Update 2022-02-18
You can now change the display of the Tab Character directly in the PHPStorm advanced settings. (Thanks to a comment by destinydriven!)
Original Article
Recently the way the Tab Character is rendered in PHPStorm was changed. The character used to be rendered in a way that allowed you to see the entire tab character. However, after a recent change the tab character now displays as a single >.
The new tab character is likely a welcome change for some. But there are others of us who really appreciated the old rendering. The new rendering does not indicate how much whitespace is taken by the tab character. For this reason I don’t find it helpful and wanted a way to change it back.
Luckily, recently, the JetBrains team threw in a small registry setting to re-enable to old rendering of tab characters. This setting is available in version 2019.3.2. Access this setting by pressing “Shift” + “Shift” while in PHPStorm. Afterwards search for and select the “Registry…” option.
You’ll find the editor.old.tab.painting option about a quarter of the way down the list. Check it to re-enable the old PHPStorm tab rendering. You can breathe freely now.
This feature is now available in Advanced Settings -> Editor -> Tab character rendering. There’s a drop-down with options: [‘Long arrow’, ‘Horizontal line’, ‘> symbol’]. No need to edit registry.
Thanks destinydriven! I’ve updated the article, awesome to know that this feature exists.