Scite Tabs To Spaces Observe Tabstop

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The script (which you add to ext.lua.startup.script ):

function tabs_to_spaces_obey_tabstop()
    -- replace one tab tab followed by one or more (space or tab)
    -- but obey tabstops (preserves alignment)
        for m in editor:match("[\\t][\\t ]*", SCFIND_REGEXP) do
            local posColumn = ( scite.SendEditor(SCI_GETCOLUMN, (m.pos ) ) ) 
            local poslenColumn = ( scite.SendEditor(SCI_GETCOLUMN, (m.pos + m.len) ) ) 
            m:replace(string.rep(' ', poslenColumn - posColumn ))
		end
end

To configure:

ext.lua.startup.script=$(SciteUserHome)/test.lua
command.name.17.*=tabs_to_spaces_obey_tabstop
command.17.*=tabs_to_spaces_obey_tabstop
command.subsystem.17.*=3
command.mode.17.*=subsystem:lua,savebefore:no,groupundo

Example input:

Age 	Pull-Ups 	Crunches 	3-Mile Run
17-26 	    3 	        50 	        28:00
27-39 	    3 	        45 	        29:00
40-45 	    3 	        45 	        30:00
46+ 	    3 	        40 	        33:00 

converting all tabs to spaces turns input into:

Age     Pull-Ups     Crunches     3-Mile Run
17-26         3             50             28:00
27-39         3             45             29:00
40-45         3             45             30:00
46+         3             40             33:00 

notice how the alignment changed. With tabs_to_spaces_obey_tabstop, we use your current scite settings to obey tabstops:

Age     Pull-Ups    Crunches    3-Mile Run
17-26       3           50          28:00
27-39       3           45          29:00
40-45       3           45          30:00
46+         3           40          33:00