NAME
indent
- indent and format C program source
SYNOPSIS
indent
[input-file[ output-file]]
[-bacc | -nbacc]
[-bad | -nbad]
[-bap | -nbap]
[-bbb | -nbbb]
[-bc | -nbc]
[-bl]
[-br]
[-cn]
[-cdn]
[-cdb | -ncdb]
[-ce | -nce]
[-cin]
[-clin]
[-dn]
[-din]
[-fc1 | -nfc1]
[-in]
[-ip | -nip]
[-ln]
[-lcn]
[-lp | -nlp]
[-npro]
[-pcs | -npcs]
[-psl | -npsl]
[-sc | -nsc]
[-sob | -nsob]
[-st]
[-troff]
[-v | -nv]
DESCRIPTION
indent
is a
C
program formatter.
It reformats the
C
program in the
input-file
according to the switches.
The switches which can be specified are described below.
They may appear before or after the file names.
NOTE:
If you only specify an
input-file,
the formatting is
done `in-place', that is, the formatted file is written back into
input-file
and a backup copy of
input-file
is written in the current directory.
If
input-file
is named
`
/blah/blah/file
',
the backup file is named
file.BAK
.
If
output-file
is specified,
indent
checks to make sure it is different from
input-file.
The options listed below control the formatting style imposed by
.
- -bacc, nbacc
-
If
-bacc
is specified, a blank line is forced around every conditional
compilation block.
For example, in front of every #ifdef and after every #endif.
Other blank lines surrounding such blocks will be swallowed.
Default:
-nbacc.
- -bad, nbad
-
If
-bad
is specified, a blank line is forced after every block of
declarations.
Default:
-nbad.
- -bap, nbap
-
If
-bap
is specified, a blank line is forced after every procedure body.
Default:
-nbap.
- -bbb, nbbb
-
If
-bbb
is specified, a blank line is forced before every block comment.
Default:
-nbbb.
- -bc, nbc
-
If
-bc
is specified, then a newline is forced after each comma in a declaration.
-nbc
turns off this option.
Default:
-bc.
- -br, bl
-
Specifying
-bl
lines up compound statements like this:
-
if (...)
{
code
}
Specifying
-br
(the default) makes them look like this:
-
if (...) {
code
}
- -bs -,nbs
-
If
-bs
is specified, a blank is forced after
sizeof.
Default:
-nbs.
- -cn
-
The column in which comments on code start.
Default:
-c33.
- -cdn
-
The column in which comments on declarations start.
The default
is for these comments to start in the same column as those on code.
- -cdb, ncdb
-
Enables (disables) the placement of comment delimiters on blank lines.
With this option enabled, comments look like this:
-
/*
* this is a comment
*/
Rather than like this:
-
/* this is a comment */
This only affects block comments, not comments to the right of
code.
Default:
-cdb.
- -ce, nce
-
Enables (disables) forcing `else's to cuddle up to the immediately preceding
`}'.
Default:
-ce.
- -cin
-
Sets the continuation indent to be
n.
Continuation
lines will be indented that far from the beginning of the first line of the
statement.
Parenthesized expressions have extra indentation added to
indicate the nesting, unless
-lp
is in effect.
-ci
defaults to the same value as
-i.
- -clin
-
Causes case labels to be indented
n
tab stops to the right of the containing
switch
statement.
-cli0.5
causes case labels to be indented half a tab stop.
Default:
-cli0.
- -dn
-
Controls the placement of comments which are not to the right of code.
For example,
-d1
means that such comments are placed one indentation level to the left of code.
Specifying the default
-d0
lines up these comments with the code.
See the section on comment
indentation below.
- -din
-
Specifies the indentation, in character positions, from a declaration keyword
to the following identifier.
Default:
-di16.
- -dj, ndj
-
-dj
left justifies declarations.
-ndj
indents declarations the same as code.
Default:
-ndj.
- -ei, nei
-
Enables (disables) special
else-if
processing.
If it's enabled, an
if
following an
else
will have the same indentation as the preceding
if
statement.
Default:
-ei.
- -eei, neei
-
Enables (disables) extra indentation on continuation lines of
the expression part of
if
and
while
statements.
These continuation lines will be indented one extra level.
Default:
-neei.
- -fc1, nfc1
-
Enables (disables) the formatting of comments that start in column 1.
Often, comments whose leading `/' is in column 1 have been carefully
hand formatted by the programmer.
In such cases,
-nfc1
should be used.
Default:
-fc1.
- -in
-
The number of spaces for one indentation level.
Default:
-i8.
- -ip, nip
-
Enables (disables) the indentation of parameter declarations from the left
margin.
Default:
-ip.
- -ln
-
Maximum length of an output line.
Default:
-l78.
- -lp, nlp
-
Lines up code surrounded by parenthesis in continuation lines.
If a line has a left paren which is not closed on that line, then
continuation lines will be lined up to start at the character
position just after the left paren.
For example, here is how a piece of continued code looks with
-nlp
in effect:
-
p1 = first_procedure(second_procedure(p2, p3),
third_procedure(p4,p5));
With
-lp
in effect (the default) the code looks somewhat clearer:
-
p1 = first_procedure(second_procedure(p2, p3),
third_procedure(p4,p5));
Inserting two more newlines we get:
-
p1 = first_procedure(second_procedure(p2,
p3),
third_procedure(p4
p5));
- -npro
-
Causes the profile files,
`
./.indent.pro
'
and
`
~/.indent.pro
',
to be ignored.
- -pcs, npcs
-
If true
(-pcs)
all procedure calls will have a space inserted between
the name and the `('.
Default:
-npcs.
- -psl, npsl
-
If true
(-psl)
the names of procedures being defined are placed in
column 1 - their types, if any, will be left on the previous lines.
Default:
-psl.
- -sc, nsc
-
Enables (disables) the placement of asterisks (`*'s) at the left edge of all
comments.
Default:
-sc.
- -sob, nsob
-
If
-sob
is specified, indent will swallow optional blank lines.
You can use this to get rid of blank lines after declarations.
Default:
-nsob.
- -st
-
Causes
indent
to take its input from stdin, and put its output to stdout.
- -Ttypename
-
Adds
typename
to the list of type keywords.
Names accumulate:
-T
can be specified more than once.
You need to specify all the typenames that
appear in your program that are defined by
typedef
- nothing will be
harmed if you miss a few, but the program won't be formatted as nicely as
it should.
This sounds like a painful thing to have to do, but it's really
a symptom of a problem in C:
typedef
causes a syntactic change in the
language and
indent
can't find all
instances of
typedef.
- -troff
-
Causes
indent
to format the program for processing by
troff(1).
It will produce a fancy
listing in much the same spirit as
vgrind(1).
If the output file is not specified, the default is standard output,
rather than formatting in place.
- -v, nv
-
-v
turns on `verbose' mode;
-nv
turns it off.
When in verbose mode,
indent
reports when it splits one line of input into two or more lines of output,
and gives some size statistics at completion.
Default:
-nv.
You may set up your own `profile' of defaults to
indent
by creating a file called
.indent.pro
in your login directory and/or the current directory and including
whatever switches you like.
A `.indent.pro' in the current directory takes
precedence over the one in your login directory.
If
indent
is run and a profile file exists, then it is read to set up the program's
defaults.
Switches on the command line, though, always override profile switches.
The switches should be separated by spaces, tabs or newlines.
`Box'
comments.
indent
assumes that any comment with a dash or star immediately after the start of
comment (that is, `/*-' or `/**') is a comment surrounded by a box of stars.
Each line of such a comment is left unchanged, except that its indentation
may be adjusted to account for the change in indentation of the first line
of the comment.
Straight text.
All other comments are treated as straight text.
indent
fits as many words (separated by blanks, tabs, or newlines) on a
line as possible.
Blank lines break paragraphs.
If a comment is on a line with code it is started in the `comment column',
which is set by the
-cn
command line parameter.
Otherwise, the comment is started at
n
indentation levels less than where code is currently being placed, where
n
is specified by the
-dn
command line parameter.
If the code on a line extends past the comment
column, the comment starts further to the right, and the right margin may be
automatically extended in extreme cases.
Preprocessor lines
In general,
indent
leaves preprocessor lines alone.
The only reformatting that it will do is to straighten up trailing comments.
It leaves embedded comments alone.
Conditional compilation
(#ifdef...#endif)
is recognized and
indent
attempts to correctly
compensate for the syntactic peculiarities introduced.
C syntax
indent
understands a substantial amount about the syntax of C, but it
has a `forgiving' parser.
It attempts to cope with the usual sorts of incomplete and misformed syntax.
In particular, the use of macros like:
#define
forever
for(;;)
is handled properly.
ENVIRONMENT
indent
uses the
HOME
environment variable.
FILES
./.indent.pro
-
profile file
~/.indent.pro
-
profile file
HISTORY
The
indent
command appeared in
4.2BSD.
BUGS
indent
has even more switches than
ls(1).
A common mistake that often causes grief is typing:
indent
*.c
to the shell in an attempt to indent all the
C
programs in a directory.
This is probably a bug, not a feature.