Re: bash doesn't display tabs for tabs -- ignores tabstops.

[Linda Walsh]

Greg Wooledge wrote:
> 
> Which means I typed <e> <c> <h> <o> <space> <'> <x> <Enter> <Ctrl-V>
> <Tab> <y> <Enter> <z> <'> <Enter> at the Bash prompt.
> 
> Then I pressed <Esc> <k> <v> (I use vi editing mode also).
> 
> Inside vi(m), I verified that the stuff in front of the y is an actual
> Tab character.
---
The problem is not that it replaces <tab> with space in the user-input,
but on the **display** of user-input on the output device.

literally, when I type cat of that file to my terminal
(when the terminal is set to tabstops every 2 spaces as one can
do with the script I sent initially).  Each indent spaces over 2 space,
not 8.

When I re-edit in bash, it ***display** spaces for the tabs -- in the output
to the terminal.  If it used the actual tab character, it would
indent the same as 'cat', but it doesn't

The second way you can show this behavior, is to display the re-edit line
in an xterm.
... actually an "xterm" will run that tab-set script just fine.. so it's a good
place to try the re-edit as well), but then you can see when...

Wait...here's another way

Set the tabs from the script in 1st email to "2" (give it a param of 2).
then type in:

> echo "
> 1
>       2      ## <<< this is 1 tab in bash during input
> 3"

1
 2             ## <<< this is what an actual tab char
3             ##       looks like -- every 2 cols.