Visual Studio Code indentation for Python

Question

How do I enable indentation in Visual Studio Code?

I'm trying to learn Python (new to programming) and need auto-indentation. It worked with the first version I tried, but it doesn't indent after a colon (:) any more. How can I configure it to automatically indent?

score 19 · Answer 1 · edited Jun 13 '20 at 00:25

As said there is the Python extension which now do it out of the box, but still don't do a great job, and an example is when you copy and past a whole block into a function or so. It just indents the first line, and that's not a good behavior. Here are two good helpful solutions:

indent a whole block manually: select the whole block, and then click Tab. If you want to indent backward, you do it with Shift+Tab. That's it, and I think that can be useful in several places.
Python auto indent extension (https://marketplace.visualstudio.com/items?itemName=hyesun.py-paste-indent). It solves the problem when pasting. Just see how it works in the link. Now about setting it up: You need to set just one keybinding for the command "pyPasteIndent.pasteAndIndent" provided by the extension. Once done, you will have your own shortcut to paste and indent automatically (I have set it to Alt + P)

Here is how: - Ctrl+SHIFT+P to open the command palette, then write "key"*, choose *"open keyboard shortcut", and then the keybinding page open, which it's the nice interface for the **keybindings.json. You can open keybindings.json the same way and by choosing "open keyboard shortcut file" (in place of just "open keyboard shortcut"). Give it a look if never have. But here I will go with the nice interface. Know also that you can open that going menu File → Preference → Keyboard Shortcut.

In the keybinding window, in the search bar, paste pyPasteIndent.pasteAndIndent, and then click the + button to add the shortcut and create the keybinding.

The image below shows well how it's done:

This didn't indent a block I tested with multiple levels correctly. — openCivilisation, Oct 07 '22 at 20:54

score 18 · Accepted Answer · edited Jun 13 '20 at 00:27

18

You can install the Visual Studio Code Python extension which will provide intellisense, auto-completion, code formatting, and debugging.

Here is more information on the Python extension, here.

edited Jun 13 '20 at 00:27

Peter Mortensen

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answered May 11 '16 at 11:07

Danny

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Auto-indentation is now part of the extension, so it should just work out of the box. – Don Jun 28 '16 at 10:08
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Well, it's part of the extension, but it doesn't indent very well when there are continuation lines. :( – John Y Sep 18 '17 at 13:38
I agree with @JohnY, without proper indentation after a continuation line, editing is currently not much fun. I hope they fix this soon: https://github.com/Microsoft/vscode-python/issues/481 – cbrnr Mar 17 '18 at 08:54
I have installed the python extension in the marketplace but it didn't indent after ":" character. Python Indent worked well though based on Marjan Radfar's answer. – Cem Nov 08 '21 at 06:13

score 15 · Answer 3 · answered Apr 08 '20 at 04:12

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I installed this extension: Python Indent. It works very well.

answered Apr 08 '20 at 04:12

Marjan Radfar

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Can you add more info what is the advantage of `kevinrose.vsc-python-indent` – Timo Jun 19 '21 at 09:35
It fixes a couple of indentation issues which the "standard" `Python` extension fails to address. Such as nested paranthesized expressions in a multi-line statement. – cfi Jan 20 '22 at 13:16

score 12 · Answer 4 · edited Jun 13 '20 at 00:31

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Simple solution!

Click the tab size (may show "Spaces: 4") in the bottom right corner and choose Convert Indentation to Tabs or Convert Indentation to Spaces as per your requirement.

edited Jun 13 '20 at 00:31

Peter Mortensen

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answered Sep 20 '19 at 12:28

Prayag Bhatia

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score 7 · Answer 5 · edited Jun 13 '20 at 00:29

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I faced similar issues while editing. Select the lines of code you wish to intend and press Ctrl + ] in Windows or CMD+] on Mac.

You can change the indent size in settings. Search for tab size in settings. I use two, by the way.

edited Jun 13 '20 at 00:29

Peter Mortensen

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answered Feb 06 '19 at 20:30

san1512

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Thanks! this is what I was looking for! – KansaiRobot Feb 07 '22 at 00:52

score 6 · Answer 6 · edited Aug 01 '21 at 15:51

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For me, "Convert Indentation to Tabs" has worked. To do that:

Go to "Command Palette" Ctrl+Shift+P (View>Command Palette)
Type in & select "Convert Indentation to Tabs" and press Enter

edited Aug 01 '21 at 15:51

galoget

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answered Dec 17 '20 at 12:47

Dinesh Roy

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score 3 · Answer 7 · answered Sep 17 '19 at 16:02

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I faced similar issues switching from PyCharm. The Python Indent extension, which is available in the Visual Studio Code marketplace, works perfectly fine for me.

answered Sep 17 '19 at 16:02

Malte

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score 0 · Answer 8 · answered Mar 10 '23 at 16:34

These three setting from vs code website helped me fix the indentation issue.

"python.formatting.autopep8Args": ["--max-line-length", "120", "--experimental"],
"python.formatting.yapfArgs": ["--style", "{based_on_style: chromium, indent_width: 2}"],
"python.formatting.blackArgs": ["--line-length", "100"]

And select one of them as the formatter using:

"python.formatting.provider": "yapf",

Visual Studio Code indentation for Python

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