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Date: Sun, 8 Feb 2009 10:30:40 -0600 (CST)
From: tmcd AT panix DOT com
cc: "cygwin AT cygwin DOT com" <cygwin AT cygwin DOT com>
Subject: RE: Copy converts tabs to spaces ?
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On Sat, 7 Feb 2009, Paul McFerrin <pmcferrin AT columbus DOT rr DOT com> wrote:
> [someone back there wrote]
> > On 02.02.2009, at 11:05, xerces8 wrote:
> > > I noticed that when copying text from a the Cygwin Bash
> > > window and then pasting it somewhere (like WordPad),
> > > tabulator characters are converted to spaces.
> > > The same happens with RXVT too.
> > >
> > > Details:
> > > - print the content of some text file that has tabs (like a
> > > C program source) : cat foo.c - select and copy the text
> > > with the mouse
> > > - paste (ctrl-V) into WordPad
> > >
> > > The text in Wordpad has no more tabs.
> > >
> > > Is there a way around this ?
> >
> > copy an paste from window to window takes what's printed, not what
> > you have written.
> >
> > So, if the terminal prints spaces to represent the tabs, as a
> > terminal usually does, you CAN only copy spaces.
>
> Let me add my 2 cents worth.  If you have the "newform" command, the
> following magic will work:
>
> 	$ newform -i-8 -o0 input_file >output_file
>
> I have newform but i'm not sure where i got it since I was a
> long-time AT&T Unix user.  I also didn't find a man page.  It's a
> very handy tool.
>
> Translations:
> 	-i-8 = input tabs assumed to be at every 8 columns
> 	-o0 = output has tabs at 0 (no tabs)

"expand" and "unexpand" do tab<->space conversions and have been in
UNIXy systems since the early 1980s.  Is there something that newform
does that they don't?

-- 
Tim McDaniel; Reply-To: tmcd AT panix DOT com

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