How to set 4 space tab in bash

bash, space

Solution

That's not a property of your shell (or php or cat). It's your terminal that manages the output.

Use the `tabs` command to change the behavior:

$ tabs 4

$ echo -e "a\tb"      
a   b
$ tabs 12

$ echo -e "a\tb" 
a           b

(`tabs` is specified in POSIX, and output above is "faked": it's still a tab character between the two letters.)

Problem

It look like `set tabstop=4` in VIM, but I don't know how to set it in bash for example: ``` echo -e "1234567890\t321\n1\t2\n123\t1" ``` current output: ``` 1234567890 321 1 2 123 1 ``` I want output like this: ``` 1234567890 321 1 2 123 1 ``` It can be shown in anywhere, just like `cat somefile` or `php -r 'echo "\t123";'` How can I set tab width in bash?

Original source