From mboxrd@z Thu Jan 1 00:00:00 1970 From: Linus Torvalds Subject: Re: On Tabs and Spaces Date: Tue, 16 Oct 2007 12:47:17 -0700 (PDT) Message-ID: References: <634393B0-734A-4884-93E3-42F7D3CB157F@mit.edu> <471476B7.5050105@users.sourceforge.net> <8c5c35580710160204s5a4f9fb3j68c0a86c4d080cb7@mail.gmail.com> <47148F72.1090602@users.sourceforge.net> <1192548367.3821.4.camel@lt21223.campus.dmacc.edu> <3awb7zw6.fsf@blue.sea.net> <20071016193605.GA829@glandium.org> Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: TEXT/PLAIN; charset=us-ascii Cc: Jari Aalto , git@vger.kernel.org To: Mike Hommey X-From: git-owner@vger.kernel.org Tue Oct 16 21:48:05 2007 Return-path: Envelope-to: gcvg-git-2@gmane.org Received: from vger.kernel.org ([209.132.176.167]) by lo.gmane.org with esmtp (Exim 4.50) id 1IhsOW-0006Zh-3U for gcvg-git-2@gmane.org; Tue, 16 Oct 2007 21:48:00 +0200 Received: (majordomo@vger.kernel.org) by vger.kernel.org via listexpand id S1752189AbXJPTrt (ORCPT ); Tue, 16 Oct 2007 15:47:49 -0400 Received: (majordomo@vger.kernel.org) by vger.kernel.org id S1752036AbXJPTrt (ORCPT ); Tue, 16 Oct 2007 15:47:49 -0400 Received: from smtp2.linux-foundation.org ([207.189.120.14]:48724 "EHLO smtp2.linux-foundation.org" rhost-flags-OK-OK-OK-OK) by vger.kernel.org with ESMTP id S1751957AbXJPTrs (ORCPT ); Tue, 16 Oct 2007 15:47:48 -0400 Received: from imap1.linux-foundation.org (imap1.linux-foundation.org [207.189.120.55]) by smtp2.linux-foundation.org (8.13.5.20060308/8.13.5/Debian-3ubuntu1.1) with ESMTP id l9GJlIdD022696 (version=TLSv1/SSLv3 cipher=DHE-RSA-AES256-SHA bits=256 verify=NO); Tue, 16 Oct 2007 12:47:19 -0700 Received: from localhost (localhost [127.0.0.1]) by imap1.linux-foundation.org (8.13.5.20060308/8.13.5/Debian-3ubuntu1.1) with ESMTP id l9GJlHpx012544; Tue, 16 Oct 2007 12:47:18 -0700 In-Reply-To: <20071016193605.GA829@glandium.org> X-Spam-Status: No, hits=-2.718 required=5 tests=AWL,BAYES_00 X-Spam-Checker-Version: SpamAssassin 3.1.0-osdl_revision__1.47__ X-MIMEDefang-Filter: lf$Revision: 1.188 $ X-Scanned-By: MIMEDefang 2.53 on 207.189.120.14 Sender: git-owner@vger.kernel.org Precedence: bulk X-Mailing-List: git@vger.kernel.org Archived-At: On Tue, 16 Oct 2007, Mike Hommey wrote: > > Actually, part of the mess with tabs is due to the fact they're not > exactly 8 spaces wide, but any width that ends at a multiple of 8 > characters from the start of the line. So 0 <= n < 8 spaces and a tab > is still 8 spaces. Umm.. That's the definition of "tab width". The tab width is 8. Not "0 < n <= 8". Not "depends on where you are". The tab width is 8. The whole history of tab is that it comes from mechanical "tab stops" that you could set, and that were independent of the text - pressing the tab key would move to the next tab stop. Now, those tab stops were movable, and in fact, I think lots of terminals still support setting those tab stops dynamically (ie you can send control sequences to set their "tab stops" to different points, exactly like an old mechanical typewriter). But when it comes to computers, 8-character wide tab stops is the de-facto standard. It's what every single terminal defaults to. It's the only thing that some printers/terminals support. Anything else is by definition non-standard. Linus