Note: this fork only makes one simple change to the original code. The default tabstop was changed from 8 to 4.

This plugin automatically adjusts 'shiftwidth' and 'expandtab' heuristically based on the current file, or, in the case the current file is new, blank, or otherwise insufficient, by looking at other files of the same type in the current and parent directories. In lieu of adjusting 'softtabstop', 'smarttab' is enabled. Modelines and EditorConfig are also consulted, adding 'tabstop', 'textwidth', 'endofline', 'fileformat', 'fileencoding', and 'bomb' to the list of supported options.

Compare to DetectIndent. I wrote this because I wanted something fully automatic. My goal is that by installing this plugin, you can remove all indenting related configuration from your vimrc.

Install using your favorite package manager, or use Vim's built-in package support:

mkdir -p ~/.vim/pack/tpope/start
cd ~/.vim/pack/tpope/start
git clone https://tpope.io/vim/sleuth.git
vim -u NONE -c "helptags sleuth/doc" -c q

• If your file is consistently indented with hard tabs, 'shiftwidth' will be set to your 'tabstop'. Otherwise, a 'tabstop' of 4 is enforced, unless another value is explicitly declared in a modeline or EditorConfig.

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Copyright © Tim Pope. Distributed under the same terms as Vim itself. See :help license.