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vimtabstabstop

changing tabstop from 4 to 2 after using expandtab (with minimum manual effort)


For some time I have used tabstop=4 in my source files. Now that I write lot of javascript that has deep indentations, a tabstop of 4 seems wasteful, so I want to convert it to 2. The problem is I use "set expandtab" too. So merely setting tabstop=2, won't help.

Any suggestions on how I can convert all my files quickly to tabstop 2?

My current relevant .vimrc settings are

set tabstop=4
set shiftwidth=4
set expandtab

Solution

  • You can do

    " convert spaces to tabs first
    set noexpandtab
    set tabstop=4
    set shiftwidth=4
    retab!
    " now you have tabs instead of spaces, so insert spaces according to
    " your new preference
    set tabstop=2
    set shiftwidth=2
    set expandtab
    retab!
    

    in a vim window, and it will retab according to your preferences. You can probably create a mapping to make this easier, or record a macro. There might be another way, but the above should work. (" is comment)