Use the command ess-set-style and set it to BSD. See the documentation in ESS, starting with C-h f ess-set-style It is described in the documentation for ESS, either .../doc/html/ess.html or .../doc/info/ess.info Search for "indent" If you have followup questions on this topic, please use the ESS mailing list ess-help at stat.math.ethz.ch Rich