What's the default indent?

Two spaces, matching the most common code and Markdown nested-list indentation convention, but you can change it to any string, including a tab character or multiple spaces.

Does every item get the same amount of indentation?

Yes, the indent string is prepended exactly once to every item, uniformly. If you want progressively increasing indentation instead, use List Skewer.

Can I use a tab instead of spaces?

Yes, enter a literal tab character (or paste one) as the indent string; the tool doesn't restrict the indent to spaces.

Will this affect blank items in my list?

Yes, even an empty item gets the indent string prepended, since indentation is applied uniformly regardless of an item's original content.

List Item Indenter Online - Indent Every List Item

Overview

Introduction

Nesting a list under a heading, in Markdown, YAML, or plain text notes, usually means indenting every item by the same fixed amount.

List Item Indenter applies that uniform indent to every item in one pass, instead of manually prefixing each line.

What Is List Item Indenter?

A formatting tool that prepends a chosen indent string, two spaces by default, once to every item in a separator-delimited list.

It applies the same indent uniformly to every item; for progressively increasing indentation per item, see the related List Skewer tool.

How List Item Indenter Works

The input is split into items on the resolved separator, and the indent string is prepended to each item exactly once via a simple map.

The indented items are rejoined using the same separator and delimiter settings as the input, preserving the list's overall structure.

When To Use List Item Indenter

Use it to nest a flat list under a Markdown bullet, YAML key, or code block heading that expects indented children.

It's also handy for visually offsetting a list block from surrounding text in plain-text notes or comments.

Often used alongside List Skewer, List Function Applier and List Mirror.

Features

Advantages

Applies indentation uniformly and predictably, no risk of missing a line the way manual editing can.
Accepts any indent string, not just spaces, tabs and multi-character prefixes both work.
Works with any configured separator, not just newline-delimited lists.

Limitations

Indentation is uniform across all items; use List Skewer if you need progressively increasing indentation instead.
Applies the indent exactly once; running the tool twice doubles it, since there's no built-in "already indented" detection.

Examples

Default two-space indent

Input

item one
item two

Output

  item one
  item two

Two spaces are prepended to each of the two items.

Custom indent string

Input

a,b,c (indent: "-> ")

Output

-> a, -> b, -> c

The custom "-> " prefix is prepended to each comma-separated item.

Best Practices & Notes

Best Practices

Match the indent string to your target format, two spaces for Markdown/YAML, a tab for some code styles.
Use List Skewer instead if you want a staircase effect where each item is indented further than the last.

Developer Notes

The indent is applied with a plain string concatenation (indent + item) inside Array.prototype.map, so it's a one-time prefix rather than something computed per-item like List Skewer's i * step repeat count.

List Item Indenter Use Cases

Nesting a plain list under a Markdown bullet or heading
Indenting a list of values to match a YAML or config file's expected structure
Visually offsetting a block of list items from surrounding paragraph text

Common Mistakes

Running the tool twice on the same list, which doubles the indent rather than leaving it unchanged.
Expecting increasing indentation per item; that's List Skewer's job, this tool indents everything by the same fixed amount.
Forgetting the indent is applied to every item including blank ones, which can look like unexpected leading whitespace.

Tips

Use a visually distinct custom indent string like "-> " temporarily to double-check exactly where indentation was applied.
Chain into List Mirror or List Reverser afterward if you need the indented list combined with other list transforms.

List Item Indenter