title: Configure native vi to emit spaces instead of tabs and not convert autoindent spaces to tabs?
body: <p>I would like to use spaces instead of tabs when editing Perl scripts with the native vi found on Solaris systems.</p>
  
  <p>I know this can be done with the vim clone, but I don't have access to install vim on these systems as they are vendor locked.</p>
  
  <p>Firstly, is there a way to configure vi to emit spaces when I press TAB? </p>
  
  <p>And secondly, I am also using the auto-indent feature of vi:</p>
  
  <pre><code>:set ai
  </code></pre>
  
  <p>The problem is, when I manually enter spaces for indenting vi converts groups of 8 spaces into tabs automatically when it does auto-indenting. I guess if I can find a way to turn this functionality off it will be a start.</p>