Copy converts tabs to spaces ?

[Paul McFerrin]

>>> On 02.02.2009, at 11:05, xerces8 wrote:
>>>> I noticed that when copying text from a the Cygwin Bash window and
>>>> then pasting it somewhere (like WordPad), tabulator characters are
>>>> converted to spaces. 
>>>> 
>>>> The same happens with RXVT too.
>>>> 
>>>> Details:
>>>> - print the content of some text file that has tabs (like a C
>>>> program source) : cat foo.c 
>>>> - select and copy the text with the mouse
>>>> - paste (ctrl-V) into WordPad
>>>> 
>>>> The text in Wordpad has no more tabs.
>>>> 
>>>> Is there a way around this ?
>>> 
>>> copy an paste from window to window takes what's printed, not what
>>> you have written. 
>>> 
>>> So, if the terminal prints spaces to represent the tabs, as a
>>> terminal usually does, you CAN only copy spaces.

Let me add my 2 cents worth.  If you have the "newform" command, the 
following magic will work:

	$ newform -i-8 -o0 input_file >output_file

I have newform but i'm not sure where i got it since I was a long-time 
AT&T Unix user.  I also didn't find a man page.  It's a very handy tool.

Translations:
	-i-8 = input tabs assumed to be at every 8 columns
	-o0 = output has tabs at 0 (no tabs)

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