How can I show vertical indentations markers with Emacs?

Question

I'm looking for an Emacs package or configuration that makes it possible to mark indentations with vertical lines, like those shown in the following screenshot of Sublime Text:

Answer 1

I guess this and this could be an answer to your question.

Installation is easy. Invoke git clone git@github.com:antonj/Highlight-Indentation-for-Emacs.git . in, say, ~/.emacs.d/highlight-indents and add

(add-to-list 'load-path "~/.emacs.d/packages/highlight-indents/")
(require 'highlight-indentation)

to your .emacs. Then, when visiting a file you can M-x highlight-indentation-mode RET to enable the minor mode.

Answer 2

You can also use highlight-indent-guides-mode and add it as a hook to prog-mode, so that it gets loaded automatically.

In Spacemacs, I did it by first installing it with M-x package-install or adding it as a user-defined package in .spacemacs, then M-x customize-group, prog-mode, prog-mode hooks, "ins", enter highlight-indent-guides-mode.

You can configure it via M-x customize-group highlight-indent-guides and change the indent character, coloring, etc.

So far, it works wonders and renders quickly.

Answer 3

Use indent-bars-mode from GNU ELPA archive:

(use-package indent-bars
  :ensure t
  :hook ((emacs-lisp-mode
          markdown-mode
          python-mode
          rst-mode
          yaml-mode) . indent-bars-mode))

indent-bars.el is a modern package for showing indentation rulers.

Answer 4

I think you may want to look at indent-guide mode. It gives indentation of code blocks dynamically when we move the cursor. Moreover, it is easy to set up your favorite indent characters like : and | as well as the background color of intentions.