# Easy way to change preformatted text (code) button?

**URL:** https://meta.discourse.org/t/easy-way-to-change-preformatted-text-code-button/16760
**Category:** Feature
**Created:** [6월 22, 2014, 4:03오전 UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/easy-way-to-change-preformatted-text-code-button/16760 "2014-06-22T04:03:16Z")
**Posts on this page:** 1
**Showing post:** 19

<div class="post-metadata">

### Author: ![codinghorror](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/meta/user_avatar/meta.discourse.org/codinghorror/32/110067_2.png) [@codinghorror](https://meta.discourse.org/u/codinghorror)
#### Post date: [6월 23, 2014, 2:05오전 UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/easy-way-to-change-preformatted-text-code-button/16760/19 "2014-06-23T02:05:28Z")

</div>

> [@BDub](#):
>
> you have to manually space each line

Incorrect. Select the code, click the toolbar button, or press ctrl+k. That either adds 4 spaces or removes, depending on what is selected.

Also most source code in anything but a very trivial app will tend to be “naturally” indented by 4 spaces when pasted. At least, that is what I saw in 4 years of working on Stack Overflow for 40 to 80 hours a week, with thousands of programmers working in dozens of languages. Your mileage may vary.

And just to be clear, the above toolbar behavior I describe is exactly how SO worked from day one and today, too. Not that it can’t be improved, but seems to me programmers were able to figure it out.

---

_[View the full topic](https://meta.discourse.org/t/easy-way-to-change-preformatted-text-code-button/16760)._