How to set vim tab width on Ubuntu

Create/modify the $HOME/.vimrc by adding the following lines to set the width of the tab to be 4.

set expandtab
set shiftwidth=4
set softtabstop=4

Explanation:

• expandtab: affects what happens when you press the <TAB> key.
• shiftwidth: affects what happens when you press >>, << or ==.
• softtabstop: affects what happens when you press the <TAB> keys if expandtab is set.