question: public void convertTabsToSpaces ( ) { int caretPosition = getCaretPosition ( ) ; int tabSize = getTabSize ( ) ; StringBuffer tabInSpaces = new StringBuffer ( ) ; for ( int i = 0 ; i < tabSize ; i ++ ) tabInSpaces . append ( ' ' ) ; String text = getText ( ) ; setText ( text . replaceAll ( "\t" , tabInSpaces . toString ( ) ) ) ; setCaretPosition ( caretPosition ) ; }
target:  Converts all instances of a tab into a number of spaces equivalent to a tab in this text area.