$line = '<br>  2<br>   3<br>   4';

##</code><code>##

$line = '<br>&nbsp 2<br>&nbsp&nbsp 3<br>&nbsp&nbsp&nbsp 4';

##</code><code>##

sub convert_line_1
{
my $line_convert = shift;
$line_convert =~ s/(\s{5})/\&nbsp\&nbsp\&nbsp\&nbsp /g;
$line_convert =~ s/(\s{4})/\&nbsp\&nbsp\&nbsp /g;
$line_convert =~ s/(\s{3})/\&nbsp\&nbsp /g;
$line_convert =~ s/(\s{2})/\&nbsp /g;
return($line_convert);
}

sub convert_line_2
{
my $line_convert = shift;
$line_convert =~ s/&nbsp&nbsp&nbsp&nbsp /     /g;
$line_convert =~ s/&nbsp&nbsp&nbsp /    /g;
$line_convert =~ s/&nbsp&nbsp /   /g;
$line_convert =~ s/&nbsp /  /g;
return($line_convert);
}