to indent once.

Answer 4

• Esc to get to normal mode.
• Select with v or V, and then >.
• >> or :> to indent one line.
• X>> or :X> if you want to indent multiple times.

Check :help shiftwidth to set how many spaces your indentation will be.