How to fix/convert space indentation in Sublime Text?

Question 1

Here's a neat trick in Sublime Text 2 or 3 to convert your indentation spacing in a document.

TL;DR:

Converting from 2 spaces to 4 spaces:

Ensure tab width is set to 2. Convert your 2-space indentation to tabs, switch to tab width 4, and then convert the indentation back to spaces.

The detailed description:

Go to:

View -> Indentation

It should read:

Indent using spaces [x]
Tab width: 2

Select:

Convert Indentation to Tabs

Then Select:

Tab width: 4
Convert Indentation to Spaces

Done.

Question 2

I actually found it's better for my sanity to have user preferences to be defined like so:

"translate_tabs_to_spaces": true,
"tab_size": 2,
"indent_to_bracket": true,
"detect_indentation": false

The detect_indentation: false is especially important, as it forces Sublime to honor these settings in every file, as opposed to the View -> Indentation settings.

If you want to get fancy, you can also define a keyboard shortcut to automatically re-indent your code (YMMV) by pasting the following in Sublime -> Preferences -> Key Binding - User:

[
  { "keys": ["ctrl+i"], "command": "reindent" }
]

and to visualize the whitespace:

"indent_guide_options": ["draw_active"],
"trim_trailing_white_space_on_save": true,
"ensure_newline_at_eof_on_save": true,
"draw_white_space": "all",
"rulers": [120],

Question 3

I found, in my mind, a simpler solution than Magne:

On mac:

"cmd+f" => "  "(two spaces) => "alt+enter" => "arrow right" => "  "(two more spaces) => set tab width to 4(this can be done before or after.

On windows or other platforms change cmd+f and alt+enter with whatever your find and select all hotkeys are.

Note: this method is prone to "errors" if you have more than one space within your code. It is thus less safe than Magne's method, but it is faster (for me at least).

Question 4

While many of the suggestions work when converting 2 -> 4 space. I ran into some issues when converting 4 -> 2.

Here's what I ended up using:

Sublime Text 3/Packages/User/to-2.sublime-macro

[
  { "args": null, "command": "select_all" },
  { "args": { "set_translate_tabs": true }, "command": "unexpand_tabs" },
  { "args": { "setting": "tab_size", "value": 1 }, "command": "set_setting" },
  { "args": { "set_translate_tabs": true }, "command": "expand_tabs" },
  { "args": { "setting": "tab_size", "value": 2 }, "command": "set_setting" }
]

Question 5

I wrote a plugin for it. You can find it here or look for "ReIndent" in package control. It mostly does the same thing as Kyle Finley wrote but in a convenient way with shortcuts for converting between 2 and 4 and vice-versa.

Question 6

If you find search and replace faster to use, you could use a regex replace like this:

Find (regex): (^|\G) {2} (Instead of " {2}" <space>{2} you can just write two spaces. Used it here for clarity.)

Replace with 4 spaces, or whatever you want, like \t.

Question 7

You have to add this code to your custom key bindings:

{ "keys": ["ctrl+f12"], "command": "set_setting", "args": {"setting": "tab_size", "value": 4} }

by pressing ctrl+f12, it will reindent your file to a tab size of 4. if you want a different tab size, you just change the "value" number. Te format is a simple json.

Question 8

I also followed Josh Frankel's advice and created a Sublime Macro + added key binding. The difference is that this script ensures that spacing is first set to tabs and set to a tab size of 2. The macro won't work if that's not the starting point.

Here's a gist of the macro: https://gist.github.com/drivelous/aa8dc907de34efa3e462c65a96e05f09

In Mac, to use the macro + key binding:

Create a file called spaces2to4.sublime-macro and copy/paste the code from the gist. For me this is located at:

/Library/Application\ Support/Sublime\ Text\ 3/Packages/User/spaces2to4.sublime-macro

Select Sublime Text > Preferences > Key Bindings
Add this command to the User specified sublime-keymap (it's in an array -- it may be empty):

{
    "keys": ["super+shift+o"],
    "command": "run_macro_file",
    "args": {
        "file":"Packages/User/spaces2to4.sublime-macro"
    }
}

Now ⌘ + shift + o now automatically converts each file from 2 space indentation to 4 (but will keep indenting if you run it further)

Question 9

The easiest thing i did was,

changed my Indentation to Tabs

and it resolved my problem.

You can do the same,

to Spaces

as well as per your need.

Mentioned the snapshot of the same.

Question 10

Recently I faced a similar problem. I was using the sublime editor. it's not an issue with the code but with the editor.

Below change in the preference settings worked for me.

Sublime Text menu -> Preferences -> Settings: Syntax-Specific:

{
    "tab_size": 4,
    "translate_tabs_to_spaces": true
}