In case anyone else is interested, I added the following to “C:\Program Files\Notepad++\plugins\PythonScript\scripts\startup.py”:

def setTabs(arg):
    editor.setTabIndents(False)

notepad.callback(setTabs, [NOTIFICATION.BUFFERACTIVATED])

Most likely, Notepad++ has started sending that message to scintilla internally (or is sending it more often than it used to). So you might need to trigger that sendmsg every time a buffer is activated. I don’t think NppExec can register actions on notifications, though I might misremember.

If you are willing to switch to PythonScript or similar, they do have the ability to hook notifications (using notepad.callback(my_callback, [NOTIFICATION.BUFFERACTIVATED])), so once you register that notification during the PythonScript startup.py, then it will trigger that action every time you activate a different tab, so that any tab will always have SCI_SETTABINDENTS at 0.

For now, I’ve added a toolbar button that I’ll use to run the script if I really need this behavior (e.g. editing code), and dig deeper later.

To summarize, I created the following script and added it to “Execute this script when Notepad++ starts”:

NPP_CONSOLE 0
SCI_SENDMSG SCI_SETTABINDENTS 0

This gave me the cursor-movement-after-inserting-a-tab behavior I was looking for. Even though nothing’s changed with my script, or the “Execute…” configuration, the cursor is going to the start of the text today.

Any help would be much appreciated.

Cheers.

It could be a setting in Scintilla that I just don’t know about…

Agree the new explanation is much clearer and the setting seems to be:

SCI_SETTABINDENTS = 0

By default, N++ has it set to 1. In NppExec, I query it (SCI_GETTABINDENTS ) and it returns 1, but when I set it to 0 and perform the 8 spaces, character at column 9 test described above, I get a tab inserted and my cursor sits at column 4|5.

SCI_SENDMSG SCI_GETTABINDENTS 
================ READY ================
ECHO $(MSG_RESULT)
1
================ READY ================
SCI_SENDMSG SCI_SETTABINDENTS 0
================ READY ================
SCI_SENDMSG SCI_GETTABINDENTS
================ READY ================
ECHO $(MSG_RESULT)
0

Now, assuming the pipe “|” is my cursor:

|        there are 8 spaces before "there"

Press Tab:

    |        there are 8 spaces before "there"

So a scripting plugin (NppExec, PythonScript, “PerlScript”) could probably do this for you on startup.

Cheers.

That’s a very much better description.
I don’t think there’s a native way to make it do that.
It does the same thing in the Scintilla demo editor.
Scintilla is the editing component that Notepad++ embeds.
It could be a setting in Scintilla that I just don’t know about…

1 - Assume I have a line with 8 spaces followed by some text starting at column 9. The cursor is at the head of the line.

2 - In both editors, when I press Tab, four spaces are inserted at the beginning of the line, and the text indents so it’s now starting at column 13.

3 - In Textpad, however, the cursor moves to the end of the newly inserted spaces (i.e. the head of column 5), whereas in NPP, the cursor moves to the text (i.e. the head of column 13).

I’d like the cursor to continue to stay at the end of the newly inserted spaces, and not jump to the beginning of the text.

So for example, your caret is in column 1 on say, an empty line. You press the Tab key, 4 spaces are inserted and your caret moves beyond the spaces and into column 5. You would rather have the caret remain in column 1. Then if you repeatedly press Tab, you’d continue to get groups of 4 spaces inserted, and your caret would still remain in column 1.

How about a video of Textpad doing this?