Tabs or spaces?

[xcontcom]

Body

And why?

Guidelines

• I have read and understood this category's guidelines before making this post.

[ms-hamid]

My opinion, It doesn't really matter which one we pick, as long as we pick one and stay consistent

Or

just setting up a .editorconfig or a Prettier/Linter rule and forgetting about it forever. Let the machine handle the formatting so we can focus on actually shipping features.

Life’s too short to manually count dots or arrows, right?

[nahyun27]

Tabs. Because it’s simpler.

• Less typing / easier editing: One tab = one indentation level. You don't have to worry about how many spaces to insert.
• Flexible display: Each developer can set their editor’s tab width (2, 4, 8, etc.) without changing the actual file.
• Smaller files: A tab is a single character, while spaces require multiple characters for the same indentation.

Examples with different tab widths

Tab width = 2

function processUsers(users) {
  if (!users) {
    return [];
  }

  return users.map(user => {
    return {
      id: user.id,
      name: user.name
    };
  });
}

Tab width = 4

def calculate_total(items):
	if not items:
		return 0

	total = 0
	for item in items:
		if item.available:
			total += item.price

	return total

Tab width = 8

int process_device(struct device *dev)
{
		if (!dev)
				return -EINVAL;

		if (dev->status == DEVICE_READY) {
				start_device(dev);
		}

		return 0;
}

In practice, a common setup is tabs with a display width of 4.
It's readable enough for most codebases, and each developer can still adjust it to their preference without touching the file.

The only real exception is Makefiles, which require actual tab characters.

[RaviduSenavirathna]

tabs cause u can config it. add we are already beating the living hell out of the space bar.

[RainyGhaith]

Use Tabs if you prioritize accessibility and want users to select their own visual indentation width.

Use Spaces (specifically 4) if you want the code to look identical across all platforms and tools.

[SIMARSINGHRAYAT]

The practical answer is: Use whatever your project's linter/formatter enforces. Whether tabs or spaces doesn't matter much technically—what matters is consistency. Modern teams solve this with tools like Prettier, ESLint, or EditorConfig that enforce a standard automatically, so no developer needs to think about it. If you're starting fresh without constraints, spaces (4 or 2) are more widely compatible across tools and platforms, while tabs are slightly more accessible (users can adjust width to preference). But honestly, the best indentation choice is the one that lets you stop debating indentation and focus on writing good code.