About

Inconsistent indentation is the silent killer of clean codebases. Whether you are adhering to a style guide (like PEP8) or fixing mixed content from legacy files, this tool standardizes your whitespace using deterministic logic. It converts the Tab character (ASCII 9) into a fixed sequence of Space characters (ASCII 32), or vice versa.

Unlike simple text replacements, this utility allows you to target Leading Indentation specifically, preserving necessary spacing within strings or comments. It calculates the indentation depth d based on your specified tab width w, ensuring the visual structure of the code remains mathematically identical while changing the underlying byte representation.

Formulas

The conversion logic relies on the relationship between the visual width W and the character count N. For a tab width k:

Space Rep = repeat(ASCII_32, k)

When converting spaces to tabs (compression), the tool uses integer division to find the number of tabs T and the remainder spaces S:

T = total_spacesk, S = total_spaces &mod; k

Reference Data

Language/Standard	Preferred Indentation	Tab Width (w)	Reasoning
Python (PEP 8)	Spaces	4	Strict interpretation required by interpreter.
JavaScript (Standard)	Spaces	2	Reduces horizontal scroll in deeply nested callbacks.
Go (Golang)	Tabs	Variable	Accessibility; allows developers to set own width.
HTML/CSS	Spaces	2	Compact hierarchy visualization.
Linux Kernel	Tabs	8	Forces code simplicity (deep nesting looks bad).
YAML	Spaces	2	Tabs are strictly forbidden by the spec.

Frequently Asked Questions

Compilers and interpreters (like Python) rely on indentation to define scope. If a user sets their editor tab width to 4, but the file was written with tabs assuming a width of 8, the visual alignment breaks. Furthermore, mixing ASCII 9 (Tab) and ASCII 32 (Space) causes "IndentationError" because the interpreter cannot determine the intended hierarchy.

Generally, yes. "Leading" mode converts indentation at the start of the line, which defines code structure. "Global" mode replaces every instance, which might accidentally alter string literals (e.g., a tab character inside a printed message). The "Leading" option is safer for source code.

Yes. While 2, 4, and 8 are standard, you can input any custom integer for the tab width w to match specific legacy requirements or unique style guides.

Visually, yes (if the tab width matches). Byte-wise, no. Converting Tabs to Spaces increases file size (1 byte becomes N bytes). Converting Spaces to Tabs decreases file size. This tool is non-destructive to the actual content, only the whitespace.