Thanks Eric. I don't know that I explained myself that well - if the code is this: foo.o : foo.c <tab> the command to build foo.o starts here but \ <spaces> the command is long
then vim's syntax highlighting will flag an error if the backslash is lost, because this is invalid: foo.o : foo.c <tab> the command to build foo.o starts here but <spaces> the command is long But if the indenting is as vim encourages, like this: foo.o : foo.c <tab> the command to build foo.o starts here but \ <tab> the command is long then vim syntax highlighting won't spot the problem of a lost backslash in this: foo.o : foo.c <tab> the command to build foo.o starts here but <tab> the command is long Hence my preference for the former. Another alternative might be to enable expandtab (to get the spaces) and enter the tab characters explicitly - is there any easy way of inserting a tab character when expandtab is enabled? On Friday 16 June 2006 16:45, Eric Arnold wrote: > If you want to flag errors, why not use highlighting? Actually, the > makefile syntax I'm seeing already highlights correct backslashes. > So, in general, you know there is an error if the code/text isn't > colored right. > > I don't see a way to tell Vim to indent with tabs sometimes and not others. > > > On 6/15/06, John Orr <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > > Hi, > > > > I'm currently implementing a make system with GNU Make and have been trying > > for a while to work out how to get the indentation working as I would like > > it to. > > > > I believe it is reasonably standard when editing makefiles to > > set noexpandtab > > such that tabs are inserted when you start the commands under a rule, and > > that's great. > > > > My problem is when you have long command lines and wish to use line > > continuation, with the following formatting: > > foo.o : foo.c > > <tab> the command to build foo.o starts here but \ > > <spaces> because the command is long it uses \ > > <spaces> line continuation for readability \ > > <spaces> and it finally ends here > > > > Note - the command starts with a tab as it must, but the continuation lines > > are instead indented with spaces. Why? Because if you forget a backslash > > requesting line continuation - or if you accidentally get a space after one > > (which also breaks line continuation), then by using spaces for > > indentation, both make, and vim, will draw your attention to it. > > > > My problem - how does one get vim to do this kind of indentation? > > > > Admittedly I'm only using vim 6.3, but the return value of the indentexpr > > is a number, representing a number of spaces. Your 'expandtab' setting, in > > combination with shiftwidths etc, seems to dictate whether that number of > > spaces is inserted as spaces or tabs (or tabs plus spaces). > > > > Any suggestions on how to achieve my goal? (Or, alternatively, any reasons > > why my goal is illogical and shouldn't be the standard way that vim works > > with Makefiles?) > > > > The simplest I could imagine would be if the indentexpr function could > > return either a number of spaces as today, or a string consisting of the > > actual indentation characters required - but I'd rather not go hacking vim. > > > > Thanks very much, > > John > > >
