[vim] How do I change tab size in Vim?

Every time I add a selector in CSS and I press Enter to define the properties it ends up like this:

#selector {
        property: value;
}

(8-space tabs)

How can I configure Vim to make it like this:

#selector {
    property: value;
}

(4-space tabs)

To make the change for one session, use this command:

:set tabstop=4

To make the change permanent, add it to ~/.vimrc or ~/.vim/vimrc:

set tabstop=4

This will affect all files, not just css. To only affect css files:

autocmd Filetype css setlocal tabstop=4

as stated in Michal's answer.

UPDATE

If you are working in a particular project I highly recommend using editorconfig.

It lets you define an .editorconfig file at the root of your repository defining the indentation you want to use for each file type across your repository.

For example:

root = true

[*.css]
charset = utf-8
indent_style = space
indent_size = 4

[*.js]
charset = utf-8
indent_style = space
indent_size = 2

There is a vim plugin that automatically configures vim according to the config file for file you open.

On top of that the .editorconfig file is automatically supported on many other IDEs and editors so it is the best option for collaborating between users with different environments.

ORIGINAL ANSWER

If you need to change sizes often and you don't want to bind this to a specific file type you can have predefined commands on your .vimrc file to quickly switch preferences:

nmap <leader>t :set expandtab tabstop=4 shiftwidth=4 softtabstop=4<CR>
nmap <leader>m :set expandtab tabstop=2 shiftwidth=2 softtabstop=2<CR>

This maps two different sets of sizes to keys \t and \m. You can rebind this to whatever keys you want.

Several of the answers on this page are 'single use' fixes to the described problem. Meaning, the next time you open a document with vim, the previous tab settings will return.

If anyone is interested in permanently changing the tab settings:

• find/open your .vimrc - instructions here

• add the following lines: (more info here)

   set tabstop=4
   set shiftwidth=4
   set expandtab
  

• then save file and test

As a one-liner into vim:

:set tabstop=4 shiftwidth=4

For permanent setup, add these lines to ~/.vimrc:

set tabstop=4
set shiftwidth=4

NOTE: Add set expandtab if you prefer 4-spaces indentation, instead of a tab indentation.

:set tabstop=4
:set shiftwidth=4
:set expandtab

This will insert four spaces instead of a tab character. Spaces are a bit more “stable”, meaning that text indented with spaces will show up the same in the browser and any other application.