A long while back I transitioned to doing all my web application development in Eclipse from BBEdit. But I miss one little feature from BBEdit. I used to be able to show invisible characters like tabs but not show other invisibles like spaces. I know that I can bulk turn all of these on in Eclipse, but I wonder if there is a way to show only some invisibles in Eclipse.
How to Show Some Invisible/Whitespace Characters in Eclipse
bbediteclipsespacestabs
Related Solutions
Java Editor
- Click Window » Preferences
- Expand Java » Code Style
- Click Formatter
- Click the Edit button
- Click the Indentation tab
- Under General Settings, set Tab policy to:
Spaces only - Click OK ad nauseam to apply the changes.
[Note: If necessary save profile with a new name as the default profile cannot be overwritten.]
Default Text Editor
Before version 3.6:
Window->Preferences->Editors->Text Editors->Insert spaces for tabs
Version 3.6 and later:
- Click Window » Preferences
- Expand General » Editors
- Click Text Editors
- Check Insert spaces for tabs
- Click OK ad nauseam to apply the changes.
Note that the default text editor is used as the basis for many non-Java editors in Eclipse. It's astonishing that this setting wasn't available until 3.3.
C / C++
- Click Window » Preferences
- Expand C/C++ » Code Style
- Click Formatter
- Click the New button to create a new profile, then OK to continue
- Click the Indentation tab
- Under General Settings, set Tab policy to:
Spaces only - Click OK ad nauseam to apply the changes.
HTML
- Click Window » Preferences
- Expand Web » HTML Files
- Click Editor
- Under Formatting, select the Indent using spaces radio button
- Click OK to apply the changes.
CSS
Follow the same instructions for HTML, but select CSS Files instead of HTML Files.
JSP
By default, JSP files follow the formatting preferences for HTML Files.
XML
XML files spacing is configured in Preferences.
- Click Window » Preferences
- Expand XML » XML Files
- Click Editor
- Select Indent using spaces
- You can specify the Indentation size if needed: number of spaces to indent.
If you have Eclipse 3.7 you can disable them.
Preferences > General > Editors > Text Editors -- Look for 'Show whitespace characters' and click on the link 'whitespace characters'.
Best Answer
Unfortunately, you can only turn on all invisible (whitespace) characters at the same time. I suggest you file an enhancement request but I doubt they will pick it up.The text component in Eclipse is very complicated as it is and they are not keen on making them even worse.[UPDATE] This has been fixed in Eclipse 3.7: Go to Window > Preferences > General > Editors > Text Editors
Click on the link at ☑ Show whitespace characters (configure visibility) to fine tune what should be shown.
Kudos go to John Isaacks