How do I change Eclipse to use spaces instead of tabs?

915
votes

By default Eclipse indents with a hard tab character. How do I change it to spaces?

21
eclipseformattingtabswhitespace
@i3ensays because tabs are presented differently in different editors or environments whereas spaces are always consistent. – mmmdreg
@mmmdreg exactly my point. spaces are rigid and wasteful. Using tabs gives freedom to the viewer to configure their editor as desired. I like my tabs to display as 2 spaces, my colleague 4. This is not possible without use of tabs. My colleague here, and I, battle spaces when we each format in our respective editor; tabs are not an issue; this is why they were invented (I suspect). – i3ensays
@i3ensays amen, brother! I've been trying to make people understand this concept for over 10 years (rizzoweb.com/java/tabs-vs-spaces.html). What really alarms me is that, as programmers, you'd think everyone would understand the concept of abstractions (a tab is an abstraction of code indentation, while a fixed number of spaces is a hard-coded implementation) - but alas, it seems that many programmers can't see the abstraction here. – E-Riz
@i3ensays Your team should have a coding standard that clearly states how code is formatted. This would save time by preventing the battles you mention. You should adopt one asap but that standard will 100% certainly state that tabs are never to be used because this holy war was won by the "space people" ages ago so a standard won't help you. Aside from alignment issues one of the biggest reasons for spaces only is that revision control tools and code reviewers won't have to deal with this issue. I started on your side of this battle 20 years ago but eventually learned to embrace the space. – Night Owl
The reason is that people will inevitably end up with combinations of tabs and spaces and in some editors the code will not display correctly. If everyone just uses spaces then this is never a problem. – Eamonn McEvoy

21 Answers

1264
votes

Java Editor

  1. Click Window » Preferences
  2. Expand Java » Code Style
  3. Click Formatter
  4. Click the Edit button
  5. Click the Indentation tab
  6. Under General Settings, set Tab policy to: Spaces only
  7. Click OK ad nauseam to apply the changes.

[Note: If necessary save profile with a new name as the default profile cannot be overwritten.]

Default Text Editor

Before version 3.6:

Window->Preferences->Editors->Text Editors->Insert spaces for tabs

Version 3.6 and later:

  1. Click Window » Preferences
  2. Expand General » Editors
  3. Click Text Editors
  4. Check Insert spaces for tabs
  5. Click OK ad nauseam to apply the changes.

Note that the default text editor is used as the basis for many non-Java editors in Eclipse. It's astonishing that this setting wasn't available until 3.3.

C / C++

  1. Click Window » Preferences
  2. Expand C/C++ » Code Style
  3. Click Formatter
  4. Click the New button to create a new profile, then OK to continue
  5. Click the Indentation tab
  6. Under General Settings, set Tab policy to: Spaces only
  7. Click OK ad nauseam to apply the changes.

HTML

  1. Click Window » Preferences
  2. Expand Web » HTML Files
  3. Click Editor
  4. Under Formatting, select the Indent using spaces radio button
  5. Click OK to apply the changes.

CSS

Follow the same instructions for HTML, but select CSS Files instead of HTML Files.

JSP

By default, JSP files follow the formatting preferences for HTML Files.

XML

XML files spacing is configured in Preferences.

  1. Click Window » Preferences
  2. Expand XML » XML Files
  3. Click Editor
  4. Select Indent using spaces
  5. You can specify the Indentation size if needed: number of spaces to indent.
155
votes

For the default text editor:

  • General » Editors » Text Editors » Insert spaces for tabs (check it)

For PHP:

  • PHP » Code Style » Formatter » Tab policy (choose "spaces")
  • PHP » Code Style » Formatter » Indentation size (set to 4)

For CSS:

  • Web » CSS » Editor » Indent using spaces (select it)
  • Web » CSS » Editor » Indentation size (set to 4)

For HTML:

  • Web » HTML » Editor » Indent using spaces (select it)
  • Web » HTML » Editor » Indentation size (set to 4)

For XML:

  • XML » XML Files » Editor » Indent using spaces (select it)
  • XML » XML Files » Editor » Indentation size (set to 4)

For Javascript:

  • Javascript » Preferences » Code Style » Formatter » Edit » Indentation (choose "spaces only")
  • Rename the formatter settings profile to save it

For Java:

  • Java » Preferences » Code Style » Formatter » Edit » Indentation (choose "spaces only")
  • Rename the formatter settings profile to save it
38
votes

From changing tabs to spaces in eclipse:

Window » Preferences » Java » Code Style » Formatter » Edit » Indentation (choose "Spaces Only")

27
votes

For CDT:

  • Go to Window/Preference » C/C++ » Code Style » Formatter » New
  • Create a new one because the built in profile can not be changed
  • MyProfile (choose one name for the profile)
  • Indentation » Tab Policy (choose Spaces only)
24
votes

Just a quick tip for people stumbling across this thread; there is one more place where this setting can also be set, in your project!

Eclipse supports project-specific settings, and some projects will use their own, un-managed tabs/spaces settings, which won't show up anywhere except the current project Properties.

This can be managed through:

  • Right-Click current Project in Package Explorer
  • Properties » Java Code Style
  • Turn off all the project-specific options

This will generally only be an issue if you import someone else's code into your Eclipse.

19
votes

For Default Editor:

Window » Preferences » Editors » Text Editors » Insert spaces for tabs

enter image description here

For Java editor

Window » Preferences » Java » Code Style » Formatter » Edit » Indentation » Tab policy "Spaces Only"

enter image description here

10
votes

When I faced this problem I had "use spaces for tabs" set to true everywhere I could find, and yet I was still getting tabs. It ended up being because tabs were used elsewhere in the file and it was trying to do smart indentation or something frustrating.

It was resolved by selecting the entire contents of the file and pressing, on a mac, command+shift+f. This applies the given formatting to a file. I do not know the same keybinding on windows, but give that a try. At that point I begin getting the expected behavior.

6
votes

Eclipse IDE for C/C++ Developers, Version: Helios Service Release 2

You need to create new profile by pressing New button inside "Window->Preferences->Code Style"

Go to Indentation tab and select "Tab policy = Space only"

Eclipse IDE for C/C++ Developers, Version: Kepler Service Release 1

Follow the path below to create new profile: "Window > Preferences > C/C++ > Code Style > Formatter"

Go to Indentation tab and select "Tab policy = Space only"

6
votes

Be sure to check the java formater since it overwrites the "insert spaces for tabs" setting. Go to:

Java->Code Style"->Formatter->Edit->Identation

Note: you will need to create a custom format to be able to save your configuration.

6
votes

I found the solution this problem very simple and which works always. It is change the eclipse setting file.

For example (change HTML indentation size):

  1. Found org.eclipse.wst.html.core.prefs file which should be in your_workspace/.metadata/.plugins/org.eclipse.core.runtime/.settings/
  2. Add/Change to line in file:
indentationChar=space

indentationSize=4
6
votes

Go to Window -> Preferences and type tab as the search text (which will display a dialog like below):

enter image description here

Go to the highlighted sections to change the tab policy. For the Editor settings it is mostly Indent using spaces (also shown above).

For Formatter settings you need to edit the active profile and update Tab policy (available under `Indentation -> General settings:

enter image description here

4
votes

Window->Preferences->Java->Code Style->Formatter->Edit->Indentation = "Spaces Only"

4
votes

In Eclipse go to Window » Preferences then search for Formatter.

You will see various bold links, click on each bold link and set it to use spaces instead of tabs.

In the java formatter link, you have to edit the profile and select the tab policy, spaces only in indentation tab

4
votes

In eclipse format xml:

For tab:

<setting id="org.eclipse.jdt.core.formatter.tabulation.char" value="tab"/>

For space:

<setting id="org.eclipse.jdt.core.formatter.tabulation.char" value="space"/>
3
votes

Don't miss Tab policy for both of * Spaces only * Use spaces to indent wrapped lines

I checked only the latter thing and left the Combobox as Tabs Only which kept failing CheckStyle.. FYI, I'm talking about Preferences > Java > Formatter > Edit...

1
votes

Also consider using an .editorconfig file: https://marketplace.eclipse.org/content/editorconfig-eclipse. Someone not using Eclipse may also benefit from this, in the worst case it can serve as a guideline. NOTE: I will not enter the tabs vs space wars but use spaces FTW :-)

1
votes

You can definitely use XML file to configure your formatter of the coding style. The formatter file helps you to have the same coding style and guidelines across your team members.

Adding these below setting variables would have a tab= 2 spaces and convert to space even you probably use Tab shorthand key when coding using Eclipse.

<setting id="org.eclipse.jdt.core.formatter.tabulation.size" value="2"/>
<setting id="org.eclipse.jdt.core.formatter.tabulation.char" value="space"/>    
<setting id="org.eclipse.jdt.core.formatter.use_tabs_only_for_leading_indentations" value="yes"/>

Best,

0
votes
  • Click Window » Preferences
  • Expand Java » Code Style
  • Click Formatter
  • click new
  • Select the profile name
  • Click ok
  • Click the Edit button
  • Click the Indentation tab
  • Under General Settings, set Tab policy to: Spaces only
  • Click OK.
0
votes

As an augmentation to the other answers, on Mac OS X, the "Preferences" menu is under Eclipse, not Window (unlike Windows/Linux Eclipse distributions). Everything else is still the same as pointed out by other answers past this point.

IE: Java Formatter available under:

Eclipse >      | # Not Window!
Preferences >  |
Java >         |
Code Style >   |
Formatter      |

From here, edit the formatter and the tab policy can be set under "Indentation".

0
votes

In eclipse mars (EE) on Mac OS X, the only way I could find this in the preferences was to open the Preference dialog and type Formatter, then select Java->Code Style->Formatter.

Java->Code Style has no access to Formatter!

0
votes

And don't forget the ANT editor

For some reason Ant Editor does not show up in the search results for 'tab' or 'spaces' so can be missed.

Under Windows > Preferences

  • Ant » Editor » Formatter » Tab size: (set to 4)
  • Ant » Editor » Formatter » Use tab character instead of spaces (uncheck it)