Does this affect non-leading spaces?

No. Only spaces at the very beginning of each line are converted. Spaces inside text or after the first non-space character are left untouched.

What happens if the number of spaces is not a multiple of the setting?

Whole groups are converted to tabs and any remainder spaces are kept. For example, with spaces-per-tab = 4, five leading spaces become one tab plus one space.

Is my text sent to a server?

No. All conversion happens entirely in your browser using JavaScript. Nothing is transmitted anywhere.

Can I convert mixed indentation (some tabs, some spaces)?

This tool converts leading spaces to tabs. Lines that already start with a tab are left as-is, so mixed files are handled safely.

What is the maximum text size I can convert?

There is no hard limit enforced by the tool. Very large files (several MB) may be slower depending on your device, but typical code files process instantly.

Is a tab the same as spaces?

No. A tab is a single character (U+0009) that an editor renders as a variable width; spaces are individual characters with fixed width. This tool replaces each group of N leading spaces with one tab character, so the file gets smaller and indentation width becomes editor-configurable.

Space to Tab Converter

Name: Space to Tab Converter
Availability: InStock
Author: Nham Vu

Paste any indented text and convert leading spaces to tab characters with a configurable spaces-per-tab setting.

Spaces per tab:

Live convert

Input (spaces) 0 lines

Output (tabs) —

Summary

Paste any indented text and convert leading spaces to tab characters with a configurable spaces-per-tab setting.

How it works

Paste your space-indented text into the input area.
Set the number of spaces that represent one indentation level (default: 4).
Click "Convert" or use the live-convert toggle to see the result instantly.
Each line is scanned for leading spaces; groups of N spaces become one tab.
Remaining spaces (less than N) are preserved at the start of the line.
Copy the output with the "Copy" button.

Use cases

Normalize code from editors configured to use spaces into tab-indented style.
Prepare Python or YAML files for tools that require hard tabs.
Bulk-convert a pasted snippet before importing into a space-sensitive tool.
Convert 2-space JavaScript to 4-space or tab-indented project style.
Clean up copied content from websites that render spaces instead of tabs.
Quickly reformat config files to match team coding standards.

Frequently Asked Questions

Last updated: 2026-06-09 · Reviewed by Nham Vu