On 12/12/23 17:25:15, Paul Eggert via tz wrote:
... As Alois writes, this is merely a visual appearance issue; it doesn't affect the meaning of the data. .
Sometimes it matters. "make" requires build rules to be introduced by tabs. not spaces. And I know a couple lexical analyzers which recognize spaces but not tabs as separating tokens.
Spaces are sometimes used instead of tabs, when using a tab would cause columns or lines to not fit. For example, consider the line: ... Rule EgyptAsia 1957 only - May 10 0:00 1:00 S ... We prefer data to be 80 character columns or less for the usual reasons; see, for example <https://www.emacswiki.org/emacs/EightyColumnRule>. So we use a space instead of a tab there. > . Which says, “Thou shalt not cross 80 columns in thy file” originated from IBM 80 column punch cards, ...
On IBM 80 column punch cards, the tab, 0x05 (rarely used), occupies only a single column, regardless of its appearance on output devices. -- gil