Editing Tab key (section)

== Modern usage ==

In [[Word processor|word processing]] and [[Text editor|text editing]], the Tab key will move the insertion point to the next tab stop in a table, insert the ASCII tab character, or insert multiple space characters (depending on the program used).

When filling out a computerized form, pressing Tab will sometimes move the cursor to the next [[Text field|field]] (and Shift-Tab will move the cursor to the previous field), eliminating the need to use a mouse to click in an adjacent field.

In many graphical applications, especially on [[Microsoft Windows|Windows]], the Tab key will move the [[Focus (computing)|focus]] to ''every'' [[GUI widget|control or widget]] such as buttons so that the user interface can be used without a mouse at all (this was part of the [[IBM Common User Access]] design). On [[macOS]], this is an option called "Full Keyboard Access".

A feature called [[Command-line completion|tab completion]] can be used to complete a partially typed piece of text. For example, in some [[command-line interface]]s, the user may type the first few characters of a command or file-name, then press Tab. If there is no ambiguity about the intent, the rest of the characters will appear automatically. On some systems, even if the input is ambiguous, tab completion may give the user a list of possible options to select from. Tab completion is more common on [[Linux]], [[Unix]], and [[Unix-like]] systems than [[Microsoft Windows|Windows]].

In [[Personal computer|PC]] [[video game]]s, the Tab key is very often used to show scores in multiplayer games. For single player games it is also used to show the [[Virtual world|in-game world map]] or the player's inventory, as well as other useful information.

In [[software engineering]], when developing computer programs or storing and manipulating data in files, the Tab character is often used for indentation purposes to help guide the flow of reading and add semantic structure to the code or data. Some programmers and programming languages prefer the usage of multiple whitespace characters instead for that purpose. Because of this, many text editors have an option that makes the tab key insert the number of whitespace characters that a tab character is set to be equivalent to (by default mostly four).