Managing Code Indentation in MATLAB

You can increase indent in MATLAB manually using the Increase Indent button on the Editor or Live Editor tab, or by using keyboard shortcuts.

Proper code indentation is crucial for readability and maintaining a clear structure in your MATLAB scripts and functions. MATLAB provides several ways to control and increase indentation.

Manually Increasing Indent

One of the most straightforward ways to adjust indentation is by using the dedicated buttons in the MATLAB Editor.

As per the documentation: "To manually change the indent of selected lines to be farther right or left, on the Editor or Live Editor tab, click the Increase Indent or Decrease Indent buttons."

This method gives you direct control over the indentation of specific lines or blocks of code.

Here's how to do it:

1. Select the lines of code you want to indent further.
2. Navigate to the Editor or Live Editor tab in the MATLAB toolstrip.
3. In the Code section, click the Increase Indent button (often looks like an arrow pointing right with lines).

• Tip: The Decrease Indent button is usually located next to it, allowing you to move selected lines to the left.
• Insight: Manually changing indent using these buttons works regardless of whether MATLAB's automatic indenting feature is enabled or disabled.

Using Keyboard Shortcuts

A common and efficient way to increase indent while typing or for selected lines is by using the keyboard:

• Indent a single line: Place your cursor at the beginning of the line and press the Tab key.
• Indent multiple lines: Select the block of lines you want to indent and press the Tab key. All selected lines will be indented by one level.
• Decrease indent: Select the lines and press Shift + Tab.

Leveraging Automatic Indentation

MATLAB can also automatically handle indentation for you, especially when you save your file or use specific features.

• Smart Indent: You can often trigger automatic indentation for your code (or a selection) by using the Smart Indent option, sometimes found in the right-click context menu or through keyboard shortcuts (like Ctrl + I or Cmd + I on some systems).
• Saving Files: MATLAB often automatically indents code correctly when you save an .m file, based on its syntax.
• Preferences: You can configure automatic indentation behavior and tab stops in MATLAB's Preferences (Home tab > Environment section > Preferences > Editor/Debugger > Language > Tab and Indent).

By utilizing a combination of manual control, keyboard shortcuts, and automatic settings, you can easily manage and increase the indentation of your code in MATLAB, leading to cleaner and more readable scripts.