Can git automatically switch between spaces and tabs?

Question

I use tabs for indentation in my python programs, but I would like to collaborate (using git) with people who use spaces instead.

Is there a way for git to automatic

Answer 1

Yes, one potential solution is to use a git attribute filter driver (see also GitPro book), to define a smudge/clean mechanism.

That way:

• each time you checkout some files of your repo, spaces can be converted in tabs,
• but when you check-in (and push and publish), those same files are stored back using only spaces.

You can declare this filter driver (named here 'tabspace') in the .git/info/attributes (for a filter applied to all files within the Git repo), with the following content:

*.py  filter=tabspace

Now run the commands:

# local config for the current repo
git config filter.tabspace.smudge 'script_to_make_tabs'
git config filter.tabspace.clean 'script_to_make_spaces'

See Olivier's answer for a concrete working example of such a smudge/clean set of instructions.