VIM - how to minimize tabindent on hilighted text

Question

Right now, my VIM editor tab indent has some unusual behaviour.

When I am in insert mode and press tab, the cursor indents about 3 spaces instead of a whole tab indent. I like this.

When I high-light a block of text, then press SHIFT and > simultaneously, the block of text indents an entire tab indent instead of 3 spaces behaviour like above. I do not like this.

How do I make the second action behave like the first action?

Answer 1

Myself, I use:

set expandtab
set shiftwidth=4
set smarttab

This replaces tabs with spaces (expandtab), sets both the Tab and > to 4 spaces (shiftwidth). The smarttab settings allows for proper handling of Tab and Backspace based on the shiftwidth value. You can set shiftwidth to whatever you like.