# vB question: is there a tag to maintain indents?
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/vb-question-is-there-a-tag-to-maintain-indents/165211
**Category:** About This Message Board
**Created:** [March 30, 2003, 1:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/vb-question-is-there-a-tag-to-maintain-indents/165211 "2003-03-30T13:23:35Z")
**Posts on this page:** 7
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@Northern\_Piper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Northern_Piper)
#### Post date: [March 30, 2003, 1:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/vb-question-is-there-a-tag-to-maintain-indents/165211/1 "2003-03-30T13:23:35Z")
Sometimes I post a quotation that has nested indents or tabs. If I just use the “quote” function, the tabs are ignored and everything gets left justified.
Is there a tag that allows the tabs/indents to stay in place?
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### Author:  [@Gaudere](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gaudere)
#### Post date: [March 30, 2003, 3:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/vb-question-is-there-a-tag-to-maintain-indents/165211/2 "2003-03-30T15:01:34Z")
well, there’s [\*\*\*\*code] which will display the text exactly as it is in the original, but since it removes the automatic “line break” function it can cause massive sidescroll, so preview first. Or you can put the indents back in by nesting [\*\*\*\*quote] tags.
examples:
```auto
lorem ipson dolor sit amet dolor sit amet nonummy
lorem ipson dolor sit ipson dolor sit amet nonummy
lorem ipson doloripson dolor sit amet nonummy
lorem ipson dolor sit amet nonummy
lorem ipson dolor sit amet nonummy
lorem ipson dolor sit amet nonummy
lorem ipson dolor sit amet nonummy
lorem ipson onummy lorem ipson dolor sit amet nonummy
lorem ipson dolor ipson dolor sit amet nonummy
```
> [@](#):
>
> lorem ipson dolor sit amet nonummy lorem ipson dolor sit amet nonummy lorem ipson dolor sit amet nonummy lorem ipson dolor sit amet nonummy lorem ipson dolor sit amet nonummy
>
> > [@](#):
> >
> > lorem ipson dolor sit amet nonummy lorem ipson dolor sit amet nonummy lorem ipson dolor sit amet nonummy lorem ipson dolor sit amet nonummy lorem ipson dolor sit amet nonummy
>
> lorem ipson dolor sit amet nonummy lorem ipson dolor sit amet nonummy lorem ipson dolor sit amet nonummy lorem ipson dolor sit amet nonummy
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### Author:  [@Ringo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ringo)
#### Post date: [March 30, 2003, 4:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/vb-question-is-there-a-tag-to-maintain-indents/165211/3 "2003-03-30T16:52:45Z")
You can insert to add a space; insert three and you’ve got a tab. A pain, yeah, but sometimes better than using the code option with its resulting widescreen output.
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### Author:  [@Ringo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ringo)
#### Post date: [March 30, 2003, 4:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/vb-question-is-there-a-tag-to-maintain-indents/165211/4 "2003-03-30T16:56:34Z")
Ouch! Time to fire up the Sunday morning coffee pot. You can insert & nbsp without a space between the ampersand and the nbsp to get:
A tabbed indent.
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### Author:  [@Polycarp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Polycarp)
#### Post date: [March 31, 2003, 1:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/vb-question-is-there-a-tag-to-maintain-indents/165211/5 "2003-03-31T01:43:06Z")
IIRC, you can manually embed nested quote tags – but you need to remember to deactivate **all** of them, or they won’t work.
> [@](#):
>
> He said
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> > [@](#):
> >
> > She said
> >
> > > [@](#):
> > >
> > > That’s ridiculous.
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### Author:  [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)
#### Post date: [March 31, 2003, 3:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/vb-question-is-there-a-tag-to-maintain-indents/165211/6 "2003-03-31T15:16:43Z")
And if you use &nb\*\*\*\*sp; you should really put a semicolon at the end. Most browsers will figure out what you meant without it, but it can potentially cause some weirdness.
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### Author:  [@Robb](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Robb)
#### Post date: [April 2, 2003, 9:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/vb-question-is-there-a-tag-to-maintain-indents/165211/7 "2003-04-02T21:01:26Z")
> [@](#):
>
> section
> section
> subsection
> subsection
> section