How can I convert spaces to tabs in Vim or Linux?

Posted by cwd on Stack Overflow See other posts from Stack Overflow or by cwd
Published on 2012-02-01T23:02:22Z Indexed on 2014/08/24 16:20 UTC
Read the original article Hit count: 179

Filed under:

linux

|

tabs

|

expand

|

spaces

I've looked over several questions on Stack Overflow for how to convert spaces to tabs without finding what I need. There seem to be more questions about how to convert tabs to spaces, but I'm trying to do the opposite.

In Vim I've tried :retab and :retab! without luck, but I believe those are actually for going from tabs to spaces anyways.

I tried both expand and unexpand at the command prompt without any luck.

Here is the file in question:

http://gdata-python-client.googlecode.com/hg-history/a9ed9edefd61a0ba0e18c43e448472051821003a/samples/docs/docs_v3_example.py

How can I convert leading spaces to tabs using either Vim or the shell?

© Stack Overflow or respective owner

Related posts about linux

apt-get install and update fail

as seen on Ask Ubuntu - Search for 'Ask Ubuntu'
I've got a problem with apt-get update and apt-get install ... commands . every time update or installing fails and errors are : Get:1 http://dl.google.com stable Release.gpg [198B] Ign http://dl.google.com/linux/chrome/deb/ stable/main Translation-en_US Get:2 http://dl… >>> More
kernel module compiling error

as seen on Ask Ubuntu - Search for 'Ask Ubuntu'
sh@ubuntu:/home/ccpp/helloworld$ make gcc-4.6 -O2 -DMODULE -D_KERNEL_ -W -Wall -Wstrict-prototypes -Wmissing-prototypes -isystem /lib/modules/`uname -r`/build/include -c -o hello-1.o hello-1.c hello-1.c:4:0: warning: "MODULE" redefined [enabled by default] <command-line>:0:0: note: this is… >>> More
Build-Essentials installation failing

as seen on Ask Ubuntu - Search for 'Ask Ubuntu'
I am having trouble accessing the several critical header files that show to be a part of the build process. The "Ubuntu Software Center" shows "Build Essentials" as installed: Next I did the following two commands, which did not improve the problem: ~$ sudo apt-get install build-essential [sudo]… >>> More
Updating Debian kernel

as seen on Super User - Search for 'Super User'
I'm trying to update my Debian machine to 2.6.32-46 (which is the new stable). However, after doing apt-get update my apt-cache search linux-image shows me: linux-headers-2.6.32-5-486 - Header files for Linux 2.6.32-5-486 linux-headers-2.6.32-5-686-bigmem - Header files for Linux 2.6.32-5-686-bigmem linux-headers-2… >>> More
Serial connection over a single USB cable (Windows to linux, or linux to linux)

as seen on Server Fault - Search for 'Server Fault'
I'm helping out with a project for an embedded device that only has USB and no serial. This device is running Linux. These days, when we need to connect to a serial port on a device we typically use a USB to serial adapter (on something like a phone system or a load balancing device, etc). I would… >>> More

Related posts about tabs

prevent IE8 tabs from opening tabs in stack in taskbar

as seen on Super User - Search for 'Super User'
This may have been asked before too... But, anyways. I'm using Windows 7 Ultimate, and IE 8, and have the taskbar in icon view. I'm not sure how to explain this, but I'm amazed at how each tab in IE8 seems to act like a new "process" in the taskbar (as if each tab was a window). Like... each tab… >>> More
jQuery UI Tabs customization for many tabs

as seen on Stack Overflow - Search for 'Stack Overflow'
I'd like to implement a tab bar using jquery-ui-tabs that has been customised to work like it does on HootSuite. Try this on HootSuite to see what I mean: Log in to your hootsuite.com account Click the + symbol to the right of your tabs Add tabs named "MMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMM" until a "More..." tab appears You'll… >>> More
Manage and Customize Visual Studio Tabs with Tabs Studio Add-in

as seen on Internet.com - Search for 'Internet.com'
With Tabs Studio the user is able to better manage all open documents in Visual Studio, grouped and organized most efficiently. This Visual Studio add-in supports the latest VS versions and will especially come handy when you open many tabs at once. >>> More
jQuery UI Tabs Plugin Broke

as seen on Stack Overflow - Search for 'Stack Overflow'
We are using the jquery ui tabs arrow plugin from this fiddle: http://jsfiddle.net/dECtZ/282/, but like many plugins, it breaks with the latest version of jQuery. We were able to get the csscur to work, but still get the following error in the jquery core (line 353): Uncaught TypeError: Cannot assign… >>> More
jquery ui tabs close button beneath the text

as seen on Stack Overflow - Search for 'Stack Overflow'
Hi I m using jquery ui tabs and i m using them with the function of dynamically closing them. the example page here where clicking on the link 'add tab' leads to adding of tabs in the tabs panel... now in firefox the close buttons are displayed beneath the text of the tab which is leading to… >>> More