How to configure vim to not put comments at the beginning of lines while editing python files

Question

When I add a # in insert mode on an empty line in Vim while editing python files, vim moves the # to the beginning of the line, but I would like the # to be inserted at the tab level where I entered it.

For example, when writing this in vim

for i in range(10):
    #

the # does not stay there where I entered it.

It is moved like so, by vim.

for i in range(10):
#

Does anyone know of a configuration item in vim that would change this?

If it helps, I am using Ubuntu 8.10.

Answer 1

My Vim configuration doesn't do that. You might try the python.vim script available from this link: http://www.vim.org/scripts/script.php?script_id=790

Answer 2

I found an answer here http://vim.wikia.com/wiki/Restoring_indent_after_typing_hash

It seems that the vim smartindent option is the cause of the problem. The referenced page above describes work-a-rounds but after reading the help in smartindent in vim itself (:help smartindent), I decided to try cindent instead of smartindent.

I replaced

set smartindent

with

set cindent

in my .vimrc file

and so far it is working perfectly.

This changed also fixed the behavior of '<<' and '>>' for indenting visual blocks that include python comments.

There are more configuration options for and information on indentation in the vim help for smartindent and cindent (:help smartindent and :help cindent).

Answer 3

It's caused by the 'smartindent' feature. If you have :set smartindent in your .vimrc you need to remove it.

Answer 4

I have the following lines in my .vimrc, seems to be installed by default with my Ubuntu 8.10

set smartindent
inoremap # X^H#
set autoindent

And I don't observe the problem. Maybe you can try this. (Note that ^H should be entered by Ctrl-V Ctrl-H)

Answer 5

PolyThinker: Though I see that response a lot to this question, it's not a good solution. The editor still thinks it should be indented all the way to left - check this by pushing == on a line that starts with a hash, or pushing = while a block of code with comments in it is highlighted to reindent.

The real solution is 'filetype indent on', and remove the smartindent and autoindent (or cindent) lines in your vimrc. Someone else (appparently David Bustos) was kind enough to write a full indentation parser for us; it's located at $VIMDIRECTORY/indent/python.vim.

(Paul's cindent solution probably works for python, but 'filetype indent on' is much more generally useful)

Answer 6

@nevinera: I was having the same problem as the others (Python comments appearing at the first column when entered as the first character of a new line), but only your method fixed the problem in my case (I'm running version 7.2 on OS X 10.4).