====== VIM - Config - Indentation - Indentation Options ======

===== expandtab =====

**expandtab** affects what happens when you press the **<TAB>** key.

  * If **expandtab** is set, pressing the **<TAB>** key will always insert **softtabstop** amount of space characters.
  * Otherwise, the amount of spaces inserted is minimized by using TAB characters.

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===== shiftwidth =====

**shiftwidth** affects what happens when you press **>>**, **<<** or **==**.

  * It also affects how automatic indentation works.

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===== smarttab =====

**smarttab** affects how <TAB> key presses are interpreted depending on where the cursor is.

  * If **smarttab** is on, a <TAB> key inserts indentation according to **shiftwidth** at the beginning of the line, whereas **tabstop** and **softtabstop** are used elsewhere.
  * There is seldom any need to set this option, unless it is necessary to use hard TAB characters in body text or code.

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===== softtabstop =====

**softtabstop** affects what happens when you press the **<TAB>** or **<BS>** keys.

  * Its default value is the same as the value of **tabstop**, but when using indentation without hard tabs or mixed indentation, you want to set it to the same value as **shiftwidth**.
  * If **expandtab** is unset, and **tabstop** is different from **softtabstop**, the **<TAB>** key will minimize the amount of spaces inserted by using multiples of TAB characters.
    * For instance, if **tabstop** is 8, and the amount of consecutive space inserted is 20, two TAB characters and four spaces will be used.

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===== tabstop =====

**tabstop** changes the width of the TAB character, plain and simple.

<WRAP info>
**NOTE:**  Considerations:

  * Using a **tabstop** value other than the default (8 spaces), will result in your file having a different appearance when using tools such as cat (type on Windows), which cannot use a custom width tab character.
    * On the other hand, using hard tabs for indentation, allows others to view your code with the amount of indentation they prefer.
    * Which of these considerations should have priority, is a matter of personal preference (and company policy). 

</WRAP>

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