Reputation: 44578

How to tab (back, forward) a block of code in Vim?

How do you tab a block of code, to the right to the left, on Vim?

Upvotes: 30

Answers (8)

Pythoneer

Reputation: 11

(from learnbyexample.github.io)

"v"- visually select the current character, use any motion command to extend the selection

i.e. v to enter visual mode, then tab down or up with the arrow key to select however many lines, then 'shift + >' for example, to tab a whole block of code right

Upvotes: 1

Fragsworth

Reputation: 35497

Short Answer:

V select lines by ↓ and then >

and for 3 tabs:
V, 3 and then >

My favorite way is to select your block of code (with [V]isual line mode normally), then press > or If you want to tab more than once, 2> or 3> to repeat it.

If you didn't tab enough (or tabbed too much) then type "gv" to reselect your selection and try again.

To move a block of code, select it with [V]isual line mode and then press "d". This is the "Cut" operation.

Then move your cursor to the place you want it to go, and press "p". This is the "Paste" operation.

You can also try auto-tabbing a block of code by selecting it with [V]isual line mode, and pressing "=".

Upvotes: 74

Mia Altieri

Reputation: 39

Place your cursor at start/end of block

Enter visual mode holding Shift+Alt (Shift+Option on macOS)

Use up/down arrows to select block

press > (to add a tab) or < (to remove a tab)

Upvotes: 0

Nivir

Reputation: 31178

Just go in visual mode typing v and then use the < or > character :)

Upvotes: 0

csexton

Reputation: 24783

I use a handy remap for visual mode that allows indenting the text multiple times while keeping your text selected. Similar to how some IDEs lets you select and hit tab (or shift-tab) to indent.

Add the following to your .vimrc

" Pressing < or > will let you indent/unident selected lines
vnoremap < <gv
vnoremap > >gv

Also you can use == to have vim try and determine the correct indenting automatically. It will work on any line buy just placing the cursor there and pressing == or you can do fancy stuff like select the entire file and press == to fix all the indenting (works wonders on html generated by wysiwyg editors).

Upvotes: 5