[ale] Tab stops in linux?

[CB Genrich]

A tab is just a character, like space or w or #.

Many programs treat it in some special way, i.e. they
give additional horizontal space up to the next "tab
stop" whatever they think that means.  Rather like
newline or formfeed are given special treatment.

Different programs treat them differently, and there
is no particular place in Linux that you can configure
how you want programs to treat them.

You can use "expand" or "unexpand" to convert text
to not having tabs (by filling the space with spaces)
or having them (by combining several spaces into a
single tab).  See "expand --help" or "unexpand --help"
for slightly more information.  These let you give
guidance about the spacing of tabstops.

I hope this helps.

-CB Genrich-


Christopher Bergeron wrote:

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> Does anyone know if "tab stops" are universal in linux, or if they're 
> program independent?  Specifically, I use pico or vi as my editor 
> (based on my mood), and I'd like to set my "tabs" to about 2 
> characters.  It appears that the default is like 10 characters or 
> something; and I just can't spare that much screen real estate.  Would 
> I find this setting in each of my apps or is it an stty thing?  If 
> it's a global thing, would programs like "indent" also cater to it?
>
> Anyone?
>
> Much thanks,
> CB
>
>
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