On Tue, Mar 21, 2017 at 2:19 AM, BartC <b...@freeuk.com> wrote: > But tabs are also used after statements, before comments for example, or to > line up elements in tables. Then it doesn't work, because tabs may represent > 1 to N spaces: > > Using N=4, with 1 tab before each number: > > (one, 1), #comment 1 > (two, 2), #comment 2 > (three, 3), #comment 3 > > Displayed using N=3: > > (one, 1), #comment 1 > (two, 2), #comment 2 > (three, 3), #comment 3 > > Displayed using N=6: > > (one, 1), #comment 1 > (two, 2), #comment 2 > (three, 3), #comment 3 > > Even tabs at the start of a line are sometimes using to line things up with > a previous line; here with N=4, and 5 tabs before B and C: > > longfunctionname ( A, #comment 1 > B, #comment 2 > C) #comment 3 > > With N=2: > > longfunctionname ( A, #comment 1 > B, #comment 2 > C) #comment 3 > > With N=8: > > longfunctionname ( A, #comment 1 > B, #comment 2 > C) #comment 3
My points here are the same as for the other examples: 1) Preferably, don't do it at all. 2) If you absolutely have to do it, then by definition you're counting character slots, so use spaces, not tabs. Note that PEP 8 specifically forbids one of these kinds of usages: """ More than one space around an assignment (or other) operator to align it with another. Yes: x = 1 y = 2 long_variable = 3 No: x = 1 y = 2 long_variable = 3 """ The reasoning behind this also applies to most of the other forms: you're fiddling with formatting in ways that have to be forever fiddled with as you make edits. Here's a suggestion: Use a single tab after a statement and before the hash. Exactly one tab. Then configure your editor to right-align that. If someone else's editor doesn't right-align, no big deal, and you'll get some measure of alignment anyway (eg if tabs are every eight spaces, it rounds the alignment off to the next eight-mark); it won't hurt anything, as those of us who don't care about the alignment won't be bothered anyway. ChrisA -- https://mail.python.org/mailman/listinfo/python-list
