Copied-and-pasted tab characters not recognized by Powershell - powershell

Question

Powershell ignores tab characters in copied-and-pasted code snippets. This is annoying because I like to write my Python code with single tabs instead of quadruple spaces, and in testing I frequently copy and paste snippets in to test them.
So far I've been using other terminals like Cygwin that properly address pasted tabs, but it would be more convenient for me to use Powershell. How can it be made to address these pasted tabs correctly?
The MWE is to copy and paste anything with a tab into Powershell. For example,
test
appears in Powershell as
>>> test
with no indentation. I've copied and pasted from both Notepad and Notepad++ with the same effect; I'm not using any formatted word processors or anything like that.

Answer 1

Caveat: The next section only applies to PowerShell's own interactive prompt. Different rules may apply to external programs launched from PowerShell that present their own interactive prompt, such as python and, preferably, ipython - see the bottom section for considerations specific to these programs.
Preserving tabs on pasting directly into PowerShell's interactive prompt:
Note: Strictly speaking, when it does work, tabs are converted to 4 spaces each on pasting.
Only works when all of the following prerequisites are met:
When running PowerShell (Core) 7+ (as opposed to Windows PowerShell)
When pasting via Ctrl-V rather than via right-click (the latter emulates typing and therefore triggers tab completion).
When running in one of the following console environments:
Regular console window (conhost.exe)
Windows Terminal
Note:
Does not work in Visual Studio Code's integrated terminal (which seemingly always emulates typing in PowerShell).
Haven't tried third-party consoles such as Cygwin and ConEmu.
Notably, this categorically excludes Windows PowerShell (where a tab ends up as ^I).
Preserving tabs on pasting into the interactive python / ipython REPL, from PowerShell or cmd.exe:
Note:
ipython provides a superior REPL experience compared to python.
Unlike the above, the following also applies to launching from Windows PowerShell, as well as from cmd.exe.
When it works, pasted tabs are converted to 4 spaces, except where noted otherwise.
ipython
Regular console windows (conhost.exe):
Works, with Ctrl-V only.
Windows Terminal:
Works, with Ctrl-V only.
Visual Studio Code's integrated terminal:
Does NOT work (strips tabs).
python
Regular console windows (conhost.exe):
Works, with both Ctrl-V and right-click, as long as Filter clipboard contents on paste is turned OFF on the Options tab of the console window's Properties dialog; pastes actual tabs.
Windows Terminal:
Works, with right-click only(!); pastes actual tabs.
Visual Studio Code's integrated terminal:
Works.

Answer 2

The only way I was able to make this work was by using Windows Terminal. Which is a new terminal application built by Microsoft that supports a bunch of new features.
I don't know the technical reasons why, but it appears it supports pasting both tabs and spaces appropriately, without loss or conversion into the Python CLI REPL.
I tested this using Windows Terminal while running Windows PowerShell, PowerShell Core 7+ and Command Prompt, while running the Python CLI and all supported pasting tabs.
You can install Windows Terminal through a number of sources...Windows Store, Binary download, WinGet, Choco, etc.
Here's the github repo with instructions on various ways to install.
https://github.com/microsoft/terminal

Answer 3

In general, control-v is better for pasting characters than right-click. Note control-v has to be bound to psreadline's paste function (so no emacs mode). Here's an example with an a and an em dash (0x2013). Right click will only paste the a.
a–