Customizing tab stops

Customizing tab stops

[kj]

In a Fundamental-mode buffer, inserting a tab causes the cursor to
jump to the next tab stop.  By default these tab stops are at
positions 8, 16, 24, etc.  I would like to customize these spacings
for a particular buffer.

I thought that the variable tab-stop-list would do the trick.  So
I made it local to the buffer, and used the command edit-tab-stops
to edit its value.  Originally its value was the default

(8 16 24 32 40 48 56 64 72 80 88 96 104 112 120)

and I changed it to

(16 27 58 68)

...but the display of the buffer was not affected; i.e. the
tab-separated fields in the buffer remained at the default tab
stops.

I realize that the customized local value of tab-stop-list does
affect the behavior of the tab-to-tab-stop command in this buffer,
but this is not what I'm interested in.  I want to affect how Emacs
*displays* the text that follows a tab.

Is there a way to customize such display? 

TIA!

Kynn
-- 
NOTE: In my address everything before the first period is backwards;
and the last period, and everything after it, should be discarded.

Re: Customizing tab stops

[Lowell Gilbert]

kj <socyl@987jk.com.invalid> writes:

> In a Fundamental-mode buffer, inserting a tab causes the cursor to
> jump to the next tab stop.  By default these tab stops are at
> positions 8, 16, 24, etc.  I would like to customize these spacings
> for a particular buffer.
>
> I thought that the variable tab-stop-list would do the trick.  So
> I made it local to the buffer, and used the command edit-tab-stops
> to edit its value.  Originally its value was the default
>
> (8 16 24 32 40 48 56 64 72 80 88 96 104 112 120)
>
> and I changed it to
>
> (16 27 58 68)
>
> ...but the display of the buffer was not affected; i.e. the
> tab-separated fields in the buffer remained at the default tab
> stops.
>
> I realize that the customized local value of tab-stop-list does
> affect the behavior of the tab-to-tab-stop command in this buffer,
> but this is not what I'm interested in.  I want to affect how Emacs
> *displays* the text that follows a tab.
>
> Is there a way to customize such display? 

The tab key doesn't run tab-to-tab-stop in fundamental mode, unless you
configure it to do so.  It sounds to me like that's what you want to
do.  I think global-set-key might be the best way to do this for
fundamental-mode, although I wonder if fundamental-mode is really what
you want for whatever you're really trying to do...

Re: Customizing tab stops

[poppyer]

Lowell Gilbert <lgusenet@be-well.ilk.org> writes:

: kj <socyl@987jk.com.invalid> writes:
:
:> In a Fundamental-mode buffer, inserting a tab causes the cursor to
:> jump to the next tab stop.  By default these tab stops are at
:> positions 8, 16, 24, etc.  I would like to customize these spacings
:> for a particular buffer.
:>
:> I thought that the variable tab-stop-list would do the trick.  So
:> I made it local to the buffer, and used the command edit-tab-stops
:> to edit its value.  Originally its value was the default
:>
:> (8 16 24 32 40 48 56 64 72 80 88 96 104 112 120)
:>
:> and I changed it to
:>
:> (16 27 58 68)
:>
:> ...but the display of the buffer was not affected; i.e. the
:> tab-separated fields in the buffer remained at the default tab
:> stops.
:>
:> I realize that the customized local value of tab-stop-list does
:> affect the behavior of the tab-to-tab-stop command in this buffer,
:> but this is not what I'm interested in.  I want to affect how Emacs
:> *displays* the text that follows a tab.
:>
:> Is there a way to customize such display? 

setq default-tab-width will do part of the job, but I don't know if it
will suit your needs, because your tab-stops are uneven.

poppyer

Re: Customizing tab stops

[Chetan]

kj <socyl@987jk.com.invalid> writes:

> In a Fundamental-mode buffer, inserting a tab causes the cursor to
> jump to the next tab stop.  By default these tab stops are at
> positions 8, 16, 24, etc.  I would like to customize these spacings
> for a particular buffer.
>
> I thought that the variable tab-stop-list would do the trick.  So
> I made it local to the buffer, and used the command edit-tab-stops
> to edit its value.  Originally its value was the default
>
> (8 16 24 32 40 48 56 64 72 80 88 96 104 112 120)
>
> and I changed it to
>
> (16 27 58 68)
>
> ...but the display of the buffer was not affected; i.e. the
> tab-separated fields in the buffer remained at the default tab
> stops.
>
> I realize that the customized local value of tab-stop-list does
> affect the behavior of the tab-to-tab-stop command in this buffer,
> but this is not what I'm interested in.  I want to affect how Emacs
> *displays* the text that follows a tab.
>
> Is there a way to customize such display? 
>
> TIA!
>
> Kynn

I have been wondering such word processor like features are available
in any text editors.  Where was this file created?