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I am trying to set up the Node.js version of js-beautify as an equalprg command when I am editing a JavaScript file, so that the Vim = indent commands reflow my JavaScript at the same time.

Initially, I tried this:

autocmd FileType javascript setlocal equalprg=js-beautify -f -

(the -f - is necessary because js-beautify otherwise doesn't read from stdin).

However, that fails with an error like this when I open a JavaScript file:

Error detected while processing FileType Auto commands for "javascript":
E518: Unknown option: -f

So then I tried adding surrounding quotes:

autocmd FileType javascript setlocal equalprg="js-beautify -f -"

That seems to work (JavaScript files open without error), but then 1G=G (or any other = command) seems to work in exactly the same way as the standard vim behaviour, and it appears it's not set up correctly - if I type :set equalprg, I see:

equalprg=

If I remove the -f -, the equalprg is set, but it doesn't work, because js-beautify tries to read from a file:

Must define at least one file.
Run `js-beautify -h` for help.

How can pass these command-line options into js-beautify as part of setting equalprg?

Note I am aware that I could use the js-beautify vim plugin, but I'm trying not to overwhelm my vim setup with plugins, and instead setup the standard vim = keymapping.

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Close, but you have to use single quotes instead of double quotes, because Vim interprets " as a comment in this context:

autocmd FileType javascript setlocal equalprg='js-beautify -f -'

Or just escape the spaces:

autocmd FileType javascript setlocal equalprg=js-beautify\ -f\ -
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  • That works perfectly, thank you! Is there any explanation as to why viml/vimscript expects `` here and not a quoted string instead? Seems unusual to me.
    – Andrew Ferrier
    Feb 8, 2015 at 14:43
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    @AndrewFerrier It looks like Vim is interpreting " as a comment in this context, so the command you're really running is setlocal equalprg=.
    – Doorknob
    Feb 8, 2015 at 14:45
  • In Vim 8.1, the single quote solution will also fail with the E518 error. Has something in Vim changed since you wrote your answer?
    – Flux
    Feb 15, 2021 at 13:21

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