Tab key == 4 spaces and auto-indent after curly braces in Vim

As has been pointed out in a couple of other answers, the preferred method now is NOT to use smartindent, but instead use the following (in your .vimrc):

filetype plugin indent on
" show existing tab with 4 spaces width
set tabstop=4
" when indenting with '>', use 4 spaces width
set shiftwidth=4
" On pressing tab, insert 4 spaces
set expandtab


In your [.vimrc:][1] file:

set smartindent
set tabstop=4
set shiftwidth=4
set expandtab

The help files take a bit of time to get used to, but the more you read, the better Vim gets:

:help smartindent

Even better, you can embed these settings in your source for portability:

:help auto-setting

To see your current settings:

:set all

As graywh points out in the comments, smartindent has been replaced by cindent which “Works more cleverly”, although still mainly for languages with C-like syntax:

:help C-indenting

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