I'm not clear if termcap lib has this or not, when the curses
library is in use, it supports the idea of reading and setting
the term size.
Users can set this with the 'tabs' program included in the
curses package. Besides supporting X/Open standards for
tabs for some specific languages, it also supports setting
tabstops to regular sizes and/or clearing them.
A sample manpage:
https://www.ibm.com/docs/en/zos/2.2.0?topic=descriptions-tabs-set-tab-stops
It can set or clear them on arbitrary terms supported in the
curses library & database.
Very few program writers use an 8-column tab for indentation --
something that was meant to be a default size in lieu of
actually setting the tabstops to values needed for a giving
application.
