.editorconfig

Information

EditorConfig is a file format and collection of text editor plugins for maintaining consistent coding styles across different editors and IDEs. A .editorconfig file placed in a project root is automatically read by supported editors without requiring per-developer configuration.

Most major editors support EditorConfig natively or via a free plugin: VS Code, IntelliJ/IDEA, Vim, Emacs, Sublime Text, Atom, and many others.

Key properties:

Property	Values	Description
indent_style	space or tab	Type of indentation
indent_size	integer (e.g. 4)	Number of spaces per indent level
tab_width	integer	Width of a tab character (defaults to indent_size)
end_of_line	lf, cr, crlf	Line ending style
charset	utf-8, latin1, etc.	File encoding
trim_trailing_whitespace	true or false	Remove trailing whitespace on save
insert_final_newline	true or false	Ensure file ends with a newline
max_line_length	integer or off	Soft line length limit

Wildcard patterns for section headers:

• * — any string of characters except path separator
• ** — any string including path separators
• [*.{js,ts}] — matches multiple extensions
• [Makefile] — exact filename match

Configuration

Example .editorconfig for a mixed Java, JavaScript, and Python project:

root = true

[*]
charset = utf-8
end_of_line = lf
insert_final_newline = true
trim_trailing_whitespace = true

[*.{java,kt}]
indent_style = space
indent_size = 4

[*.{js,ts,jsx,tsx,json,html,css,less,scss}]
indent_style = space
indent_size = 4

[*.py]
indent_style = space
indent_size = 4
max_line_length = 120

[*.{yml,yaml}]
indent_style = space
indent_size = 2

[Makefile]
indent_style = tab

[*.md]
trim_trailing_whitespace = false

Usage, tips and tricks

How Editors Pick Up the File

When opening a file, the editor searches for .editorconfig files starting from the file’s directory upward toward the filesystem root. The closest .editorconfig wins for each property. Search stops when a file with root = true is found.

This means you can override settings per subdirectory by placing a second .editorconfig there without root = true. For example, a frontend/ subdirectory could use 2-space indent while the rest of the project uses 4-space.

IDE Integration

• VS Code: built-in support, no plugin needed.
• IntelliJ IDEA / WebStorm: built-in since 2019.x.
• Vim/Neovim: install editorconfig-vim plugin.
• Emacs: install editorconfig-emacs package.

See also

• editorconfig.org
• SMI standard