On Unix-like operating systems, the tabs command sets tab stops on a terminal.
This page covers the Linux version of tabs.
Description
The tabs program clears and sets tab stops on the terminal. This uses the clear_all_tabs and set_tab capabilities of the terminfo database. If either is absent, tabs cannot clear or set tab stops. The terminal should be configured to use hard tabs, for example with the following stty command:
- Description
- Syntax
- Explicit tab stop lists
- Pre-defined tab stop lists
- Examples
- Related commands
- Linux commands help
stty tab0
Syntax
tabs [-n | –file [[-code] | -a | -a2 | -c | -c2 | -c3 | -f | -p | -s | -u]] [+m [n]] [-T type]
Options
The tabs program processes a single list of tab stops. The last option to be processed which defines a list is the one that determines the list to be processed.
Explicit tab stop lists
An explicit list can be defined after the options (this does not use a “-”). The values in the list must be in increasing numeric order, and greater than zero. They are separated by a comma or a blank, for example,
tabs 1,6,11,16,21
tabs 1 6 11 16 21
Use a ‘+’ to treat a number as an increment relative to the previous value, e.g.,
tabs 1,+5,+5,+5,+5
…which is equivalent to the 1,6,11,16,21 example.
Pre-defined tab stop lists
The X/Open standard defines several pre-defined lists of tab stops for certain coding styles, which can be set using the following -code options:
Examples
tabs -c
Set the terminal’s tab stops for normal COBOL formatting.
tabs -d 13,19,29,36,43
Set the tab stops to 13, 19, 29, 36, and 43 spaces, and display a ruler which shows expected and real tab stops.
Related commands
stty — Set options for your terminal display.