title: Handling the TAB character in Java
body: <p>I'm going through a configuration file with a RandomAccessFile reader. I have a configuration option which is one (1) tab away from the start of the line. When my reader gets this line, would I be able to just tell it to skip one character and then start reading, or does the tab character not work that way? </p>
  
  <p>Example:</p>
  
  <pre><code>This is a line
          This line has a tab
  </code></pre>
  
  <p>Let's say I've loaded the second line into my reader. If I'm playing with that String and I do <code>currentLine = currentLine.subString(1);</code></p>
  
  <p>Would that give me:</p>
  
  <pre><code>currentLine = "This line has a tab";
  </code></pre>
  
  <p>Thanks for your help.</p>