Common Code Style Options: Tabs and Indents

Tabs and Indents

Item	Description
Use tab character	If this checkbox is selected, tab characters are used: On pressing the `Tab` key For indentation For code reformatting When the checkbox is cleared, PhpStorm uses spaces instead of tabs.
Smart tabs	If this checkbox is selected, the part of indentation defined by the nesting of code blocks, is made of the tabs and (if necessary) spaces, while the part of indentation defined by the alignment is made only of spaces. If this checkbox is cleared, only tabs are used. This means that a group of spaces that fits the specified tab size is automatically replaced with a tab, which may result in breaking fine alignment. The Smart Tabs checkbox is available if the Use Tab Character checkbox is selected.
Tab size	In this text box, specify the number of spaces included in a tab.
Indent	In this text box, specify the number of spaces (or tabs if the Use Tab Character checkbox is selected) to be inserted for each indent level.
Continuation indent	In this text box, specify the number of spaces (or tabs if the Use Tab Character checkbox is selected) to be inserted between the elements of an array, in expressions, method declarations and method calls.
Keep indents on empty lines	If this checkbox is selected, then PhpStorm will keep indents on the empty lines as if they contained some code. If this checkbox is cleared, PhpStorm will delete the tab characters and spaces.

Last modified: 27 July 2018