NAME

       textutil::tabify - Procedures to (un)tabify strings

SYNOPSIS

       package require Tcl  8.2

       package require textutil::tabify  ?0.7?

       ::textutil::tabify::tabify string ?num?

       ::textutil::tabify::tabify2 string ?num?

       ::textutil::tabify::untabify string ?num?

       ::textutil::tabify::untabify2 string ?num?

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DESCRIPTION

       The package textutil::tabify provides commands that convert between tabulation and ordinary whitespace in
       strings.

       The complete set of procedures is described below.

       ::textutil::tabify::tabify string ?num?
              Tabify  the  string  by  replacing any substring of num space chars by a tabulation and return the
              result as a new string. num defaults to 8.

       ::textutil::tabify::tabify2 string ?num?
              Similar to ::textutil::tabify this command tabifies the string and returns the  result  as  a  new
              string.  A  different  algorithm is used however. Instead of replacing any substring of num spaces
              this command works more like an editor. num defaults to 8.

              Each line of the text in string is treated as if  there  are  tabstops  every  num  columns.  Only
              sequences  of  space  characters  containing  more  than one space character and found immediately
              before a tabstop are replaced with tabs.

       ::textutil::tabify::untabify string ?num?
              Untabify the string by replacing any tabulation char by a substring of num space chars and  return
              the result as a new string. num defaults to 8.

       ::textutil::tabify::untabify2 string ?num?
              Untabify the string by replacing any tabulation char by a substring of at most num space chars and
              return the result as a new string. Unlike textutil::tabify::untabify each tab is not replaced by a
              fixed  number  of  space  characters.   The command overlays each line in the string with tabstops
              every num columns instead and replaces tabs with just enough space characters to  reach  the  next
              tabstop.  This is the complement of the actions taken by ::textutil::tabify::tabify2. num defaults
              to 8.

              There is one asymmetry though: A tab can be replaced with a single space, but not  the  other  way
              around.

BUGS, IDEAS, FEEDBACK

       This  document,  and  the package it describes, will undoubtedly contain bugs and other problems.  Please
       report such in the category  textutil  of  the  Tcllib  Trackers  [http://core.tcl.tk/tcllib/reportlist].
       Please also report any ideas for enhancements you may have for either package and/or documentation.

       When proposing code changes, please provide unified diffs, i.e the output of diff -u.

       Note  further  that  attachments  are strongly preferred over inlined patches. Attachments can be made by
       going to the Edit form of the ticket immediately after its creation, and then using the left-most  button
       in the secondary navigation bar.

SEE ALSO

       regexp(3tcl), split(3tcl), string(3tcl)

KEYWORDS

       formatting, string, tabstops

CATEGORY

       Text processing

tcllib                                                 0.7                                textutil::tabify(3tcl)