Vim Easy Folding Tip

for me the most easiest way to use folding in vim is to use

:set foldmethod=indent

intuitive and simple.

when you use foldmethod=indent the folding will be based on indent (why of course :p), meaning the fold start and fold end is marked by line indentation (can be a tab, spaces, etc..)
and these are the command I use the most.

• zm : reduce fold level
• zM : fold level to zero, aka fold'em all !
• zr : increase fold level
• zR : fold level to the max, aka remove all fold
• za : toogle fold open/close on current cursor
• zA : same as above, but recursively
• zX : undo previous fold command

what is a fold level ?
the higher fold level means less folded text, the lower fold level means more folded text. Consider this snippet of code
if ($this->getInvested()) { =>fold level 0<br /> $docs = new PortFolio(); =>fold level 1<br /> foreach ($listAccount as $account) {<br /> $account->publish($docs); =>fold level 2<br /> $account->setState(1);<br /> }<br />}<br />when i used indent as foldmethod, indentation level is a fold level. The higher indentation level would have more foldlevel available on that window, when i type zm, foldlevel are reduce to 1, the line start from

$account->publish($... 

is folded, when I type zm again foldlevel are reduce to 0(this is minimum value), then the line

$docs = new... 

is folded, and so on. And viceversa, when I type zr foldlevel are increased, and the line in coresponding foldlevel is unfolded or opened

what if I dont use indentation in my files ?
u can use manual (the default foldmethod) or marker

:set foldmethod=manual
:set foldmethod=marker

note: that when you tried to open a fold recursively (using zA on a closed fold), it work like the way you expected, but when you tried to close a fold recursively it doesnt(well at least I didn't get it at first). It because zA on open fold, close a fold starting from the cursor as the bottom! not the top!, so how to close fold from the cursor to the bottom/deepest foldlevel, my current workaround is to visually select those region an use zC

find out more bout vim's folding feature..

:help folding

happy vimming !!