does \s allow tab's, character returns and other things like that?

Yes. It is the same as [\f\n\r\t ] (and it actually allows a few other characters if you are using Unicode.) You can use a literal space or an octal (\040) or hex (\x20) representation if you don't want to match the others. Since you are using /x on your regexes, I'd suggest an octal or hex escape.

-sauoq
"My two cents aren't worth a dime.";