heredoc and coding standards

I try to write very clean code. However, there is one thing that always bugs me - using heredoc syntax in a function. Code in the function really should be indented (or 4 spaces for PEAR types), but, to quote the documentation, "the closing identifier must begin in the first column of the line." That means no tabs, right? So is that just the way it is? Do I just need to not worry about my tabs for heredoc? Is there some way to maintain consistency without breaking my code? -Rob