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34 .\" @(#)indent.1 8.1 (Berkeley) 7/1/93
35 .\" $FreeBSD: src/usr.bin/indent/indent.1,v 1.8.2.6 2002/06/21 15:27:13 charnier Exp $
42 .Nd indent and format C program source
45 .Op Ar input-file Op Ar output-file
88 program formatter. It reformats the
92 according to the switches. The switches which can be
93 specified are described below. They may appear before or after the file
97 If you only specify an
100 done `in-place', that is, the formatted file is written back into
104 is written in the current directory. If
107 .Sq Pa /blah/blah/file ,
108 the backup file is named
115 checks to make sure it is different from
118 The options listed below control the formatting style imposed by
124 is specified, a blank line is forced after every block of
125 declarations. Default:
130 is specified, a blank line is forced after every procedure body. Default:
135 is specified, a blank line is forced before every block comment. Default:
140 is specified, then a newline is forced after each comma in a declaration.
142 turns off this option. Default:
147 lines-up compound statements like this:
148 .Bd -literal -offset indent
157 (the default) makes them look like this:
158 .Bd -literal -offset indent
165 The column in which comments on code start. The default is 33.
167 The column in which comments on declarations start. The default
168 is for these comments to start in the same column as those on code.
170 Enables (disables) the placement of comment delimiters on blank lines. With
171 this option enabled, comments look like this:
172 .Bd -literal -offset indent
178 Rather than like this:
179 .Bd -literal -offset indent
180 /* this is a comment */
183 This only affects block comments, not comments to the right of
187 Enables (disables) forcing of `else's to cuddle up to the immediately preceding
191 Sets the continuation indent to be
194 lines will be indented that far from the beginning of the first line of the
195 statement. Parenthesized expressions have extra indentation added to
196 indicate the nesting, unless
200 defaults to the same value as
203 Causes case labels to be indented
205 tab stops to the right of the containing
209 causes case labels to be indented half a tab stop. The
213 Controls the placement of comments which are not to the
214 right of code. For example,
216 means that such comments are placed one indentation level to the
217 left of code. Specifying the default
219 lines-up these comments with the code. See the section on comment
222 Specifies the indentation, in character positions, from a declaration keyword
223 to the following identifier. The default is
227 left justifies declarations.
229 indents declarations the same as code. The default is
232 Enables (disables) special
234 processing. If it's enabled, an
238 will have the same indentation as the preceding
240 statement. The default is
243 Enables (disables) the formatting of comments that start in column 1.
244 Often, comments whose leading `/' is in column 1 have been carefully
245 hand formatted by the programmer. In such cases,
251 Enables (disables) the formatting of block comments (ones that begin
253 Often, block comments have been not so carefully hand formatted by the
254 programmer, but reformatting that would just change the line breaks is not
259 Block comments are then handled like box comments.
263 The number of spaces for one indentation level. The default is 8.
265 Enables (disables) the indentation of parameter declarations from the left
266 margin. The default is
269 Maximum length of an output line. The default is 78.
271 Lines-up code surrounded by parenthesis in continuation lines. If a line
272 has a left paren which is not closed on that line, then continuation lines
273 will be lined up to start at the character position just after the left
274 paren. For example, here is how a piece of continued code looks with
277 .Bd -literal -offset indent
278 p1 = first_procedure(second_procedure(p2, p3),
279 \ \ third_procedure(p4, p5));
284 in effect (the default) the code looks somewhat clearer:
285 .Bd -literal -offset indent
286 p1\ =\ first_procedure(second_procedure(p2,\ p3),
287 \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ third_procedure(p4,\ p5));
290 Inserting two more newlines we get:
291 .Bd -literal -offset indent
292 p1\ =\ first_procedure(second_procedure(p2,
293 \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ p3),
294 \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ third_procedure(p4,
295 \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ p5));
298 Causes the profile files,
301 .Sq Pa ~/.indent.pro ,
306 all procedure calls will have a space inserted between
307 the name and the `('. The default is
312 the names of procedures being defined are placed in
313 column 1 \- their types, if any, will be left on the previous lines. The
317 Enables (disables) the placement of asterisks (`*'s) at the left edge of all
318 comments. The default is
323 is specified, indent will swallow optional blank lines. You can use this to
324 get rid of blank lines after declarations. Default:
329 to take its input from stdin and put its output to stdout.
330 .It Fl T Ns Ar typename
333 to the list of type keywords. Names accumulate:
335 can be specified more than once. You need to specify all the typenames that
336 appear in your program that are defined by
339 harmed if you miss a few, but the program won't be formatted as nicely as
340 it should. This sounds like a painful thing to have to do, but it's really
341 a symptom of a problem in C:
343 causes a syntactic change in the
352 to format the program for processing by
354 It will produce a fancy
355 listing in much the same spirit as
357 If the output file is not specified, the default is standard output,
358 rather than formatting in place.
361 turns on `verbose' mode;
363 turns it off. When in verbose mode,
365 reports when it splits one line of input into two or more lines of output,
366 and gives some size statistics at completion. The default is
370 You may set up your own `profile' of defaults to
372 by creating a file called
374 in your login directory and/or the current directory and including
375 whatever switches you like. A `.indent.pro' in the current directory takes
376 precedence over the one in your login directory. If
378 is run and a profile file exists, then it is read to set up the program's
379 defaults. Switches on the command line, though, always override profile
380 switches. The switches should be separated by spaces, tabs or newlines.
388 assumes that any comment with a dash or star immediately after the start of
389 comment (that is, `/*\-' or `/**') is a comment surrounded by a box of stars.
390 Each line of such a comment is left unchanged, except that its indentation
391 may be adjusted to account for the change in indentation of the first line
395 All other comments are treated as straight text.
398 utility fits as many words (separated by blanks, tabs, or newlines) on a
399 line as possible. Blank lines break paragraphs.
401 .Ss Comment indentation
402 If a comment is on a line with code it is started in the `comment column',
405 command line parameter. Otherwise, the comment is started at
407 indentation levels less than where code is currently being placed, where
411 command line parameter. If the code on a line extends past the comment
412 column, the comment starts further to the right, and the right margin may be
413 automatically extended in extreme cases.
415 .Ss Preprocessor lines
418 leaves preprocessor lines alone. The only
419 reformatting that it will do is to straighten up trailing comments. It
420 leaves embedded comments alone. Conditional compilation
421 .Pq Ic #ifdef...#endif
424 attempts to correctly
425 compensate for the syntactic peculiarities introduced.
430 utility understands a substantial amount about the syntax of C, but it
431 has a `forgiving' parser. It attempts to cope with the usual sorts of
432 incomplete and misformed syntax. In particular, the use of macros like:
434 .Dl #define forever for(;;)
442 environment variable.
444 .Bl -tag -width "./.indent.pro" -compact
458 utility has even more switches than
461 A common mistake that often causes grief is typing:
465 to the shell in an attempt to indent all the
467 programs in a directory.
468 This is probably a bug, not a feature.