Function to refactor indents and tabs

Question

I'm writing a vim function to set hard tabs and refactor indents in a whole file. This is the function:

function RefInd()
    :set tabstop=4 softtabstop=0 noexpandtab shiftwidth=4
    gg=G
endfunction

And this is the error:

Error executing the function RefInd:
Line 2:
E492: Not an editor command: ^Igg=G
Press ENTER or type command to continue

Any help?

Answer 1

The problem is that gg, = and G are normal mode commands, as opposed to ex commands which are used within a script. Writing normal gg=G should solve your problem.

As @Carpetsmoker has pointed out in his comment, using normal! instead of normal might be prudent to avoid running user-defined mappings by accident.

See also :help :normal.