From 3d26e6038e1f2ab4620a19b3fa3152fd49fd8838 Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001
From: w3lld1 <42353747+w3lld1@users.noreply.github.com>
Date: Fri, 17 Jul 2026 08:28:46 +0200
Subject: [PATCH] fix: recognize variable-width space separators

---
 src/robotide/lib/robot/parsing/robotreader.py | 26 +++++--------------
 utest/lib/robot/parsing/test_robotreader.py   | 17 ++++++++++++
 2 files changed, 24 insertions(+), 19 deletions(-)
 create mode 100644 utest/lib/robot/parsing/test_robotreader.py

diff --git a/src/robotide/lib/robot/parsing/robotreader.py b/src/robotide/lib/robot/parsing/robotreader.py
index 475ca3d11..e2caf5197 100644
--- a/src/robotide/lib/robot/parsing/robotreader.py
+++ b/src/robotide/lib/robot/parsing/robotreader.py
@@ -170,23 +170,11 @@ def check_separator(self, line):
                 return
             if not self._cell_section:
                 return
-            spc = idx = nospc = 0
-            for idx in range(0, len(line)):
-                if line[idx] != ' ':
-                    nospc += 1
-                    # if spc <= 2:
-                    #     spc = -1
-                    #
-                    if spc >= 2:
-                        break
-                    spc = 0
-                elif line[idx] == ' ':  # and nospc > 0:
-                    spc += 1
-            if nospc > 0 and spc < 2:  # We need a step, not test case or kw name (nospc == 0 and spc <= 2 or )
+            content = line.lstrip(' \t\xa0')
+            separator = re.search(r"[ \xa0]{2,}|\t+", content)
+            if not separator:
                 return
-            spc = max(2, spc)
-            if 2 <= spc <= 10:  # This max limit is reasonable
-                self._spaces = spc
-                self._space_splitter = re.compile(r"[ \t\xa0]{" + f"{self._spaces}" + "}|\t+")
-                self._separator_check = True
-                # print(f"DEBUG: RFLib RobotReader check_separator changed spaces={self._spaces}")
+            self._spaces = max(2, len(separator.group()))
+            self._space_splitter = re.compile(r"[ \xa0]{2,}|\t+")
+            self._separator_check = True
+            # print(f"DEBUG: RFLib RobotReader check_separator changed spaces={self._spaces}")
diff --git a/utest/lib/robot/parsing/test_robotreader.py b/utest/lib/robot/parsing/test_robotreader.py
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..5e54b4714
--- /dev/null
+++ b/utest/lib/robot/parsing/test_robotreader.py
@@ -0,0 +1,17 @@
+from robotide.lib.robot.parsing.robotreader import RobotReader
+
+
+def test_reads_two_space_separators_when_four_spaces_are_configured():
+    reader = RobotReader(spaces=4, lang=["en"])
+    reader.check_separator("*** Test Cases ***")
+    reader.check_separator("First test case")
+    row = "    Keyword with two arguments  arg1  arg2"
+
+    reader.check_separator(row)
+
+    assert reader.split_row(row) == [
+        "",
+        "Keyword with two arguments",
+        "arg1",
+        "arg2",
+    ]