Notepad++ convert leading spaces to tabs upon entry

6
votes

Very close to reverse of this question. I prefer coding with 2-whitespace indentation, but need to have files indented with tabs to align with project convention. What I would like to do is preferably automatically convert 2 spaces upon entry to tab symbol in Notepad++ and have the editor configured to tab length of 2.

A possible manual way for doing this could be Edit->Blank Operations->Space to TAB but this converts all of my spaces to tabs, even those of length 1 - which are, for example, spaces between function arguments, not just leading spaces.

In a perfect case scenario I'm trying to achieve formatting style as described in this question, but with typing just spaces and the editor taking care of the rest.
I'm on Notepad++ 6.0, but willing to upgrade if this helps

2
coding-stylenotepad++indentation

2 Answers

6
votes

Let me complete the answer of Ari Okkonen to add a workaround to the problem commented by Sergii Zaskaleta of mixed tabs and spaces at the beginning of the line.

  1. Settings->Preferences->Tab Settings->Tab size: 2 (if not already)
  2. Edit->Blank Operations->Space to TAB (Leading)
  3. Select a block of lines of text with the problem of mixed spaces and tabs. Press [Tab] and [Shift]+[Tab] to add and remove a tab from each line. In the process, the leading spaces had been converted to tabs.
4
votes

A manual way that seems to work: After having edited the file before saving you may try (Works in Notepad++ v6.8.3):

  1. Settings->Preferences->Tab Settings->Tab size: 2 (if not already)
  2. Edit->Blank Operations->Space to TAB (Leading)