Python file indentation is wrong

[sekirocc]

Reproduction steps

1. download latest macOS release 0.4.1
2. open a python file
3. move cursor to some line
4. press o to insert newline
5. the cursor is at the beginning of line, without any indentation.

Environment

• Platform: macOS
• Helix version: 0.4.1

zero config.

[sudormrfbin]

Indent support requires an indents.toml file describing the tree-sitter syntax nodes where it should be automatically inserted, for example see https://github.com/helix-editor/helix/blob/master/runtime/queries/rust/indents.toml. Python doesn't yet have this file, so contributions are welcome !

If anyone wants to take this up, there's https://github.com/nvim-treesitter/nvim-treesitter/blob/master/queries/python/indents.scm and the tree-sitter python grammar for reference.

[lisael]

I think it's not easy (if feasible at all) with the current Tree-sitter only indentation logic. In most editors when I type:

if True:
    blah
    else:<ret>

I expect the whole else: line to be outdented and a new indented line added.

In helix, TreeSitter fails to parse else: as an else statement precisely because it's not outdented (another effect is that else is not highlighted as a keyword in my example). Therefore

outdent = [
    "else_clause"
]

doesn't work. I can't see another way than parsing the current line ourselves at each return

It's a chicken-and-egg problem.

Note nvimTS has the same issue, which is really annoying, but easier to deal with because of smarttabs, a single <backspace> outdents correctly.

[lisael]

That said, a single

indent = [ ":", "list", "tuple", "dictionary", "set"]

does a good job at indenting.

[willparsons]

I've only had helix for a few days so I may not be understanding this correctly.

Is this not the indents config for Python? https://github.com/helix-editor/helix/blob/master/runtime/queries/python/indents.scm

Yet I still don't get auto-indent.

[thomasaarholt]

I get autoindentation if I press Enter when the marker is at | in the following:

a = list(|)
->
a = list(
    |
)

but I do not get it with the if statement as hinted should happen in the the file @willparsons refers to above.

if a == 1:|
->
if a == 1:
|

[zSnails]

any news on this? I'm looking forward to switching to helix

[BonfireAtNight]

The lack of auto-indentation is the only thing that keeps me from fully embracing Helix. For the most part it's great (especially because most things work out of the box), but auto-indent is really the level of convenience every text-editor should offer. Maybe I'm doing something wrong (I've installed Helix via Pacman and pylsp via pip and downloaded the languages.toml file from the repo), but for me not even Indentation after ":" is working, let alone aligning parentheses or operators in multiline clauses.

Is the issue really as severe as @lisael is pointing out? Any hope for a feasible solution in the near to mid future?

Incidentally, what does the "Auto Indent" on the languages page refer to exactly? That it's part of the auto-formatting?