Visual Studio Code - Convert spaces to tabs

Question

I have both TypeScript and HTML files in my project, in both files tabs are converted to spaces.

I want to turn the auto-conversion off and make sure that my project has only tabs.

Edit:

With this setting it seems to work in HTML files but not in TypeScript files.

{
  "editor.insertSpaces": false
}

Palmetto

Does this answer your question? How can I convert tabs to spaces and vice versa in an existing file? – That

Answer 1

There are 3 options in .vscode/settings.json:

// The number of spaces a tab is equal to.
"editor.tabSize": 4,

// Insert spaces when pressing Tab.
"editor.insertSpaces": true,

// When opening a file, `editor.tabSize` and `editor.insertSpaces` will be detected based on the file contents.
"editor.detectIndentation": true

editor.detectIndentation detects it from your file, you have to disable it. If it didn't help, check that you have no settings with higher priority. For example when you save it to User settings it could be overwritten by Workspace settings which are in your project folder.

Update:

To access these settings, you can open File » Preferences » Settings, click the Manage cog icon at the bottom left, or use the keyboard shortcut:

CTRL+, (Windows, Linux)

⌘+, (Mac)

Update:

Now you have an alternative to editing those options manually.
Click on selector Spaces:4 at the bottom-right of the editor:

EDIT:
To convert existing indentation from spaces to tabs hit Ctrl+Shift+P and type:

>Convert indentation to Tabs

This will change the indentation for your document based on the defined settings to Tabs.

Strander

How do I run this command for all files in my workspace. – Sweyn

how do I do >Convert indentation to Tabs permanently for all my files and projects in VSCode? – Tautomerism

@FäridAlijani, @ VijenderKumar I don't think it is possible using VS Code – Strander

@VijenderKumar see How can I convert indentation between spaces and tabs for all files in a workspace in a single action? – That

Answer 2

To change tab settings, click the text area right to the Ln/Col text in the status bar on the bottom right of vscode window.

The name can be Tab Size or Spaces.

A menu will pop up with all available actions and settings.

Michikomichon

For me, this only changes these settings for the particular file I'm currently viewing. The other files in the project keep their old settings. How would you set it universally? – Dorothydorp

I usually replace all my files at once, if I need to, by doing a project search for the simple regex ` {4}` and replace with \t (for tabs). Usually also glance over the matches to make sure nothing will break like multi-line string literals, etc. Obviously apply these settings so that your new indentations are the desired characters, too! – Gothart

Answer 3

Ctrl+Shift+P, then "Convert Indentation to Tabs"

Tamworth

Is it possible to do this for a selection and not the whole file? – Wilda

is it possible to do this for a whole repo and not just one file? – Classmate

@Wilda Yes. If you highlight a block of code in a file, the conversion applies just within the selection. Btw, on Mac the key combo is ⌥ + P (alt/option + P). – Clairvoyance

Answer 4

If you want to use tabs instead of spaces

Try this:

1. Go to File ➤ Preferences ➤ Settings or just press Ctrl + ,
2. In the Search settings bar on top insert editor.insertSpaces
3. You will see something like this: Editor: Insert Spaces and it will be probably checked. Just uncheck it as show in image below

4. Reload Visual Studio Code (Press F1 ➤ type reload window ➤ press Enter)

---

If it doesn't worked try this:

It's probably because of installed plugin JS-CSS-HTML Formatter

(You can check it by going to File ➤ Preferences ➤ Extensions or just pressing Ctrl + Shift + X, in the Enabled list you will find JS-CSS-HTML Formatter)

If so you can modify this plugin:

1. Press F1 ➤ type Formatter config ➤ press Enter (it will open the file formatter.json)
2. Modify the file like this:

 4|    "indent_size": 1,
 5|    "indent_char": "\t"
——|
24|    "indent_size": 1,
25|    "indentCharacter": "\t",
26|    "indent_char": "\t",
——|
34|    "indent_size": 1,
35|    "indent_char": "\t",
36|    "indent_character": "\t"

3. Save it (Go to File ➤ Save or just press Ctrl + S)
4. Reload Visual Studio Code (Press F1 ➤ type reload window ➤ press Enter)

Adjournment

If you want spaces instead of tabs, modify formatter.json file: put one space in any quotation mark instead of \t (So "\t" became " "), and put 4 where you see 1. So you come might be like this "indent_size": 4, "indent_char": " " "indent_size": 4, "indentCharacter": " ", "indent_char": " ", "indent_size": 4, "indent_char": " ", "indent_character": " " – Adjournment

The RELOAD WINDOW step was what I was missing. Frustrating to have gone the process of checking boxes and fiddling with settings 3 times for no changes to take, when all I had to do was reload window. Thanks for the tip! – Kieger

Reloading VS Code did the trick – Paulpaula

thank you. The only answer, describing how to do it. – Dys

Answer 5

Below settings are worked well for me,

"editor.insertSpaces": false,
"editor.formatOnSave": true, // only if you want auto fomattting on saving the file
"editor.detectIndentation": false

Above settings will reflect and applied to every files. You don't need to indent/format every file manually.

Roveover

Answer 6

Check this from official vscode setting:

// Controls whether `editor.tabSize#` and `#editor.insertSpaces` will be automatically detected when a file is opened based on the file contents.
"editor.detectIndentation": true,

// The number of spaces a tab is equal to. This setting is overridden based on the file contents when `editor.detectIndentation` is on.
"editor.tabSize": 4,

// Config the editor that making the "space" instead of "tab"
"editor.insertSpaces": true,

// Configure editor settings to be overridden for [html] language.
"[html]": {
    "editor.insertSpaces": true,
    "editor.tabSize": 2,
    "editor.autoIndent": false
}

Andrien

Answer 7

In my case, the problem was JS-CSS-HTML Formatter extension installed after january update. The default indent_char property is space. I uninstalled it and the weird behavior stops.

Immiscible

Oh yes, this is was the actual issue for me. spend a lot of time tinkering around setting in VS code. finally disabling this extension solved the problem. – Shultz

Answer 8

1. Highlight your Code (in file)
2. Click Tab Size in bottom righthand corner of application window
3. Select the appropriate Convert Indentation to Tabs

Linkage

Answer 9

File -> Preferences -> Settings or just press Ctrl + , and search for spaces, then just deactivate this option:

I had to reopen the file so the changes would take effect.

Rios

Answer 10

If you want to change tabs to spaces in a lot of files, but don't want to open them individually, I have found that it works equally as well to just use the Find and Replace option from the left-most tools bar.

In the first box (Find), copy and paste a tab from the source code.

In the second box (Replace), enter the number of spaces that you wish to use (i.e. 2 or 4).

If you press the ... button, you can specify directories to include or ignore (i.e. src/Data/Json).

Finally, inspect the result preview and press Replace All. All files in the workspace may be affected.

Simony

Answer 11

Set this to false if you are using .sass files and it's giving you the Expected tabs, was spaces error:

"editor.detectIndentation": false

... then select your block of code and indent it by pressing the tab key and indent it back by pressing the shift + tab key.

Bedell

Answer 12

In my case it was about unchecking

Prettier: Use Tabs

on VSCode settings

Felicitasfelicitate

Answer 13

{
  "editor.insertSpaces": true
}

True works for me.

Galway