Vim autoindent does not work as I expect after "if", "for", "while"; How can I make it work the way I want?

Question

I have automatic indentation in my .vimrc set autoindent file, which moves to the previous indent like this ( █ - cursor position)

 while (! skynet.selfAware()){ DARPA.funding++;█ } 

Pressing the carriage input / return button will give

 while (! skynet.selfAware()){ DARPA.funding++; █ } 

But is there a way to make vim smart enough to realize that a new indentation is required, so starting with that

 while (! skynet.selfAware()){█ } 

pressing the enter / return carriage key will give

 while (! skynet.selfAware()){ █ } 

instead

 while (! skynet.selfAware()){ █ } 

Answer 1

Use smartindent . He does exactly what you are looking for.

Answer 2

You can try to enable cindent . There are tons of options for controlling how this works, see :help cinoptions-values .