How do you enable file specific tab indent settings in VIM?

Question

I believe there is a method to write a comment in a file that vim will use to override default tabbing and indent values.

Can someone point me to information about this feature and how to use it?

Answer 1

Per-file settings can be done using "modeline magic".

The basic idea is that you can add a comment to an individual file like this:

/* vim: set tabstop=8:softtabstop=8:shiftwidth=8:noexpandtab */ 

Within vim, you should review:

• :help auto-setting
• :help modeline
• :help modelines