- Python Runner is a handy tool for learning Python and running Python script for daily tasks. Simply type Python code and press “⌘R” to run it, that is all! You don’t event need to save the file first!
- It should come with the standard distribution of Python, though on Ubuntu you need to install the python2.6-examples package. You can also find it on the web. This script attempts to convert any python script to conform with the 4-space standard.
I really like the Emacs editor for Python because of it's smart tabbing for instance if I have something like this
and I press tab on the cursor (which is on the b of beep), it will not insert a new tab causing a syntax error but it would toggle through the possible levels that beep can be on. Is there anyway of getting this effect on Vim?
Mateusz PiotrowskiUse the reindent.py script that you find in the Tools/scripts/ directory of your Python installation. Change Python (.py) files to use 4-space indents and no hard tab characters. Also trim excess spaces and tabs from ends of lines, and remove empty lines at the end of files.
8 Answers
In general, vim is a very powerful regular language editor (macros extend this but we'll ignore that for now). This is because vim's a thin layer on top of ed, and ed isn't much more than a line editor that speaks regex. Emacs has the advantage of being built on top of ELisp; lending it the ability to easily parse complex grammars and perform indentation tricks like the one you shared above.
To be honest, I've never been able to dive into the depths of emacs because it is simply delightful meditating within my vim cave. With that said, let's jump in.
Getting Started
Janus
For beginners, I highly recommend installing the readymade Janus plugin (fwiw, the name hails from a Star Trek episode featuring Janus Vim). If you want a quick shortcut to a vim IDE it's your best bang for your buck.
I've never used it much, but I've seen others use it happily and my current setup is borrowed heavily from an old Janus build.
Vim Pathogen
Otherwise, do some exploring on your own! I'd highly recommend installing vim pathogen if you want to see the universe of vim plugins.
It's a package manager of sorts. Once you install it, you can git clone packages to your ~/.vim/bundle directory and they're auto-installed. No more plugin installation, maintenance, or uninstall headaches!
You can run the following script from the GitHub page to install pathogen:
Helpful Links
Here are some links on extending vim I've found and enjoyed:
- OS X And Python (osx specific)
- Learn Vimscript The Hard Way (great book if you want to learn vimscript)
For those arriving around summer 2013, I believe some of this thread is outdated.
I followed this howto which recommends Vundle over Pathogen. After one days use I found installing plugins trivial.
The klen/python-mode plugin deserves special mention. It provides pyflakes and pylint amongst other features.
I have just started using Valloric/YouCompleteMe and I love it. It has C-lang auto-complete and python also works great thanks to jedi integration. It may well replace jedi-vim as per this discussion /davidhalter/jedi-vim/issues/119
Finally browsing the /carlhuda/janus plugins supplied is a good guide to useful scripts you might not know you are looking for such as NerdTree, vim-fugitive, syntastic, powerline, ack.vim, snipmate...
All the above '{}/{}' are found on github you can find them easily with Google.
Put the following in your .vimrc
See also the detailed instructions
I personally use JetBrain's PyCharm with the IdeaVIM plugin when doing anything complex, for simple editing the additions to .vimrc seem sufficient.
There is a bundled collection of Vim plugins for Python development:http://www.vim.org/scripts/script.php?script_id=3770
Under Linux, What worked for me was John Anderson's (sontek) guide, which you can find at this link. However, I cheated and just used his easy configuration setup from his Git repostiory:
His configuration is fairly up to date as of today.
Scott EmmonsRe: the dead 'Turning Vim Into A Modern Python IDE' link, back in 2013 I saved a copy, that I converted to a HTML page as well as a PDF copy:
Edit (Sep 08, 2017) updated URLs.
Victoria StuartVictoria StuartSome time ago I installed Valloric/YouCompleteMe and I find it really awesome. It provides you completion for file paths, function names, methods, variable names... Together with davidhalter/jedi-vim it makes vim great for python programming (the only thing missing now is a linter).
SummerBreezeSummerBreeze
A very good plugin management system to use. The included vimrc file is good enough for python programming and can be easily configured to your needs. See http://spf13.com/project/spf13-vim/
Not the answer you're looking for? Browse other questions tagged pythonvimconfigurationeditorindentation or ask your own question.
I have some existing code which isn't formatted consistently -- sometimes two spaces are used for indent, sometimes four, and so on. The code itself is correct and well-tested, but the formatting is awful.
Is there a place online where I can simply paste a snippet of Python code and have it be indented/formatted automatically for me? Alternatively, is there an X such that I can do something like X --input=*.py and have it overwrite each file with a formatted version?
5 Answers
Edit: Nowadays, I would recommend autopep8, since it not only corrects indentation problems but also (at your discretion) makes code conform to many other PEP8 guidelines.
Use reindent.py. It should come with the standard distribution of Python, though on Ubuntu you need to install the python2.6-examples package.
You can also find it on the web.
This script attempts to convert any python script to conform with the 4-space standard.
unutbuunutbuautopep8
autopep8 would auto-format your python script. not only the code indentation, but also other coding spacing styles. It makes your python script to conform PEP8 Style Guide.
Update:
Many editors have pep8 plugins that automatically reformat your code right after you save the file. py-autopep8 in emacs
Python Indent Spaces
yapf
yapf is a new and better python code formatter. which tries to get the best formatting, not just to conform the guidelines. The usage is quite the same as autopep8.
For more information, like formatting configurations, please read the README.rst on yapf github
Update 2:
Black
Black is much better than yapf. It's smarter and fits most complex formatting cases.
Use black. It has deliberately only one option (line length) to ensure consistency across many projects. It enforces PEP8.
Found an offline solution with PyCharm
In PyCharm do:
1. Select all the Code:
Python Indent Function
2. Format all the Code
mrkmrkSome editors have an auto-format feature that does this for you. Eclipse is one example (though you would probably have to install a python plug-in).
Have you checked whichever editor you use for such a feature?