How do I indent multiple lines in vi?

Steps

  1. Press “ + v” to enter VISUAL LINE mode.
  2. Select the text you wish to indent but using either the cursor keys or the “j” and “k” keys.
  3. To indent press “ + dot” (> character).

How do you indent in Gvim?

5 Answers. If you first enter SHIFT-V, and than shift+arrows to select the text, it will indent. You can also use SHIFT-V, and use ‘hjkl’ to select the block. Related to this, I use a handy remap for visual mode that allows indenting the text multiple times while keeping your text selected.

Does VI have visual mode?

Visual Mode Typing v causes Vim. to enter “visual” mode. You can then highlight a block a text and then execute a Vim editing command such as d, y, or > on it.

How do I change the default indentation in Vim?

Vim Auto Indent Command

  1. To turn Vim auto indent on, add this line to your ~/.vimrc: filetype indent on.
  2. Set indenting to four spaces: :set shiftwidth=4.
  3. Set stricter rules for C programs: :set cindent.
  4. To stop indenting when pasting with the mouse.

How do I set vi to automatically indent lines of code?

To automatically indent lines using the vi editor, set the autoindent flag:

  1. If you are currently in insert or append mode, press Esc .
  2. Press : (the colon). The cursor should reappear at the lower left corner of the screen beside a colon prompt.
  3. Enter the following command: set autoindent.

How do you indent a block of code in vi?

Use the > command. To indent five lines, 5 > > . To mark a block of lines and indent it, V j j > to indent three lines (Vim only). To indent a curly-braces block, put your cursor on one of the curly braces and use > % or from anywhere inside block use > i B .

How do you get out of visual mode?

Exiting visual mode

  1. esc.
  2. Ctrl-c.
  3. Same key as your current visual mode.

What is a visual mode?

The visual mode refers to the images and characters that people see. It is sometimes possible to find compositions that almost, if not completely, rely on a single mode. For instance, the “No Guns” symbol has no alphabetic text and no sound. Like many signs, it relies for its meaning on visual information.

How do I change the indentation in VI?

What is auto indent?

Automatic indenting occurs when you insert new lines. • None No special indenting occurs. Source Insight will return the insertion point to the very beginning of the next line when you insert a new line or word wrap.

How do I change the indent size in Vim?

If anyone is interested in permanently changing the tab settings:

  1. find/open your .vimrc – instructions here.
  2. add the following lines: (more info here) set tabstop=4 set shiftwidth=4 set expandtab.
  3. then save file and test.

How to indent a block of code in VI?

Option 2: Indent a block of code in vi to three spaces with Visual Line mode: 1 Open your file in vi. 2 Put your cursor over some code 3 Be in normal mode and press the following keys: Vjjjj:le 3 Interpretation of what you did: Vmeans start selecting text. More

How to indent multiple lines in Vim Stack Overflow?

In ex mode you can use :left or :le to align lines a specified amount. Specifically, :left will Left align lines in the [range]. It sets the indent in the lines to [indent] (default 0). :%le3 or :%le 3 or :%left3 or :%left 3 will align the entire file by padding with three spaces.

What can you do with visual mode in Vim?

When editing text with Vim, visual mode can be extremely useful for identifying chunks of text to be manipulated. Vim’s visual mode has three versions: character, line, and block. The keystrokes to enter each mode are: Here are some ways to use each mode to simplify your work.

How to indent from cursor to bottom of screen in Vim?

Thus, for indenting the lines from the cursor position to the top of the screen you do > H, > G to indent to the bottom of the file. If, instead of typing > H, you type d H then you are deleting the same block of lines, c H for replacing it, etc.