indent-guides double character dilemma

[goyalyashpal]

Steps

Assume: :set whitespace.render all or editor.whitespace.render = "all"

• open hx
• enter a new line
• press 4 spaces and write some word
• press enter to go to next line (this inserts the indent with "tab" lol)
• enable indent-guides by :set indent-guides.render true

See that:

• the indent guide vertical line is drawn
• but that seems to be drawn in place of the whitespace character
• so, only 3 (not 4) spaces are now shown in first line
• and the tab indentation character is effectively eaten up entirely

Screenrecord

https://user-images.githubusercontent.com/19423063/219942649-89e6ce5c-3cfb-42ca-bcb8-5477f0168c8f.mp4

External References

From VSCodium: It shows both the indentation guide, and whitespace character.

Versions

• hx: 22.12 (96ff64a8)
• os: win 10 20h2

[goyalyashpal]

Solutions?

This is understandable in a TUI interface, but i thought to share here in hopes that maybe someone knows a solution - some way to draw two characters in same space

Unicode do has "combining" horizontal lines: (overline, double overline, low line) - but no combining vertical line i guess.

[jakoschiko]

Is there a reason why tabs need indent-guides? Setting the variable editor.whitespace.characters.tab to a visible character should have a similar effect.

I would prefer indent-guides to be only an alternative visualization of n spaces. Then I could use different characters for tabs and indent-guides.

[goyalyashpal]

Then I could use different characters for tabs and indent-guides.

that will solve for tab characters, but the space characters will still be shown one less times, right?

[jakoschiko]

that will solve for tab characters, but the space characters will still be shown one less times, right?

Yes, this would only reduce the ambiguity.

But I realized why indent-guides are also useful for tab indented documents: Because indent-guides are also drawn for empty lines.

[goyalyashpal]

But I realized why indent-guides are also useful for tab indented documents: Because indent-guides are also drawn for empty lines.

one hack for that can be to show indent guides only at ending space of a tab, rather than at start of the tab.

[goyalyashpal]

• does there some glyph exists which is essentially a combo of vertical line and the right arrow?
• sort of like a "right joining road" signage?

like these:

↦
⊢
⊦