Vim automatically removes indentation on Python comments [duplicate]

Question

I'm using Vim and editing Python scripts.

Autoindent works pretty well in general, but when I start a new line and type '#' to type a comment, Vim unindents that line for me.

For example, if have

def foo(): 

and I press enter, Vim will indent properly

def foo():     pass 

but, if instead of typing pass, I type #, it unindents automatically

def foo(): # comment  class Thing():     def __init__(self):          pass # comment line gets unindented all the way 

my .vimrc file follows. anyone know why this is happening?

set tabstop=4 set smartindent set shiftwidth=4 set expandtab set backspace=indent,eol,start set scrolloff=3 set statusline=%f%m%r%h%w\ [%Y\ %{&ff}]\ [%l/%L\ (%p%%)] set laststatus=2 

Answer 1

Setting smartindent on makes Vim behave like you describe for me, whereas with nosmartindent (which is what I tend to use) it behaves like you'd prefer it to.

Update: From the docs on smartindent:

When typing '#' as the first character in a new line, the indent for that line is removed, the '#' is put in the first column. The indent is restored for the next line. If you don't want this, use this mapping: ":inoremap # X^H#", where ^H is entered with CTRL-V CTRL-H. When using the ">>" command, lines starting with '#' are not shifted right.

That seems to be it.

---

Update: Probably no need to bother with the following... I'll leave it here for the added informational value. ;-)

If setting nosmartindent doesn't help, perhaps you could use the :set command -- with no parameters -- to obtain the list of all settings in effect in your Vim session, then paste it somewhere (on Pastie perhaps). There's a few other options which affect automatic indentation, as far as I remember.