---
title: usesTabsForIndentation
framework: XcodeKit
role: symbol
role_heading: Instance Property
platforms: [macOS 10.12+]
path: xcodekit/xcsourcetextbuffer/usestabsforindentation
---

# usesTabsForIndentation

A Boolean value that indicates whether tabs are used for indentation.

## Declaration

```swift
var usesTabsForIndentation: Bool { get }
```

## Discussion

Discussion The usesTabsForIndentation property determines whether tab characters are used to indent text instead of space characters when possible. When the indentation width isn’t a multiple of the tab width, space characters are used to pad the indentation to the appropriate width. For example, consider an XCSourceTextBuffer instance that has a tab width of eight, an indentation width of four, and the usesTabsForIndentation property set to true. The first indentation level is represented by four space characters, the second by a tab character, the third by a tab followed by four space characters, the fourth by two tab characters, and so on.

## See Also

### Configuring Source Editor Indentation

- [indentationWidth](xcodekit/xcsourcetextbuffer/indentationwidth.md)
- [tabWidth](xcodekit/xcsourcetextbuffer/tabwidth.md)