comparison man/indent.texi @ 51145:4e1075214fa7

(Indentation): Explain the concepts. (Just Spaces): Explain why preventing tabs for indentation might be useful.

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(@code{tab-to-tab-stop}).
@item M-x indent-relative
Indent from point to under an indentation point in the previous line.
@end table

  Most programming languages have some indentation convention.  For Lisp
code, lines are indented according to their nesting in parentheses.  The
same general idea is used for C code, though many details are different.

@kindex TAB
  Whatever the language, to indent a line, use the @key{TAB} command.  Each
major mode defines this command to perform the sort of indentation
appropriate for the particular language.  In Lisp mode, @key{TAB} aligns
the line according to its depth in parentheses.  No matter where in the
line you are when you type @key{TAB}, it aligns the line as a whole.  In C
mode, @key{TAB} implements a subtle and sophisticated indentation style that
knows about many aspects of C syntax.

  In Text mode, @key{TAB} runs the command @code{tab-to-tab-stop}, which
indents to the next tab stop column.  You can set the tab stops with
@kbd{M-x edit-tab-stops}.

  Normally, @key{TAB} inserts an optimal mix of tabs and spaces for
the intended indentation.  @xref{Just Spaces}, for how to prevent use
of tabs.

@menu
* Indentation Commands::  Various commands and techniques for indentation.
* Tab Stops::             You can set arbitrary "tab stops" and then
                            indent to the next tab stop when you want to.

this, set @code{indent-tabs-mode} to @code{nil}.  This is a per-buffer
variable, so altering the variable affects only the current buffer,
but there is a default value which you can change as well.
@xref{Locals}.

@findex tabify
@findex untabify
  There are also commands to convert tabs to spaces or vice versa, always
preserving the columns of all nonblank text.  @kbd{M-x tabify} scans the
region for sequences of spaces, and converts sequences of at least three

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(@code{tab-to-tab-stop}).
@item M-x indent-relative
Indent from point to under an indentation point in the previous line.
@end table

  Emacs supports four general categories of operations that could all
be called `indentation':

@enumerate
@item
The most simple operation is to just insert a tab character.  This
operation does not have a convenient key binding, because it is
subsumed by the more general operation described next.  But you can use
@kbd{C-q @key{TAB}} to insert a literal tab character.

A tab character is displayed as a stretch of whitespace which extends
to the next display tab stop position, and the default width of a tab
stop is eight.  @xref{Display Custom}, for more details.

@item
Emacs also supports tab stops.  You can set them at arbitrary
positions, and then use @kbd{M-i} to advance to the next tab stop.  The
default tab stop list contains positions (columns) that are a multiple
of eight, and so the effect of @kbd{M-i} is the same as that of
@kbd{C-q @key{TAB}} in the default case.

You can set the tab stops with @kbd{M-x edit-tab-stops}.

@item
You can align successive lines with each other.  This is called
@dfn{relative indentation} in Emacs and is performed by the command
@kbd{M-x indent-relative}.  The effect is best shown by an example:
@example
This shows the effect of relative indentation.
^    ^     ^   ^      ^  ^        ^
@end example
The positions for the @code{^} characters on the second line were
obtained using @kbd{M-x indent-relative}.

In Fundamental mode and in Text mode, @key{TAB} runs the command
@code{indent-relative}.

@item
The most sophisticated method is called @dfn{syntax-driven indentation}
and is the default behavior of the @key{TAB} key in Emacs.

  Most programming languages have some indentation convention.  For Lisp
code, lines are indented according to their nesting in parentheses.  The
same general idea is used for C code, though many details are different.

  For some languages, different kinds of indentation styles are
commonly used.  Emacs accomodates this by allowing users to customize
the indentation.  For example, see @ref{Customizing Indentation,,,ccmode},
for a description of these facilities for the C language.

@kindex TAB
  Whatever the language, to indent a line, use the @key{TAB} command.  Each
major mode defines this command to perform the sort of indentation
appropriate for the particular language.  In Lisp mode, @key{TAB} aligns
the line according to its depth in parentheses.  No matter where in the
line you are when you type @key{TAB}, it aligns the line as a whole.  In C
mode, @key{TAB} implements a subtle and sophisticated indentation style that
knows about many aspects of C syntax.

@end enumerate

  Normally, all of the above methods insert an optimal mix of tabs and
spaces for the needed indentation.  @xref{Just Spaces}, for how to
prevent use of tabs.  However, the first method (@kbd{C-q @key{TAB}})
always inserts a tab, even if you prevented their use.

@c   In Text mode, @key{TAB} runs the command @code{tab-to-tab-stop}, which
@c indents to the next tab stop column.  You can set the tab stops with
@c @kbd{M-x edit-tab-stops}.

@c   Normally, @key{TAB} inserts an optimal mix of tabs and spaces for
@c the intended indentation.  @xref{Just Spaces}, for how to prevent use
@c of tabs.

@menu
* Indentation Commands::  Various commands and techniques for indentation.
* Tab Stops::             You can set arbitrary "tab stops" and then
                            indent to the next tab stop when you want to.

this, set @code{indent-tabs-mode} to @code{nil}.  This is a per-buffer
variable, so altering the variable affects only the current buffer,
but there is a default value which you can change as well.
@xref{Locals}.

  A tab is not always displayed in the same way.  By default, tabs are
eight columns wide, but some people like to customize their tools to
use a different tab width.  So by using spaces only, you can make sure
that your file looks the same regardless of the tab width setting.

@findex tabify
@findex untabify
  There are also commands to convert tabs to spaces or vice versa, always
preserving the columns of all nonblank text.  @kbd{M-x tabify} scans the
region for sequences of spaces, and converts sequences of at least three