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        cat /tmp/tabfile | sed 's/    /    /' > /tmp/notabfile;

Sorry, but just replacing every TAB character with a fixed number (in this case, four) of SPACE 
characters is incorrect. To properly expand TAB characters, each TAB needs to be replaced with a 
variable number of SPACE characters, depending on which column the TAB is in.

For instance if you have a line:

foo     bar

(i.e. "foo", a TAB, and "bar"), the TAB should be replaced with just one SPACE. (Assuming the 
intended tab width is four columns, as it is in OOo/LO. Note that traditionally the tab width is 
eight columns.) 

(Also, you would want to use the "g" modifier in the sed 's' command to replace every TAB on each 
line, not just the first.)

Anyway, the "expand" command is the right tool to expand tabs.

P.S. Your script can be written much simpler, no need to use "cat" so much:

while read fn </tmp/tabs.auto.filelist.txt; do
    sed 's/     /    /g' < $fn > /tmp/notabfile
    mv /tmp/notabfile $fn
done

(Here still incorrectly using "sed" and not "expand".) 

--tml



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