A tab stop on a
typewriter
A typewriter is a Machine, mechanical or electromechanical machine for typing characters. Typically, a typewriter has an array of Button (control), keys, and each one causes a different single character to be produced on paper by striking an i ...
is a location where the carriage movement is halted by an adjustable end stop. Tab stops are set manually, and pressing the
tab key causes the carriage to go to the next tab stop. In
text editors on a computer, the same concept is implemented simplistically with automatic, fixed tab stops.
Modern
word processor A word processor (WP) is a device or computer program that provides for input, editing, formatting, and output of text, often with some additional features.
Early word processors were stand-alone devices dedicated to the function, but current word ...
s generalize this concept by offering tab stops that have an alignment attribute and cause the text to be automatically aligned at left, at right or center of the tab stop itself. Such tab stops are
paragraph
A paragraph () is a self-contained unit of discourse in writing dealing with a particular point or idea. Though not required by the orthographic conventions of any language with a writing system, paragraphs are a conventional means of organizing ...
-specific properties and can be moved to a different location in any moment, or even removed.
Sometimes, placeholders in
code snippets are also called "tab stops" because the user can cycle through them by pressing the tab key.
Types of tab stops
A tab stop is a horizontal position which is set for placing and aligning text on a page. There are at least five kinds of tab stops in general usage in word processing or in
Microsoft Word
Microsoft Word is a word processor program, word processing program developed by Microsoft. It was first released on October 25, 1983, under the name Multi-Tool Word for Xenix systems. Subsequent versions were later written for several other platf ...
.
;Left: text extends to the right from the tab stop.
;Center: text is centered at the tab stop.
;Right: text extends to the left from the tab stop until the tab's space is filled, and then the text extends to the right.
;Decimal: text before the decimal point extends to the left, and text after the decimal point extends to the right.
;Bar: a vertical line at the specified position on each line in a document.
Dynamic tab stops
In contrast to fixed positioning, tab stops can be adjusted dynamically, based on the length of adjacent tab-delimited line segments, by alignment to a specific character or string in each line, etc.
Adobe InDesign
Adobe InDesign is a desktop publishing and page layout designing software application software, application produced by Adobe Inc., Adobe and first released in 1999. It can be used to create works such as posters, flyers, brochures, magazines, ...
supports a non-printing "
indent to here" character.
In 2006, Nick Gravgaard published an algorithm for automatic dynamic tab stops called "Elastic tabstops".
This can be useful for viewing/editing source code and is naturally essential for tabular data.
Various text editors and IDEs have implemented the elastic tabstops algorithm either directly or by extension.
Software which supports elastic tabstops
*
Visual Studio[Always Aligned](_blank)
*
Atom
Atoms are the basic particles of the chemical elements. An atom consists of a atomic nucleus, nucleus of protons and generally neutrons, surrounded by an electromagnetically bound swarm of electrons. The chemical elements are distinguished fr ...
[Elastic Tabstops package for Atom](_blank)
/ref>
* Textadept[Elastic Tabstops for Textadept](_blank)
/ref>
* Code BrowserGo (programming language)
Go is a high-level programming language, high-level general purpose programming language that is static typing, statically typed and compiled language, compiled. It is known for the simplicity of its syntax and the efficiency of development th ...
br>tabwriter package
Emacs
Emacs (), originally named EMACS (an acronym for "Editor Macros"), is a family of text editors that are characterized by their extensibility. The manual for the most widely used variant, GNU Emacs, describes it as "the extensible, customizable, s ...
list of current implementations
on Nick Gravgaard'r webiste
See also
* Typographic alignment for an application
* Table (information) for another application
References
{{Reflist
Typewriters
Typography
User interface techniques