I have to enter twice for >,<,= to indent in VIM

Question

I am using vim on Ubuntu 10.10.

In order to indent code, I enter >. But I have to do it twice.

Other command, like < and = are the same. I have to do it twice.

Is it normal? Of I should change something?

How can I fix this?

Answer 1

That is the normal operation. The first > starts the indent command. The second > commits the indent command. What you put in between defines what you want to indent (defaults to 1 line):

• >> is indent one line.
• >5> is indent 5 lines
• >G is indent to the end of the file.

The >G doesn't need a trailing > to commit the command as the G command is a terminating command already.

Answer 2

If you want to abbreviate this, you can create a macro that indents just the current line or some other preset value. For example:map <tab> >1>

Answer 3

I use>} to indent a paragraph (a chunk of code up to the next empty line)