Do files which are written in Windows are not well aligned when being used under Linux

[Dominique Chaufree]

Hi,

I am using Stata MP 14 do-file editor, both on a Windows and Ubuntu Linux machine. The transition between the two setups works smoothly, except for the comments. Example:

When I write the following do-file in Windows:

reg y1 = x1 x2              //Comment 1
reg y2 = x1 x2              //Comment 2

the comments are not aligned under Linux. The code looks frequently like this:

reg y1 = x1 x2              //Comment 1
reg y2 = x1 x2                           //Comment 2

Given that Stata uses UTF8 encoding on both types of machines, I found this issues quite confusing.

While this might seem to be a minor issue, when writing rather complex code, things get pretty messy. Therefore, I am wondering if I can fix this issue somehow. Are there any settings that I might have overlooked? Are you aware of alternative editors (on Linux) that work well with code written in Windows?

I am very grateful for your help!

[Maarten Buis]

Looks like a tab represents a different number of spaces between your systems. My guess would be that on your Windows machine it is represented by 4 spaces and on your Linux machine by 8 spaces. You can set the number of spaces per tab in the do-file editor by going to edit --> preferences at the bottom of the General tab there is a block called Indentation in which there is a field where you can specify the number of spaces per tab.

[Dominique Chaufree]

Thanks so much! This was pretty easy. Now it is working!