1INDENT(1L) INDENT(1L)
2
6 indent - changes the appearance of a C program by inserting or deleting
7 whitespace.
8
10 indent [options] [input-files]
11 indent [options] [single-input-file] [-o output-file]
13 indent --version
15
17 This man page is generated from the file indent.texinfo. This is Edi‐
18 tion of "The indent Manual", for Indent Version , last updated .
19 The indent program can be used to make code easier to read. It can
21 also convert from one style of writing C to another.
22 indent understands a substantial amount about the syntax of C, but it
24 also attempts to cope with incomplete and misformed syntax.
25 In version 1.2 and more recent versions, the GNU style of indenting is
27 the default.
28
30 -bad, --blank-lines-after-declarations
31 Force blank lines after the declarations.
32 See BLANK LINES.
33 -bap, --blank-lines-after-procedures
35 Force blank lines after procedure bodies.
36 See BLANK LINES.
37 -bbb, --blank-lines-before-block-comments
39 Force blank lines before block comments.
40 See BLANK LINES.
41 -bbo, --break-before-boolean-operator
43 Prefer to break long lines before boolean operators.
44 See BREAKING LONG LINES.
45 -bc, --blank-lines-after-commas
47 Force newline after comma in declaration.
48 See DECLARATIONS.
49 -bl, --braces-after-if-line
51 Put braces on line after if, etc.
52 See STATEMENTS.
53 -blin, --brace-indentn
55 Indent braces n spaces.
56 See STATEMENTS.
57 -bls, --braces-after-struct-decl-line
59 Put braces on the line after struct declaration lines.
60 See DECLARATIONS.
61 -br, --braces-on-if-line
63 Put braces on line with if, etc.
64 See STATEMENTS.
65 -brs, --braces-on-struct-decl-line
67 Put braces on struct declaration line.
68 See DECLARATIONS.
69 -bs, --Bill-Shannon, --blank-before-sizeof
71 Put a space between sizeof and its argument.
72 See STATEMENTS.
73 -cn, --comment-indentationn
75 Put comments to the right of code in column n.
76 See COMMENTS.
77 -cbin, --case-brace-indentationn
79 Indent braces after a case label N spaces.
80 See STATEMENTS.
81 -cdn, --declaration-comment-columnn
83 Put comments to the right of the declarations in column n.
84 See COMMENTS.
85 -cdb, --comment-delimiters-on-blank-lines
87 Put comment delimiters on blank lines.
88 See COMMENTS.
89 -cdw, --cuddle-do-while
91 Cuddle while of do {} while; and preceeding `}´.
92 See COMMENTS.
93 -ce, --cuddle-else
95 Cuddle else and preceeding `}´.
96 See COMMENTS.
97 -cin, --continuation-indentationn
99 Continuation indent of n spaces.
100 See STATEMENTS.
101 -clin, --case-indentationn
103 Case label indent of n spaces.
104 See STATEMENTS.
105 -cpn, --else-endif-columnn
107 Put comments to the right of #else and #endif statements in column
108 n.
109 See COMMENTS.
110 -cs, --space-after-cast
112 Put a space after a cast operator.
113 See STATEMENTS.
114 -dn, --line-comments-indentationn
116 Set indentation of comments not to the right of code to n spaces.
117 See COMMENTS.
118 -bfda, --break-function-decl-args
120 Break the line before all arguments in a declaration.
121 See DECLARATIONS.
122 -bfde, --break-function-decl-args
124 Break the line after the last argument in a declaration.
125 See DECLARATIONS.
126 -din, --declaration-indentationn
128 Put variables in column n.
129 See DECLARATIONS.
130 -fc1, --format-first-column-comments
132 Format comments in the first column.
133 See COMMENTS.
134 -fca, --format-all-comments
136 Do not disable all formatting of comments.
137 See COMMENTS.
138 -gnu, --gnu-style
140 Use GNU coding style. This is the default.
141 See COMMON STYLES.
142 -hnl, --honour-newlines
144 Prefer to break long lines at the position of newlines in the
145 input.
146 See BREAKING LONG LINES.
147 -in, --indent-leveln
149 Set indentation level to n spaces.
150 See INDENTATION.
151 -ipn, --parameter-indentationn
153 Indent parameter types in old-style function definitions by n spa‐
154 ces.
155 See INDENTATION.
156 -kr, --k-and-r-style
158 Use Kernighan & Ritchie coding style.
159 See COMMON STYLES.
160 -ln, --line-lengthn
162 Set maximum line length for non-comment lines to n.
163 See BREAKING LONG LINES.
164 -lcn, --comment-line-lengthn
166 Set maximum line length for comment formatting to n.
167 See COMMENTS.
168 -lp, --continue-at-parentheses
170 Line up continued lines at parentheses.
171 See INDENTATION.
172 -lps, --leave-preprocessor-space
174 Leave space between `#´ and preprocessor directive.
175 See INDENTATION.
176 -nlps, --remove-preprocessor-space
178 Remove space between `#´ and preprocessor directive.
179 See INDENTATION.
180 -nbad, --no-blank-lines-after-declarations
182 Do not force blank lines after declarations.
183 See BLANK LINES.
184 -nbap, --no-blank-lines-after-procedures
186 Do not force blank lines after procedure bodies.
187 See BLANK LINES.
188 -nbbo, --break-after-boolean-operator
190 Do not prefer to break long lines before boolean operators.
191 See BREAKING LONG LINES.
192 -nbc, --no-blank-lines-after-commas
194 Do not force newlines after commas in declarations.
195 See DECLARATIONS.
196 -nbfda, --dont-break-function-decl-args
198 Don´t put each argument in a function declaration on a seperate
199 line.
200 See DECLARATIONS.
201 -ncdb, --no-comment-delimiters-on-blank-lines
203 Do not put comment delimiters on blank lines.
204 See COMMENTS.
205 -ncdw, --dont-cuddle-do-while
207 Do not cuddle } and the while of a do {} while;.
208 See STATEMENTS.
209 -nce, --dont-cuddle-else
211 Do not cuddle } and else.
212 See STATEMENTS.
213 -ncs, --no-space-after-casts
215 Do not put a space after cast operators.
216 See STATEMENTS.
217 -nfc1, --dont-format-first-column-comments
219 Do not format comments in the first column as normal.
220 See COMMENTS.
221 -nfca, --dont-format-comments
223 Do not format any comments.
224 See COMMENTS.
225 -nhnl, --ignore-newlines
227 Do not prefer to break long lines at the position of newlines in
228 the input.
229 See BREAKING LONG LINES.
230 -nip, --no-parameter-indentation
232 Zero width indentation for parameters.
233 See INDENTATION.
234 -nlp, --dont-line-up-parentheses
236 Do not line up parentheses.
237 See STATEMENTS.
238 -npcs, --no-space-after-function-call-names
240 Do not put space after the function in function calls.
241 See STATEMENTS.
242 -nprs, --no-space-after-parentheses
244 Do not put a space after every ´(´ and before every ´)´.
245 See STATEMENTS.
246 -npsl, --dont-break-procedure-type
248 Put the type of a procedure on the same line as its name.
249 See DECLARATIONS.
250 -nsaf, --no-space-after-for
252 Do not put a space after every for.
253 See STATEMENTS.
254 -nsai, --no-space-after-if
256 Do not put a space after every if.
257 See STATEMENTS.
258 -nsaw, --no-space-after-while
260 Do not put a space after every while.
261 See STATEMENTS.
262 -nsc, --dont-star-comments
264 Do not put the `*´ character at the left of comments.
265 See COMMENTS.
266 -nsob, --leave-optional-blank-lines
268 Do not swallow optional blank lines.
269 See BLANK LINES.
270 -nss, --dont-space-special-semicolon
272 Do not force a space before the semicolon after certain statements.
273 Disables `-ss´.
274 See STATEMENTS.
275 -nut, --no-tabs
277 Use spaces instead of tabs.
278 See INDENTATION.
279 -nv, --no-verbosity
281 Disable verbose mode.
282 See MISCELLANEOUS OPTIONS.
283 -orig, --original
285 Use the original Berkeley coding style.
286 See COMMON STYLES.
287 -npro, --ignore-profile
289 Do not read `.indent.pro´ files.
290 See INVOKING INDENT.
291 -pcs, --space-after-procedure-calls
293 Insert a space between the name of the procedure being called and
294 the `(´.
295 See STATEMENTS.
296 -pin, --paren-indentationn
298 Specify the extra indentation per open parentheses ´(´ when a
299 statement is broken.See STATEMENTS.
300 -pmt, --preserve-mtime
302 Preserve access and modification times on output files.See MISCEL‐
303 LANEOUS OPTIONS.
304 -ppin, --preprocessor-indentationn
306 Request indentation of preprocessor conditional statements.
307 See INDENTATION.
308 -prs, --space-after-parentheses
310 Put a space after every ´(´ and before every ´)´.
311 See STATEMENTS.
312 -psl, --procnames-start-lines
314 Put the type of a procedure on the line before its name.
315 See DECLARATIONS.
316 -saf, --space-after-for
318 Put a space after each for.
319 See STATEMENTS.
320 -sai, --space-after-if
322 Put a space after each if.
323 See STATEMENTS.
324 -saw, --space-after-while
326 Put a space after each while.
327 See STATEMENTS.
328 -sbin, --struct-brace-indentationn
330 Indent braces of a struct, union or enum N spaces.
331 See STATEMENTS.
332 -sc, --start-left-side-of-comments
334 Put the `*´ character at the left of comments.
335 See COMMENTS.
336 -sob, --swallow-optional-blank-lines
338 Swallow optional blank lines.
339 See BLANK LINES.
340 -ss, --space-special-semicolon
342 On one-line for and while statments, force a blank before the semi‐
343 colon.
344 See STATEMENTS.
345 -st, --standard-output
347 Write to standard output.
348 See INVOKING INDENT.
349 -T Tell indent the name of typenames.
351 See DECLARATIONS.
352 -tsn, --tab-sizen
354 Set tab size to n spaces.
355 See INDENTATION.
356 -ut, --use-tabs
358 Use tabs. This is the default.
359 See INDENTATION.
360 -v, --verbose
362 Enable verbose mode.
363 See MISCELLANEOUS OPTIONS.
364 -version
366 Output the version number of indent.
367 See MISCELLANEOUS OPTIONS.
368
371 As of version 1.3, the format of the indent command is:
372 indent [options] [input-files]
375 indent [options] [single-input-file] [-o output-file]
377 This format is different from earlier versions and other versions of
380 indent.
381 In the first form, one or more input files are specified. indent makes
383 a backup copy of each file, and the original file is replaced with its
384 indented version. See BACKUP FILES, for an explanation of how backups
385 are made.
386 In the second form, only one input file is specified. In this case, or
388 when the standard input is used, you may specify an output file after
389 the `-o´ option.
390 To cause indent to write to standard output, use the `-st´ option.
392 This is only allowed when there is only one input file, or when the
393 standard input is used.
394 If no input files are named, the standard input is read for input.
396 Also, if a filename named `-´ is specified, then the standard input is
397 read.
398 As an example, each of the following commands will input the program
400 `slithy_toves.c´ and write its indented text to `slithy_toves.out´:
401 indent slithy_toves.c -o slithy_toves.out
404 indent -st slithy_toves.c > slithy_toves.out
406 cat slithy_toves.c | indent -o slithy_toves.out
408 Most other options to indent control how programs are formatted. As of
411 version 1.2, indent also recognizes a long name for each option name.
412 Long options are prefixed by either `--´ or `+´. [ `+´ is being super‐
413 seded by `--´ to maintain consistency with the POSIX standard.]
414 In most of this document, the traditional, short names are used for
415 the sake of brevity. See OPTION SUMMARY, for a list of options,
416 including both long and short names.
417 Here is another example:
419 indent -br test/metabolism.c -l85
421 This will indent the program `test/metabolism.c´ using the `-br´ and
423 `-l85´ options, write the output back to `test/metabolism.c´, and write
424 the original contents of `test/metabolism.c´ to a backup file in the
425 directory `test´.
426 Equivalent invocations using long option names for this example would
428 be:
429 indent --braces-on-if-line --line-length185 test/metabolism.c
432 indent +braces-on-if-line +line-length185 test/metabolism.c
434 If you find that you often use indent with the same options, you may
437 put those options into a file named `.indent.pro´. indent will look
438 for a profile file in three places. First it will check the environment
439 variable INDENT_PROFILE. If that exists its value is expected to name
440 the file that is to be used. If the environment variable does not
441 exist, indent looks for `.indent.pro´ in the current directory
442 and use that if found. Finally indent will search your home directory
443 for `.indent.pro´ and use that file if it is found. This behaviour is
444 different from that of other versions of indent, which load both files
445 if they both exist.
446 The format of `.indent.pro´ is simply a list of options, just as they
448 would appear on the command line, separated by white space (tabs, spa‐
449 ces, and newlines). Options in `.indent.pro´ may be surrounded by C or
450 C++ comments, in which case they are ignored.
451 Command line switches are handled after processing `.indent.pro´.
453 Options specified later override arguments specified earlier, with one
454 exception: Explicitly specified options always override background
455 options (See COMMON STYLES). You can prevent indent from reading an
456 `.indent.pro´ file by specifying the `-npro´ option.
457
460 As of version 1.3, GNU indent makes GNU-style backup files, the same
461 way GNU Emacs does. This means that either simple or numbered backup
462 filenames may be made.
463 Simple backup file names are generated by appending a suffix to the
465 original file name. The default for this suffix is the one-character
466 string `~´ (tilde). Thus, the backup file for `python.c´ would be
467 `python.c~´.
468 Instead of the default, you may specify any string as a suffix by set‐
470 ting the environment variable SIMPLE_BACKUP_SUFFIX to your preferred
471 suffix.
472 Numbered backup versions of a file `momeraths.c´ look like
474 `momeraths.c.~23~´, where 23 is the version of this particular backup.
475 When making a numbered backup of the file `src/momeraths.c´, the backup
476 file will be named `src/momeraths.c.~V~´, where V is one greater than
477 the highest version currently existing in the directory `src´. The
478 environment variable VERSION_WIDTH controls the number of digits, using
479 left zero padding when necessary. For instance, setting this variable
480 to "2" will lead to the backup file being named `momeraths.c.~04~´.
481 The type of backup file made is controlled by the value of the environ‐
483 ment variable VERSION_CONTROL. If it is the string `simple´, then only
484 simple backups will be made. If its value is the string `numbered´,
485 then numbered backups will be made. If its value is `numbered-exist‐
486 ing´, then numbered backups will be made if there already exist num‐
487 bered backups for the file being indented; otherwise, a simple backup
488 is made. If VERSION_CONTROL is not set, then indent assumes the behav‐
489 iour of `numbered-existing´.
490 Other versions of indent use the suffix `.BAK´ in naming backup files.
492 This behaviour can be emulated by setting SIMPLE_BACKUP_SUFFIX to
493 `.BAK´.
494 Note also that other versions of indent make backups in the current
496 directory, rather than in the directory of the source file as GNU
497 indent now does.
498
501 There are several common styles of C code, including the GNU style, the
502 Kernighan & Ritchie style, and the original Berkeley style. A style
503 may be selected with a single background option, which specifies a set
504 of values for all other options. However, explicitly specified options
505 always override options implied by a background option.
506 As of version 1.2, the default style of GNU indent is the GNU style.
508 Thus, it is no longer necessary to specify the option `-gnu´ to obtain
509 this format, although doing so will not cause an error. Option set‐
510 tings which correspond to the GNU style are:
511 -nbad -bap -nbc -bbo -bl -bli2 -bls -ncdb -nce -cp1 -cs -di2
513 -ndj -nfc1 -nfca -hnl -i2 -ip5 -lp -pcs -nprs -psl -saf -sai
514 -saw -nsc -nsob
515 The GNU coding style is that preferred by the GNU project. It is the
517 style that the GNU Emacs C mode encourages and which is used in the C
518 portions of GNU Emacs. (People interested in writing programs for
519 Project GNU should get a copy of "The GNU Coding Standards", which also
520 covers semantic and portability issues such as memory usage, the size
521 of integers, etc.)
522 The Kernighan & Ritchie style is used throughout their well-known book
524 "The C Programming Language". It is enabled with the `-kr´ option.
525 The Kernighan & Ritchie style corresponds to the following set of
526 options:
527 -nbad -bap -bbo -nbc -br -brs -c33 -cd33 -ncdb -ce -ci4 -cli0
529 -cp33 -cs -d0 -di1 -nfc1 -nfca -hnl -i4 -ip0 -l75 -lp -npcs
530 -nprs -npsl -saf -sai -saw -nsc -nsob -nss
531 Kernighan & Ritchie style does not put comments to the right of code in
533 the same column at all times (nor does it use only one space to the
534 right of the code), so for this style indent has arbitrarily chosen
535 column 33.
536 The style of the original Berkeley indent may be obtained by specifying
538 `-orig´ (or by specifying `--original´, using the long option name).
539 This style is equivalent to the following settings:
540 -nbad -nbap -bbo -bc -br -brs -c33 -cd33 -cdb -ce -ci4 -cli0
542 -cp33 -di16 -fc1 -fca -hnl -i4 -ip4 -l75 -lp -npcs -nprs -psl
543 -saf -sai -saw -sc -nsob -nss -ts8
544
547 Various programming styles use blank lines in different places. indent
548 has a number of options to insert or delete blank lines in specific
549 places.
550 The `-bad´ option causes indent to force a blank line after every block
552 of declarations. The `-nbad´ option causes indent not to force such
553 blank lines.
554 The `-bap´ option forces a blank line after every procedure body. The
556 `-nbap´ option forces no such blank line.
557 The `-bbb´ option forces a blank line before every boxed comment (See
559 COMMENTS.) The `-nbbb´ option does not force such blank lines.
560 The `-sob´ option causes indent to swallow optional blank lines (that
562 is, any optional blank lines present in the input will be removed from
563 the output). If the `-nsob´ is specified, any blank lines present in
564 the input file will be copied to the output file.
565
569 The `-bad´ option forces a blank line after every block of declara‐
570 tions. The `-nbad´ option does not add any such blank lines.
571 For example, given the input
573 char *foo;
574 char *bar;
575 /* This separates blocks of declarations. */
576 int baz;
577 indent -bad produces
579 char *foo;
581 char *bar;
582 /* This separates blocks of declarations. */
584 int baz;
585 and indent -nbad produces
587 char *foo;
589 char *bar;
590 /* This separates blocks of declarations. */
591 int baz;
592
595 The `-bap´ option forces a blank line after every procedure body.
596 For example, given the input
598 int
600 foo ()
601 {
602 puts("Hi");
603 }
604 /* The procedure bar is even less interesting. */
605 char *
606 bar ()
607 {
608 puts("Hello");
609 }
610 indent -bap produces
612 int
614 foo ()
615 {
616 puts ("Hi");
617 }
618 /* The procedure bar is even less interesting. */
620 char *
621 bar ()
622 {
623 puts ("Hello");
624 }
625 and indent -nbap produces
627 int
629 foo ()
630 {
631 puts ("Hi");
632 }
633 /* The procedure bar is even less interesting. */
634 char *
635 bar ()
636 {
637 puts ("Hello");
638 }
639 No blank line will be added after the procedure foo.
641
644 indent formats both C and C++ comments. C comments are begun with `/*´,
645 terminated with `*/´ and may contain newline characters. C++ comments
646 begin with the delimiter `//´ and end at the newline.
647 indent handles comments differently depending upon their context.
649 indent attempts to distinguish between comments which follow state‐
650 ments, comments which follow declarations, comments following pre‐
651 processor directives, and comments which are not preceded by code of
652 any sort, i.e., they begin the text of the line (although not necces‐
653 sarily in column 1).
654 indent further distinguishes between comments found outside of proce‐
656 dures and aggregates, and those found within them. In particular, com‐
657 ments beginning a line found within a procedure will be indented to the
658 column at which code is currently indented. The exception to this a
659 comment beginning in the leftmost column; such a comment is output at
660 that column.
661 indent attempts to leave boxed comments unmodified. The general idea of
663 such a comment is that it is enclosed in a rectangle or ``box´´ of
664 stars or dashes to visually set it apart. More precisely, boxed com‐
665 ments are defined as those in which the initial `/*´ is followed imme‐
666 diately by the character `*´, `=´, `_´, or `-´, or those in which the
667 beginning comment delimiter (`/*´) is on a line by itself, and the fol‐
668 lowing line begins with a `*´ in the same column as the star of the
669 opening delimiter.
670 Examples of boxed comments are:
672 /**********************
674 * Comment in a box!! *
675 **********************/
676 /*
678 * A different kind of scent,
679 * for a different kind of comment.
680 */
681 indent attempts to leave boxed comments exactly as they are found in
683 the source file. Thus the indentation of the comment is unchanged, and
684 its length is not checked in any way. The only alteration made is that
685 an embedded tab character may be converted into the appropriate number
686 of spaces.
687 If the `-bbb´ option is specified, all such boxed comments will be pre‐
689 ceded by a blank line, unless such a comment is preceded by code.
690 Comments which are not boxed comments may be formatted, which means
692 that the line is broken to fit within a right margin and left-filled
693 with whitespace. Single newlines are equivalent to a space, but blank
694 lines (two or more newlines in a row) are taken to mean a paragraph
695 break. Formatting of comments which begin after the first column is
696 enabled with the `-fca´ option. To format those beginning in column
697 one, specify `-fc1´. Such formatting is disabled by default.
698 The right margin for formatting defaults to 78, but may be changed with
700 the `-lc´ option. If the margin specified does not allow the comment
701 to be printed, the margin will be automatically extended for the dura‐
702 tion of that comment. The margin is not respected if the comment is
703 not being formatted.
704 If the comment begins a line (i.e., there is no program text to its
706 left), it will be indented to the column it was found in unless the
707 comment is within a block of code. In that case, such a comment will
708 be aligned with the indented code of that block (unless the comment
709 began in the first column). This alignment may be affected by the `-d´
710 option, which specifies an amount by which such comments are moved to
711 the left, or unindented. For example, `-d2´ places comments two spaces
712 to the left of code. By default, comments are aligned with code,
713 unless they begin in the first column, in which case they are left
714 there by default --- to get them aligned with the code, specify `-fc1´.
715 Comments to the right of code will appear by default in column 33.
717 This may be changed with one of three options. `-c´ will specify the
718 column for comments following code, `-cd´ specifies the column for com‐
719 ments following declarations, and `-cp´ specifies the column for com‐
720 ments following preprocessor directives #else and #endif.
721 If the code to the left of the comment exceeds the beginning column,
723 the comment column will be extended to the next tabstop column past the
724 end of the code, or in the case of preprocessor directives, to one
725 space past the end of the directive. This extension lasts only for the
726 output of that particular comment.
727 The `-cdb´ option places the comment delimiters on blank lines. Thus,
729 a single line comment like /* Loving hug */ can be transformed into:
730 /*
732 Loving hug
733 */
734 Stars can be placed at the beginning of multi-line comments with the
736 `-sc´ option. Thus, the single-line comment above can be transformed
737 (with `-cdb -sc´) into:
738 /*
740 * Loving hug
741 */
742
745 The `-br´ or `-bl´ option specifies how to format braces.
746 The `-br´ option formats statement braces like this:
748 if (x > 0) {
750 x--;
751 }
752 The `-bl´ option formats them like this:
754 if (x > 0)
756 {
757 x--;
758 }
759 If you use the `-bl´ option, you may also want to specify the `-bli´
761 option. This option specifies the number of spaces by which braces are
762 indented. `-bli2´, the default, gives the result shown above. `-bli0´
763 results in the following:
764 if (x > 0)
766 {
767 x--;
768 }
769 If you are using the `-br´ option, you probably want to also use the
771 `-ce´ option. This causes the else in an if-then-else construct to
772 cuddle up to the immediately preceding `}´. For example, with `-br
773 -ce´ you get the following:
774 if (x > 0) {
776 x--;
777 } else {
778 fprintf (stderr, "...something wrong?\n");
779 }
780 With `-br -nce´ that code would appear as
782 if (x > 0) {
784 x--;
785 }
786 else {
787 fprintf (stderr, "...something wrong?\n");
788 }
789 This causes the while in a do-while loop to cuddle up to the immedi‐
791 ately preceding `}´. For example, with `-cdw´ you get the following:
792 do {
794 x--;
795 } while (x);
796 With `-ncdw´ that code would appear as
798 do {
800 x--;
801 }
802 while (x);
803 The `-cli´ option specifies the number of spaces that case labels
805 should be indented to the right of the containing switch statement.
806 The default gives code like:
808 switch (i)
810 {
811 case 0:
812 break;
813 case 1:
814 {
815 ++i;
816 }
817 default:
818 break;
819 }
820 Using the `-cli2´ that would become:
822 switch (i)
824 {
825 case 0:
826 break;
827 case 1:
828 {
829 ++i;
830 }
831 default:
832 break;
833 }
834 The indentation of the braces below a case statement can be controlled
836 with the `-cbin´ option. For example, using `-cli2 -cbi0´ results in:
837 switch (i)
839 {
840 case 0:
841 break;
842 case 1:
843 {
844 ++i;
845 }
846 default:
847 break;
848 }
849 If a semicolon is on the same line as a for or while statement, the
851 `-ss´ option will cause a space to be placed before the semicolon.
852 This emphasizes the semicolon, making it clear that the body of the for
853 or while statement is an empty statement. `-nss´ disables this fea‐
854 ture.
855 The `-pcs´ option causes a space to be placed between the name of the
857 procedure being called and the `(´ (for example, puts ("Hi");. The
858 `-npcs´ option would give puts("Hi");).
859 If the `-cs´ option is specified, indent puts a space after a cast
862 operator.
863 The `-bs´ option ensures that there is a space between the keyword
865 sizeof and its argument. In some versions, this is known as the
866 `Bill_Shannon´ option.
867 The `-saf´ option forces a space between an for and the following
869 parenthesis. This is the default.
870 The `-sai´ option forces a space between an if and the following paren‐
872 thesis. This is the default.
873 The `-saw´ option forces a space between an while and the following
875 parenthesis. This is the default.
876 The `-prs´ option causes all parentheses to be seperated with a space
878 from the what is between them. For example, using `-prs´ results in
879 code like:
880 while ( ( e_code - s_code ) < ( dec_ind - 1 ) )
882 {
883 set_buf_break ( bb_dec_ind );
884 *e_code++ = ´ ´;
885 }
886
889 By default indent will line up identifiers, in the column specified by
890 the `-di´ option. For example, `-di16´ makes things look like:
891 int foo;
893 char *bar;
894 Using a small value (such as one or two) for the `-di´ option can be
896 used to cause the identifiers to be placed in the first available posi‐
897 tion; for example:
898 int foo;
900 char *bar;
901 The value given to the `-di´ option will still affect variables which
903 are put on separate lines from their types, for example `-di2´ will
904 lead to:
905 int
907 foo;
908 If the `-bc´ option is specified, a newline is forced after each comma
910 in a declaration. For example,
911 int a,
913 b,
914 c;
915 With the `-nbc´ option this would look like
917 int a, b, c;
919 The `-bfda´ option causes a newline to be forced after the comma sepa‐
921 rating the arguments of a function declaration. The arguments will
922 appear at one indention level deeper than the function declaration.
923 This is particularly helpful for functions with long argument lists.
924 The option `-bfde´ causes a newline to be forced before the closing
925 bracket of the function declaration. For both options the ´n´ setting
926 is the default: -nbdfa and -nbdfe.
927 For example,
930 void foo (int arg1, char arg2, int *arg3, long arg4, char arg5);
932 With the `-bfda´ option this would look like
933 void foo (
935 int arg1,
936 char arg2,
937 int *arg3,
938 long arg4,
939 char arg5);
940 With, in addition, the `-bfde´ option this would look like
942 void foo (
944 int arg1,
945 char arg2,
946 int *arg3,
947 long arg4,
948 char arg5
949 );
950 The `-psl´ option causes the type of a procedure being defined to be
952 placed on the line before the name of the procedure. This style is
953 required for the etags program to work correctly, as well as some of
954 the c-mode functions of Emacs.
955 You must use the `-T´ option to tell indent the name of all the type‐
957 names in your program that are defined by typedef. `-T´ can be speci‐
958 fied more than once, and all names specified are used. For example, if
959 your program contains
960 typedef unsigned long CODE_ADDR;
962 typedef enum {red, blue, green} COLOR;
963 you would use the options `-T CODE_ADDR -T COLOR´.
965 The `-brs´ or `-bls´ option specifies how to format braces in struct
967 declarations. The `-brs´ option formats braces like this:
968 struct foo {
970 int x;
971 };
972 The `-bls´ option formats them like this:
974 struct foo
976 {
977 int x;
978 };
979
982 One issue in the formatting of code is how far each line should be
983 indented from the left margin. When the beginning of a statement such
984 as if or for is encountered, the indentation level is increased by the
985 value specified by the `-i´ option. For example, use `-i8´ to specify
986 an eight character indentation for each level. When a statement is
987 broken across two lines, the second line is indented by a number of
988 additional spaces specified by the `-ci´ option. `-ci´ defaults to 0.
989 However, if the `-lp´ option is specified, and a line has a left paren‐
990 thesis which is not closed on that line, then continuation lines will
991 be lined up to start at the character position just after the left
992 parenthesis. This processing also applies to `[´ and applies to `{´
993 when it occurs in initialization lists. For example, a piece of con‐
994 tinued code might look like this with `-nlp -ci3´ in effect:
995 p1 = first_procedure (second_procedure (p2, p3),
997 third_procedure (p4, p5));
998 With `-lp´ in effect the code looks somewhat clearer:
1000 p1 = first_procedure (second_procedure (p2, p3),
1002 third_procedure (p4, p5));
1003 When a statement is broken in between two or more paren pairs (...),
1005 each extra pair causes the indentation level extra indentation:
1006 if ((((i < 2 &&
1008 k > 0) || p == 0) &&
1009 q == 1) ||
1010 n = 0)
1011 The option `-ipN´ can be used to set the extra offset per paren. For
1013 instance, `-ip0´ would format the above as:
1014 if ((((i < 2 &&
1016 k > 0) || p == 0) &&
1017 q == 1) ||
1018 n = 0)
1019 indent assumes that tabs are placed at regular intervals of both input
1021 and output character streams. These intervals are by default 8 columns
1022 wide, but (as of version 1.2) may be changed by the `-ts´ option. Tabs
1023 are treated as the equivalent number of spaces.
1024 The indentation of type declarations in old-style function definitions
1026 is controlled by the `-ip´ parameter. This is a numeric parameter
1027 specifying how many spaces to indent type declarations. For example,
1028 the default `-ip5´ makes definitions look like this:
1029 char *
1031 create_world (x, y, scale)
1032 int x;
1033 int y;
1034 float scale;
1035 {
1036 . . .
1037 }
1038 For compatibility with other versions of indent, the option `-nip´ is
1040 provided, which is equivalent to `-ip0´.
1041 ANSI C allows white space to be placed on preprocessor command lines
1043 between the character `#´ and the command name. By default, indent
1044 removes this space, but specifying the `-lps´ option directs indent to
1045 leave this space unmodified. The option `-ppi´ overrides `-nlps´ and
1046 `-lps´.
1047 This option can be used to request that preprocessor conditional state‐
1049 ments can be indented by to given number of spaces, for example with
1050 the option `-ppi 3´
1051 #if X
1053 #if Y
1054 #define Z 1
1055 #else
1056 #define Z 0
1057 #endif
1058 #endif
1059 becomes
1060 #if X
1061 # if Y
1062 # define Z 1
1063 # else
1064 # define Z 0
1065 # endif
1066 #endif
1067
1070 With the option `-ln´, or `--line-lengthn´, it is possible to specify
1071 the maximum length of a line of C code, not including possible comments
1072 that follow it.
1073 When lines become longer then the specified line length, GNU indent
1075 tries to break the line at a logical place. This is new as of version
1076 2.1 however and not very intelligent or flexible yet.
1077 Currently there are two options that allows one to interfere with the
1079 algorithm that determines where to break a line.
1080 The `-bbo´ option causes GNU indent to prefer to break long lines
1082 before the boolean operators && and ||. The `-nbbo´ option causes GNU
1083 indent not have that preference. For example, the default option
1084 `-bbo´ (together with `--line-length60´ and `--ignore-newlines´) makes
1085 code look like this:
1086 if (mask
1088 && ((mask[0] == ´\0´)
1089 || (mask[1] == ´\0´
1090 && ((mask[0] == ´0´) || (mask[0] == ´*´)))))
1091 Using the option `-nbbo´ will make it look like this:
1093 if (mask &&
1095 ((mask[0] == ´\0´) ||
1096 (mask[1] == ´\0´ &&
1097 ((mask[0] == ´0´) || (mask[0] == ´*´)))))
1098 The default `-hnl´, however, honours newlines in the input file by giv‐
1100 ing them the highest possible priority to break lines at. For example,
1101 when the input file looks like this:
1102 if (mask
1104 && ((mask[0] == ´\0´)
1105 || (mask[1] == ´\0´ && ((mask[0] == ´0´) || (mask[0] == ´*´)))))
1106 then using the option `-hnl´, or `--honour-newlines´, together with the
1108 previously mentioned `-nbbo´ and `--line-length60´, will cause the out‐
1109 put not to be what is given in the last example but instead will prefer
1110 to break at the positions where the code was broken in the input file:
1111 if (mask
1113 && ((mask[0] == ´\0´)
1114 || (mask[1] == ´\0´ &&
1115 ((mask[0] == ´0´) || (mask[0] == ´*´)))))
1116 The idea behind this option is that lines which are too long, but are
1118 already broken up, will not be touched by GNU indent. Really messy
1119 code should be run through indent at least once using the `--ignore-
1120 newlines´ option though.
1121
1124 Formatting of C code may be disabled for portions of a program by
1125 embedding special control comments in the program. To turn off format‐
1126 ting for a section of a program, place the disabling control comment /*
1127 *INDENT-OFF* */ on a line by itself just before that section. Program
1128 text scanned after this control comment is output precisely as input
1129 with no modifications until the corresponding enabling comment is
1130 scanned on a line by itself. The disabling control comment is /*
1131 *INDENT-ON* */, and any text following the comment on the line is also
1132 output unformatted. Formatting begins again with the input line fol‐
1133 lowing the enabling control comment.
1134 More precisely, indent does not attempt to verify the closing delimiter
1136 (*/) for these C comments, and any whitespace on the line is totally
1137 transparent.
1138 These control comments also function in their C++ formats, namely //
1140 *INDENT-OFF* and // *INDENT-ON*.
1141 It should be noted that the internal state of indent remains unchanged
1143 over the course of the unformatted section. Thus, for example, turning
1144 off formatting in the middle of a function and continuing it after the
1145 end of the function may lead to bizarre results. It is therefore wise
1146 to be somewhat modular in selecting code to be left unformatted.
1147 As a historical note, some earlier versions of indent produced error
1149 messages beginning with *INDENT**. These versions of indent were writ‐
1150 ten to ignore any input text lines which began with such error mes‐
1151 sages. I have removed this incestuous feature from GNU indent.
1152
1155 To find out what version of indent you have, use the command indent
1156 -version. This will report the version number of indent, without doing
1157 any of the normal processing.
1158 The `-v´ option can be used to turn on verbose mode. When in verbose
1160 mode, indent reports when it splits one line of input into two more
1161 more lines of output, and gives some size statistics at completion.
1162 The `-pmt´ option causes indent to preserve the access and modification
1164 times on the output files. Using this option has the advantage that
1165 running indent on all source and header files in a project won´t cause
1166 make to rebuild all targets. This option is only available on Operat‐
1167 ing Systems that have the POSIX utime(2) function.
1168
1171 Please report any bugs to bug-indent@gnu.org.
1172 When indent is run twice on a file, with the same profile, it should
1174 never change that file the second time. With the current design of
1175 indent, this can not be guaranteed, and it has not been extensively
1176 tested.
1177 indent does not understand C. In some cases this leads to the inability
1179 to join lines. The result is that running a file through indent is
1180 irreversible, even if the used input file was the result of running
1181 indent with a given profile (`.indent.pro´).
1182 While an attempt was made to get indent working for C++, it will not do
1184 a good job on any C++ source except the very simplest.
1185 indent does not look at the given `--line-length´ option when writing
1187 comments to the output file. This results often in comments being put
1188 far to the right. In order to prohibit indent from joining a broken
1189 line that has a comment at the end, make sure that the comments start
1190 on the first line of the break.
1191 indent does not count lines and comments (see the `-v´ option) when
1193 indent is turned off with /* *INDENT-OFF* */.
1194 Comments of the form /*UPPERCASE*/ are not treated as comment but as an
1196 identifier, causing them to be joined with the next line. This renders
1197 comments of this type useless, unless they are embedded in the code to
1198 begin with.
1199
1202 The following copyright notice applies to the indent program. The
1203 copyright and copying permissions for this manual appear near the
1204 beginning of `indent.texinfo´ and `indent.info´, and near the end of
1205 `indent.1´.
1206 Copyright (c) 2001 David Ingamells.
1208 Copyright (c) 1999 Carlo Wood.
1209 Copyright (c) 1995, 1996 Joseph Arceneaux.
1210 Copyright (c) 1989, 1992, 1993, 1994, 1995, 1996 Free Software Foundation
1211 Copyright (c) 1985 Sun Microsystems, Inc.
1212 Copyright (c) 1980 The Regents of the University of California.
1213 Copyright (c) 1976 Board of Trustees of the University of Illinois.
1214 All rights reserved.
1215 Redistribution and use in source and binary forms are permitted
1217 provided that the above copyright notice and this paragraph are
1218 duplicated in all such forms and that any documentation,
1219 advertising materials, and other materials related to such
1220 distribution and use acknowledge that the software was developed
1221 by the University of California, Berkeley, the University of Illinois,
1222 Urbana, and Sun Microsystems, Inc. The name of either University
1223 or Sun Microsystems may not be used to endorse or promote products
1224 derived from this software without specific prior written permission.
1225 THIS SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED ``AS IS´´ AND WITHOUT ANY EXPRESS OR
1226 IMPLIED WARRANTIES, INCLUDING, WITHOUT LIMITATION, THE IMPLIED
1227 WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTIBILITY AND FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR
1228 PURPOSE.
1229
1232 Here is a list of options alphabetized by long option, to help you find
1233 the corresponding short option.
1234 --blank-lines-after-commas -bc
1237 --blank-lines-after-declarations -bad
1238 --blank-lines-after-procedures -bap
1239 --blank-lines-before-block-comments -bbb
1240 --braces-after-if-line -bl
1241 --brace-indent -bli
1242 --braces-after-struct-decl-line -bls
1243 --braces-on-if-line -br
1244 --braces-on-struct-decl-line -brs
1245 --break-after-boolean-operator -nbbo
1246 --break-before-boolean-operator -bbo
1247 --break-function-decl-args -bfda
1248 --break-function-decl-args-end -bfde
1249 --case-indentation -clin
1250 --case-brace-indentation -cbin
1251 --comment-delimiters-on-blank-lines -cdb
1252 --comment-indentation -cn
1253 --continuation-indentation -cin
1254 --continue-at-parentheses -lp
1255 --cuddle-do-while -cdw
1256 --cuddle-else -ce
1257 --declaration-comment-column -cdn
1258 --declaration-indentation -din
1259 --dont-break-function-decl-args -nbfda
1260 --dont-break-function-decl-args-end -nbfde
1261 --dont-break-procedure-type -npsl
1262 --dont-cuddle-do-while -ncdw
1263 --dont-cuddle-else -nce
1264 --dont-format-comments -nfca
1265 --dont-format-first-column-comments -nfc1
1266 --dont-line-up-parentheses -nlp
1267 --dont-space-special-semicolon -nss
1268 --dont-star-comments -nsc
1269 --else-endif-column -cpn
1270 --format-all-comments -fca
1271 --format-first-column-comments -fc1
1272 --gnu-style -gnu
1273 --honour-newlines -hnl
1274 --ignore-newlines -nhnl
1275 --ignore-profile -npro
1276 --indent-level -in
1277 --k-and-r-style -kr
1278 --leave-optional-blank-lines -nsob
1279 --leave-preprocessor-space -lps
1280 --line-comments-indentation -dn
1281 --line-length -ln
1282 --no-blank-lines-after-commas -nbc
1283 --no-blank-lines-after-declarations -nbad
1284 --no-blank-lines-after-procedures -nbap
1285 --no-blank-lines-before-block-comments -nbbb
1286 --no-comment-delimiters-on-blank-lines -ncdb
1287 --no-space-after-casts -ncs
1288 --no-parameter-indentation -nip
1289 --no-space-after-for -nsaf
1290 --no-space-after-function-call-names -npcs
1291 --no-space-after-if -nsai
1292 --no-space-after-parentheses -nprs
1293 --no-space-after-while -nsaw
1294 --no-tabs -nut
1295 --no-verbosity -nv
1296 --original -orig
1297 --parameter-indentation -ipn
1298 --paren-indentation -pin
1299 --preprocessor-indentationn -ppin
1300 --preserve-mtime -pmt
1301 --procnames-start-lines -psl
1302 --remove-preprocessor-space -nlps
1303 --space-after-cast -cs
1304 --space-after-for -saf
1305 --space-after-if -sai
1306 --space-after-parentheses -prs
1307 --space-after-procedure-calls -pcs
1308 --space-after-while -saw
1309 --space-special-semicolon -ss
1310 --standard-output -st
1311 --start-left-side-of-comments -sc
1312 --struct-brace-indentation -sbin
1313 --swallow-optional-blank-lines -sob
1314 --tab-size -tsn
1315 --use-tabs -ut
1316 --verbose -v
1317
1320 Unknown
1321
1323 $HOME/.indent.pro holds default options for indent.
1324
1326 Carlo Wood
1327 Joseph Arceneaux
1328 Jim Kingdon
1329 David Ingamells
1330
1332 Derived from the UCB program "indent".
1333
1335 Copyright (C) 1989, 1992, 1993, 1994, 1995, 1996 Free Software Founda‐
1336 tion, Inc. Copyright (C) 1995, 1996 Joseph Arceneaux. Copyright (C)
1337 1999 Carlo Wood. Copyright (C) 2001 David Ingamells.
1338 Permission is granted to make and distribute verbatim copies of this
1340 manual provided the copyright notice and this permission notice are
1341 preserved on all copies.
1342 INDENT(1L)