diff --git a/packages/vitest/src/node/plugins/mock.ts b/packages/vitest/src/node/plugins/mock.ts
index c41c7c65c420..f05598b4f0ae 100644
--- a/packages/vitest/src/node/plugins/mock.ts
+++ b/packages/vitest/src/node/plugins/mock.ts
@@ -2,7 +2,7 @@ import type { Plugin } from 'vite'
 import MagicString from 'magic-string'
 import { getCallLastIndex } from '../../utils'
 
-const hoistRegexp = /^ *\b((?:vitest|vi)\s*.\s*(mock|unmock)\(["`'\s]+(.*[@\w_-]+)["`'\s]+)[),]{1};?/gm
+const hoistRegexp = /^[ \t]*\b((?:vitest|vi)\s*.\s*(mock|unmock)\(["`'\s]+(.*[@\w_-]+)["`'\s]+)[),]{1};?/gm
 const vitestRegexp = /import {[^}]*}.*(?=["'`]vitest["`']).*/gm
 
 export function hoistMocks(code: string) {
diff --git a/test/core/test/tab-effect.spec.mjs b/test/core/test/tab-effect.spec.mjs
new file mode 100644
index 000000000000..840a43864fdc
--- /dev/null
+++ b/test/core/test/tab-effect.spec.mjs
@@ -0,0 +1,20 @@
+/* eslint-disable eslint-comments/no-unlimited-disable */
+/* eslint-disable */
+import { expect, test, vi } from 'vitest'
+import { join as joinPath } from 'node:path'
+
+const helloWorld = () => {
+return joinPath('hello', 'world')
+}
+
+test('Are you mocking me?', () => {
+// note there are NO indents in this file
+// except the next line
+// test pass with spaces, test fails with tab
+	vi.mock('node:path', () => {
+return {
+join: vi.fn().mockReturnValue('goodbye world')
+}
+})
+expect(helloWorld()).toBe('goodbye world')
+})