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The horizontal tab is usually inserted when the Tab key on a standard keyboard is pressed. A vertical tabulation (VT) also exists and has ASCII decimal character code 11 ( Ctrl + K or ^K), escape character \v .
Vertical tabs are better, when you have a lot of tabs, whereas horizontal tabs, can give a quick overview of a small number of tabs.
Tabs are more of a navigation element. Once you are in the tab section you don't want it to be along the content. Vertical tabs share the same horizontal space with the content, its really not a great idea unless you want to grab the users attention while they are on your content.
@maaartinus: \v is a traditional escape sequence for vertical tab (in the same group as \n , \r , and so on), and although Java doesn't support it in string literals (per section 3.10. 6 of the JLS), there are a few similar non-Java escape sequences that java.
Vertical tab was used to speed up printer vertical movement. Some printers used special tab belts with various tab spots. This helped align content on forms. VT to header space, fill in header, VT to body area, fill in lines, VT to form footer. Generally it was coded in the program as a character constant. From the keyboard, it would be CTRL-K.
I don't believe anyone would have a reason to use it any more. Most forms are generated in a printer control language like postscript.
@Talvi Wilson noted it used in python '\v'.
print("hello\vworld")
Output:
hello
world
The above output appears to result in the default vertical size being one line. I have tested with perl "\013" and the same output occurs. This could be used to do line feed without a carriage return on devices with convert linefeed to carriage-return + linefeed.
Microsoft Word uses VT as a line separator in order to distinguish it from the normal new line function, which is used as a paragraph separator.
In the medical industry, VT is used as the start of frame character in the MLLP/LLP/HLLP protocols that are used to frame HL-7 data, which has been a standard for medical exchange since the late 80s and is still in wide use.
It was used during the typewriter era to move down a page to the next vertical stop, typically spaced 6 lines apart (much the same way horizontal tabs move along a line by 8 characters).
In modern day settings, the vt is of very little, if any, significance.
The ASCII vertical tab (\x0B)is still used in some databases and file formats as a new line WITHIN a field. For example:
.mer file format to allow new lines within a data field,If you love us? You can donate to us via Paypal or buy me a coffee so we can maintain and grow! Thank you!
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