def string_sanitize(string, tab_width=8):
    r"""
    strips, and replaces non-printable characters

    :param tab_width: number of spaces to replace tabs with. Read from
                      `globals.tabwidth` setting if `None`
    :type tab_width: int or `None`

    >>> string_sanitize(' foo\rbar ', 8)
    ' foobar '
    >>> string_sanitize('foo\tbar', 8)
    'foo     bar'
    >>> string_sanitize('foo\t\tbar', 8)
    'foo             bar'
    """

    string = string.replace('\r', '')

    lines = list()
    for line in string.split('\n'):
        tab_count = line.count('\t')

        if tab_count > 0:
            line_length = 0
            new_line = list()
            for i, chunk in enumerate(line.split('\t')):
                line_length += len(chunk)
                new_line.append(chunk)

                if i < tab_count:
                    next_tab_stop_in = tab_width - (line_length % tab_width)
                    new_line.append(' ' * next_tab_stop_in)
                    line_length += next_tab_stop_in
            lines.append(''.join(new_line))
        else:
            lines.append(line)

    return '\n'.join(lines)
r"""
    strips, and replaces non-printable characters

    :param tab_width: number of spaces to replace tabs with. Read from
                      `globals.tabwidth` setting if `None`
    :type tab_width: int or `None`

    >>> string_sanitize(' foo\rbar ', 8)
    ' foobar '
    >>> string_sanitize('foo\tbar', 8)
    'foo     bar'
    >>> string_sanitize('foo\t\tbar', 8)
    'foo             bar'