Invalid argument error with tab in listchars

Question

I used list and listchars in vimrc file to display hidden characters but I get this error:

E474: Invalid argument: listchars=tab:> 

after tab:> there is also a space. Below I have the complete entries

set list
set listchars=tab:> ,trail:-,space:·

I checked the arguments one by one, and the problem is caused when I also include the tab argument. I saw that in many cases specifying encoding to utf-8 solves the problem, so at the top of the file I inserted the lines

set encoding=utf-8
scriptencoding utf-8

but the problem remains. Currently the tab character is displayed as ^I.

I run vim version 8.2 in Debian 11.6

How can I solve the tab character problem?

I want to include it in my specifications.

Answer 1

The set command doesn't accept space in the left hand side (space is used to separate right hand sides). You have to escape the spaces:

set list
set listchars=tab:>\ ,trail:-,space:·