vim newb - indenting python comments

[Robert Kern]

Tim Chase wrote:
>> One problem I have is that the >> indent in normal mode doesn't work
>> when a line starts with the # character.  Any idea what I'm doing
>> wrong?
> 
> In short, ">>" *does* indent in normal mode (I presume you
> accurately mean "Normal" mode, rather than "Insert" mode).  The
> question becomes why doesn't it work in your particular copy of Vim?
> 
> To evidence this, start vim with
> 
>   vim -u NONE myfile.py
> 
> (which bypasses startup files) and you'll see that >> does indeed
> shift commented lines.
> 
> To track down the problem, you'll need to provide a little more
> info.  Starting Vim the way you normally do, pointed at a
> problematic python file, what is the output of
> 
>   :scriptnames
> 
> What mappings do you have defined:
> 
>   :nmap
> 
> (particularly any mappings for ">" and its kin).
> 
> What are your filetype settings:
> 
>   :filetype
> 
> What are your settings for 'indentkeys', 'indentexpr',
> 'shiftwidth', 'tabstop', 'expandtab' and 'filetype'
> 
>   :set indentkeys? indentexpr? sw? ts? et? ft?

:set cindent?

Having this set (in the absence of anything else) will replicate the behavior
for me (vim 7.1 OS X).

:filetype plugin on
:filetype indent on

Fixes it.

-- 
Robert Kern

"I have come to believe that the whole world is an enigma, a harmless enigma
 that is made terrible by our own mad attempt to interpret it as though it had
 an underlying truth."
  -- Umberto Eco