From mboxrd@z Thu Jan 1 00:00:00 1970 X-Spam-Checker-Version: SpamAssassin 3.4.4 (2020-01-24) on inbox.vuxu.org X-Spam-Level: X-Spam-Status: No, score=-1.1 required=5.0 tests=DKIM_SIGNED,DKIM_VALID, DKIM_VALID_AU,MAILING_LIST_MULTI,RCVD_IN_DNSWL_NONE autolearn=ham autolearn_force=no version=3.4.4 Received: (qmail 19100 invoked from network); 5 Mar 2021 16:45:42 -0000 Received: from minnie.tuhs.org (45.79.103.53) by inbox.vuxu.org with ESMTPUTF8; 5 Mar 2021 16:45:42 -0000 Received: by minnie.tuhs.org (Postfix, from userid 112) id 748AB9CA7D; Sat, 6 Mar 2021 02:45:38 +1000 (AEST) Received: from minnie.tuhs.org (localhost [127.0.0.1]) by minnie.tuhs.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id 63FA49CA6A; Sat, 6 Mar 2021 02:45:10 +1000 (AEST) Authentication-Results: minnie.tuhs.org; dkim=pass (2048-bit key; unprotected) header.d=dartmouth.edu header.i=@dartmouth.edu header.b="VAQdFZTK"; dkim-atps=neutral Received: by minnie.tuhs.org (Postfix, from userid 112) id B1A759CA6A; Sat, 6 Mar 2021 02:45:06 +1000 (AEST) Received: from mail-wm1-f46.google.com (mail-wm1-f46.google.com [209.85.128.46]) by minnie.tuhs.org (Postfix) with ESMTPS id D517E9CA68 for ; Sat, 6 Mar 2021 02:45:05 +1000 (AEST) Received: by mail-wm1-f46.google.com with SMTP id e23so2013281wmh.3 for ; Fri, 05 Mar 2021 08:45:05 -0800 (PST) DKIM-Signature: v=1; a=rsa-sha256; c=relaxed/relaxed; d=dartmouth.edu; s=google1; h=mime-version:from:date:message-id:subject:to; bh=Mj160aUIUHL2lFHuxKTmCMfqe0bggr90WZ7Mj1ntuTE=; b=VAQdFZTKN/OZTInwvkw9/zajiPIGB1+h3XuVB1xCzlXFWPQ3MUegOzDJoFL72fTgXW Pyfw04QSI1A2LdGr2biR5Qm9updJdG3iOBkk4k6Pt1Fi0CEb89mulj+t1rk86xHpXPnT llAJru+bQR4IEnVq9uFycJSLW41dBls1nzS+MDnNBlr6bO3RUP7oTxi64ejNb5NoB6zR mQPbOJkFE2FbyahCblQBKE0nSQEu8ENDLij6EnuuohERQxmKx5xYzmjcPMzf19hwbL+u 7A98YWMjztruBdIvEEj851q+Xt7Vh4tIGrGP7G7CXpg5CZ//OkHnEHUTAk+fiuOl4Ha4 mchw== X-Google-DKIM-Signature: v=1; a=rsa-sha256; c=relaxed/relaxed; d=1e100.net; s=20161025; h=x-gm-message-state:mime-version:from:date:message-id:subject:to; bh=Mj160aUIUHL2lFHuxKTmCMfqe0bggr90WZ7Mj1ntuTE=; b=cHv5qpw9Q7oU6GIjJc9iOmNNNx0Qnb7f0Ukv5GoVGzg+aKEO1LKTXJWr/MufUP7AbP Ez4e01Pm9ZnGHf4SRp0iSYIwBhezMZvOkL5szdvk/C6H0e2eWM1C/VVbbK0gR1NL+aj6 WFO6HpFiE9sfv9PrXYnSBYHkOMWPrTZzOWEtJKBP0MCcUdb9uEPKlBF02+fQNaxhckBU 2PGFx32OI0L+YmpsdpiXZf3TOyK0BAZL1CKrHOECI3xDL2w/O4OLio0X2KScKVyk5ckH t6ms85PHyLsWq3vThW4uhN7XiZKvXbS08GeNbMbf2rCLu9VYovjM0dUyh3wazO07MmzK pQOQ== X-Gm-Message-State: AOAM533ywx0nnGPEr3OpndnHIySrT2xC2bXBon0wsuA2L5OZA5SLZSMT SQmErOwpv1yERc4hUPZwL1OlGQjFs66EL2sOnUeGSF7EpeJ5tg== X-Google-Smtp-Source: ABdhPJz8b2S07/LSeEHVvfgbyNG8St30VYvaOkQLQ8MtuTwrYVEax3ggMHez8qv81lFtUQZg7/+hXP9/FHrEDRTeQQ4= X-Received: by 2002:a05:600c:190a:: with SMTP id j10mr9720927wmq.140.1614962703635; Fri, 05 Mar 2021 08:45:03 -0800 (PST) MIME-Version: 1.0 From: M Douglas McIlroy Date: Fri, 5 Mar 2021 11:44:49 -0500 Message-ID: To: tuhs@minnie.tuhs.org Content-Type: text/plain; charset="UTF-8" Subject: [TUHS] tabs vs spaces - entab, detab X-BeenThere: tuhs@minnie.tuhs.org X-Mailman-Version: 2.1.26 Precedence: list List-Id: The Unix Heritage Society mailing list List-Unsubscribe: , List-Archive: List-Post: List-Help: List-Subscribe: , Errors-To: tuhs-bounces@minnie.tuhs.org Sender: "TUHS" > The reason to use tab was file size for one This is urban legend. The percentage of 512-byte blocks that tabs would save was never significant. (I agree that tabs and--especially--newlines can significantly compress fixed-field formats from punched-card tradition, but on the tiny Unix systems where tab conventions were established, big tabular files were very rare.) Tabs were a convenience for typists. Of course the tty driver could have replaced them with spaces, but that would have foreclosed important usage such as tab-separated fields and run-time-adjustable tab stops tab-separated fields. (I have run into latter-day trouble with selecting a space-substituted tab from a screen, only to discover that I was copying or searching for spaces instead of the tab.. That's not an intrinsic problem, though. Editors like sam handle it without fuss.) Doug