Space to Tab Converter

The Space to Tab Converter turns groups of spaces back into tab characters, giving you compact, tab-based indentation. When code or text uses several spaces per indent level, you can collapse each group into a single tab, which some editors, style guides and systems prefer because tabs let each developer choose their own display width.

It is built for developers moving code into a tab-based project, people preparing text for tools that expect tab separation, and anyone reversing an earlier tabs-to-spaces conversion. You choose how many spaces make up one tab, and optionally restrict the conversion to leading indentation so spaces inside sentences and data are never touched.

Everything runs locally in your browser using JavaScript, so nothing you paste is uploaded or stored. Set your tab size, decide whether to convert leading whitespace only, and the tab-indented result appears instantly with a statistics panel showing how many space groups were converted.

Features

• Converts each fixed-width group of spaces into a single tab using your chosen tab size.
• Optionally limits conversion to the leading indentation of each line, protecting inline spacing.
• Leaves partial space groups smaller than the tab size untouched so alignment is preserved.
• Works on source code, config files and any text that uses space-based indentation.
• Shows a stats panel counting how many space groups were converted and the tab size used.
• Runs instantly and offline with no account, no upload and no limit on how much you paste.
• Renders output in a monospace view so you can confirm indentation collapsed correctly.

How to use Space to Tab Converter

1. Paste the code or text that uses spaces for indentation into the input box.
2. Set the tab size to the number of spaces that should become one tab, such as four.
3. Enable Leading whitespace only if you want to convert indentation but keep inline spaces.
4. The tab-indented text updates live as you paste or change any option.
5. Copy the converted result or export it as a TXT file for your project.

Benefits

• Moves space-indented code into projects and style guides that require tab characters.
• Reduces file size slightly by replacing several spaces per indent with a single tab.
• Lets each developer view indentation at their own preferred tab width after conversion.
• Reverses an earlier tabs-to-spaces conversion cleanly using the same tab size setting.
• Keeps proprietary source private because all conversion happens on your own device.
• Gives an instant count of converted groups so you can trust the file was fully processed.

Whether to indent with tabs or spaces is a long-running debate, and different teams settle it differently. Tabs have the advantage that each person can set their own visual width, which some developers find more accessible, while spaces guarantee identical rendering everywhere. This converter lets you switch a document to the tab-based convention whenever a project calls for it.

The Leading whitespace only option is important for safety, because converting spaces anywhere in a line could damage aligned tables or spacing inside sentences. Limiting the change to the indentation at the start of each line means only structural whitespace becomes tabs, and any partial group of spaces smaller than a full tab is left in place to preserve fine alignment.