1INDENT(1) General Commands Manual INDENT(1)
2
6 indent - indent and format C program source
7
9 indent [ input-file [ output-file ] ] [ -bad | -nbad ]
10 [ -bap | -nbap ] [ -bbb | -nbbb ] [ -bc | -nbc ] [ -bl | -br ]
11 [ -cn ] [ -cdn ] [ -cdb | -ncdb ] [ -ce | -nce ] [ -cin ]
12 [ -clin ] [ -dn ] [ -din ] [ -dj | -ndj ] [ -ei | -nei ]
13 [ -fc1 | -nfc1 ] [ -in ] [ -ip | -nip ] [ -ln ] [ -lcn ]
14 [ -lp | -nlp ] [ -npro ] [ -pcs | -npcs ] [ -ps | -nps ]
15 [ -psl | -npsl ] [ -sc | -nsc ] [ -sob | -nsob ] [ -st ]
16 [ -troff ] [ -v | -nv ]
17
19 Indent is a C program formatter. It reformats the C program in the
20 input-file according to the switches. The switches which can be speci‐
21 fied are described below. They may appear before or after the file
22 names.
23 NOTE: If you only specify an input-file, the formatting is done `in-
25 place', that is, the formatted file is written back into input-file and
26 a backup copy of input-file is written in the current directory. If
27 input-file is named `/blah/blah/file', the backup file is named
28 file.BAK.
29 If output-file is specified, indent checks to make sure it is different
31 from input-file.
32
34 The options listed below control the formatting style imposed by
35 indent.
36 -bad,-nbad If -bad is specified, a blank line is forced after every
38 block of declarations. Default: -nbad.
39 -bap,-nbap If -bap is specified, a blank line is forced after every
41 procedure body. Default: -nbap.
42 -bbb,-nbbb If -bbb is specified, a blank line is forced before
44 every block comment. Default: -nbbb.
45 -bc,-nbc If -bc is specified, then a newline is forced after each
47 comma in a declaration. -nbc turns off this option.
48 The default is -nbc.
49 -br,-bl Specifying -bl lines up compound statements like this:
51 if (...)
52 {
53 code
54 }
55 Specifying -br (the default) makes them look like this:
56 if (...) {
57 code
58 }
59 -cn The column in which comments on code start. The default
61 is 33.
62 -cdn The column in which comments on declarations start. The
64 default is for these comments to start in the same col‐
65 umn as those on code.
66 -cdb,-ncdb Enables (disables) the placement of comment delimiters
68 on blank lines. With this option enabled, comments look
69 like this:
70 /*
71 * this is a comment
72 */
73 Rather than like this:
74 /* this is a comment */
75 This only affects block comments, not comments to the
76 right of code. The default is -cdb.
77 -ce,-nce Enables (disables) forcing `else's to cuddle up to the
79 immediately preceding `}'. The default is -ce.
80 -cin Sets the continuation indent to be n. Continuation
82 lines will be indented that far from the beginning of
83 the first line of the statement. Parenthesized expres‐
84 sions have extra indentation added to indicate the nest‐
85 ing, unless -lp is in effect. -ci defaults to the same
86 value as -i.
87 -clin Causes case labels to be indented n tab stops to the
89 right of the containing switch statement. -cli0.5
90 causes case labels to be indented half a tab stop. The
91 default is -cli0. (This is the only option that takes a
92 fractional argument.)
93 -dn Controls the placement of comments which are not to the
95 right of code. Specifying -d1 means that such comments
96 are placed one indentation level to the left of code.
97 The default -d0 lines up these comments with the code.
98 See the section on comment indentation below.
99 -din Specifies the indentation, in character positions, from
101 a declaration keyword to the following identifier. The
102 default is -di16.
103 -dj,-ndj -dj left justifies declarations. -ndj indents declara‐
105 tions the same as code. The default is -ndj.
106 -ei,-nei Enables (disables) special else-if processing. If
108 enabled, ifs following elses will have the same indenta‐
109 tion as the preceding if statement. The default is -ei.
110 -fc1,-nfc1 Enables (disables) the formatting of comments that start
112 in column 1. Often, comments whose leading `/' is in
113 column 1 have been carefully hand formatted by the pro‐
114 grammer. In such cases, -nfc1 should be used. The
115 default is -fc1.
116 -in The number of spaces for one indentation level. The
118 default is 8.
119 -ip,-nip Enables (disables) the indentation of parameter declara‐
121 tions from the left margin. The default is -ip.
122 -ln Maximum length of an output line. The default is 78.
124 -lp,-nlp Lines up code surrounded by parenthesis in continuation
126 lines. If a line has a left paren which is not closed
127 on that line, then continuation lines will be lined up
128 to start at the character position just after the left
129 paren. For example, here is how a piece of continued
130 code looks with -nlp in effect:
131 p1 = first_procedure(second_procedure(p2, p3),
132 third_procedure(p4, p5));
133 With -lp in effect (the default) the code looks somewhat
134 clearer:
135 p1 = first_procedure(second_procedure(p2, p3),
136 third_procedure(p4, p5));
137 Inserting two more newlines we get:
138 p1 = first_procedure(second_procedure(p2,
139 p3),
140 third_procedure(p4,
141 p5));
142 -npro Causes the profile files, `./.indent.pro' and
144 `~/.indent.pro', to be ignored.
145 -pcs,-npcs If true (-pcs) all procedure calls will have a space
147 inserted between the name and the `('. The default is
148 -npcs.
149 -ps,-nps If true (-ps) the pointer following operator `->' will
151 be surrounded by spaces on either side. The default is
152 -nps.
153 -psl,-npsl If true (-psl) the names of procedures being defined are
155 placed in column 1 - their types, if any, will be left
156 on the previous lines. The default is -psl.
157 -sc,-nsc Enables (disables) the placement of asterisks (`*'s) at
159 the left edge of all comments. The default is -sc.
160 -sob,-nsob If -sob is specified, indent will swallow optional blank
162 lines. You can use this to get rid of blank lines after
163 declarations. Default: -nsob.
164 -st Causes indent to take its input from stdin, and put its
166 output to stdout.
167 -Ttypename Adds typename to the list of type keywords. Names accu‐
169 mulate: -T can be specified more than once. You need to
170 specify all the typenames that appear in your program
171 that are defined by typedefs - nothing will be harmed if
172 you miss a few, but the program won't be formatted as
173 nicely as it should. This sounds like a painful thing
174 to have to do, but it's really a symptom of a problem in
175 C: typedef causes a syntactic change in the language and
176 indent can't find all typedefs.
177 -troff Causes indent to format the program for processing by
179 troff. It will produce a fancy listing in much the same
180 spirit as vgrind. If the output file is not specified,
181 the default is standard output, rather than formatting
182 in place.
183 -v,-nv -v turns on `verbose' mode; -nv turns it off. When in
185 verbose mode, indent reports when it splits one line of
186 input into two or more lines of output, and gives some
187 size statistics at completion. The default is -nv.
188
190 You may set up your own `profile' of defaults to indent by creating a
191 file called .indent.pro in either your login directory and/or the cur‐
192 rent directory and including whatever switches you like. Switches in
193 `.indent.pro' in the current directory override those in your login
194 directory (with the exception of -T type definitions, which just accu‐
195 mulate). If indent is run and a profile file exists, then it is read
196 to set up the program's defaults. The switches should be separated by
197 spaces, tabs or newlines. Switches on the command line, however, over‐
198 ride profile switches.
199 Comments
201 `Box' comments. Indent assumes that any comment with a dash or star
203 immediately after the start of comment (that is, `/*-' or `/**') is a
204 comment surrounded by a box of stars. Each line of such a comment is
205 left unchanged, except that its indentation may be adjusted to account
206 for the change in indentation of the first line of the comment.
207 Straight text. All other comments are treated as straight text.
209 Indent fits as many words (separated by blanks, tabs, or newlines) on a
210 line as possible. Blank lines break paragraphs.
211 Comment indentation
213 If a comment is on a line with code it is started in the `comment col‐
215 umn', which is set by the -cn command line parameter. Otherwise, the
216 comment is started at n indentation levels less than where code is cur‐
217 rently being placed, where n is specified by the -dn command line
218 parameter. If the code on a line extends past the comment column, the
219 comment starts further to the right, and the right margin may be auto‐
220 matically extended in extreme cases.
221 Preprocessor lines
223 In general, indent leaves preprocessor lines alone. The only reformat‐
225 ting that it will do is to straighten up trailing comments. It leaves
226 embedded comments alone. Conditional compilation (#ifdef...#endif) is
227 recognized and indent attempts to correctly compensate for the syntac‐
228 tic peculiarities introduced.
229 C syntax
231 Indent understands a substantial amount about the syntax of C, but it
233 has a `forgiving' parser. It attempts to cope with the usual sorts of
234 incomplete and misformed syntax. In particular, the use of macros
235 like:
236 #define forever for(;;)
237 is handled properly.
238
240 ./.indent.pro profile file
241 ~/.indent.pro profile file
242
244 Indent has even more switches than ls.
245 A common mistake that often causes grief is typing:
247 indent *.c
248 to the shell in an attempt to indent all the C programs in a directory.
249 This is probably a bug, not a feature.
2504.2 Berkeley Distribution September 10, 1985 INDENT(1)