VSCode insert tab character manually
I'm not sure if there is a generic solution, but you can setup a keybinding for this:
{
"key": "ctrl+v tab",
"command": "type",
"args": { "text": "\t" },
"when": "editorTextFocus"
}
This keybinding will insert an tab character even when the current mode is spaces.
<Alt> <Numpad: 0 0 9>
Still works great!
Quick-and-dirty solution: Find a tab somewhere else, then copy-paste.
Chances are that you already have a tab character in the file you are editing, but if not you can generate one in another application or text editor.
You can also generate a tab programmatically in a bash shell with the following command (the brackets are optional):
echo -e [\\t]
For your more immediate needs, I have inserted a tab character below...
There is a tab character between these brackets: [ ]
Another approach is to change the tab mode temporarily, as shown here.