.vimrc configuration for Python

Question

My current .vimrc configuration is below:

set nohlsearch
set ai
set bg=dark
set showmatch
highlight SpecialKey ctermfg=DarkGray
set listchars=tab:>-,trail:~
set list
autocmd BufRead *.py set smartindent cinwords=if,elif,else,for,while,try,except,finally,def,class
set tabstop=4
set shiftwidth=4
set expandtab
set autoindent
set smartindent
syntax on
set listchars=tab:>-
set listchars+=trail:.
set ignorecase
set smartcase
map <C-t><up> :tabr<cr>
map <C-t><down> :tabl<cr>
map <C-t><left> :tabp<cr>
map <C-t><right> :tabn<cr>

However, when I write python scripts, when I push "ENTER", it will go to the BEGINNING of the next line. What do I add so that it will auto-tab for me?

Answer 1

The short answer is that your autocmd is missing the BufEnter trigger, so it isn't being fired when you create a new file. Try this instead:

 au BufEnter,BufRead *.py setlocal smartindent cinwords=if,elif,else,for,while,try,except,finally,def,class

Note that I also changed the set to setlocal. This'll prevent these options from stomping on your other buffers' options.

The "right" way to do what you're trying to do is to add filetype indent on to your .vimrc. This'll turn on the built-in filetype based indentation. Vim comes with Python indentation support. See :help filetype-indent-on for more info.

Answer 2

Try this:

filetype indent on
filetype on
filetype plugin on

I primarily do Python programming and this is the brunt of my vimrc

set nobackup
set nowritebackup
set noswapfile
set lines=40
set columns=80
set tabstop=4
set shiftwidth=4
set softtabstop=4
set autoindent
set smarttab
filetype indent on
filetype on
filetype plugin on

Answer 3

You shouldn't have to explicitly indent python keywords. The $VIM/indent/python.vim file takes care of that. You just need to turn on filetype indent and autoindent.