2.11BSD/man/cat1/indent.0
INDENT(1) UNIX Programmer's Manual INDENT(1)
NAME
indent - indent and format C program source
SYNOPSIS
indent [ _i_n_p_u_t-_f_i_l_e [ _o_u_t_p_u_t-_f_i_l_e ] ] [ -bad | -nbad ]
[ -bap | -nbap ] [ -bbb | -nbbb ] [ -bc | -nbc ]
[ -bl | -br ] [ -c_n ] [ -cd_n ] [ -cdb | -ncdb ]
[ -ce | -nce ] [ -ci_n ] [ -cli_n ] [ -d_n ] [ -di_n ]
[ -dj | -ndj ] [ -ei | -nei ] [ -fc1 | -nfc1 ]
[ -i_n ] [ -ip | -nip ] [ -l_n ] [ -lc_n ]
[ -lp | -nlp ] [ -npro ] [ -pcs | -npcs ]
[ -ps | -nps ] [ -psl | -npsl ] [ -sc | -nsc ]
[ -sob | -nsob ] [ -st ] [ -troff ] [ -v | -nv ]
DESCRIPTION
_I_n_d_e_n_t is a C program formatter. It reformats the C program
in the _i_n_p_u_t-_f_i_l_e 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 _i_n_p_u_t-_f_i_l_e, the formatting is
done `in-place', that is, the formatted file is written back
into _i_n_p_u_t-_f_i_l_e and a backup copy of _i_n_p_u_t-_f_i_l_e is written
in the current directory. If _i_n_p_u_t-_f_i_l_e is named
`/blah/blah/file', the backup file is named file._B_A_K.
If _o_u_t_p_u_t-_f_i_l_e is specified, _i_n_d_e_n_t checks to make sure it
is different from _i_n_p_u_t-_f_i_l_e.
OPTIONS
The options listed below control the formatting style
imposed by _i_n_d_e_n_t.
-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. The default is -nbc.
-br,-bl Specifying -bl lines up compound statements
like this:
if (...)
{
code
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}
Specifying -br (the default) makes them look
like this:
if (...) {
code
}
-c_n The column in which comments on code start.
The default is 33.
-cd_n 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 com-
ments to the right of code. The default is
-cdb.
-ce,-nce Enables (disables) forcing `else's to cuddle
up to the immediately preceding `}'. The
default is -ce.
-ci_n Sets the continuation indent to be _n. Con-
tinuation 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 nest-
ing, unless -lp is in effect. -ci defaults
to the same value as -i.
-cli_n Causes case labels to be indented _n tab stops
to the right of the containing switch state-
ment. -cli0.5 causes case labels to be
indented half a tab stop. The default is
-cli0. (This is the only option that takes a
fractional argument.)
-d_n Controls the placement of comments which are
not to the right of code. Specifying -d1
means that such comments are placed one
indentation level to the left of code. The
default -d0 lines up these comments with the
code. See the section on comment indentation
below.
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-di_n Specifies the indentation, in character posi-
tions, from a declaration keyword to the fol-
lowing identifier. The default is -di16.
-dj,-ndj -dj left justifies declarations. -ndj
indents declarations the same as code. The
default is -ndj.
-ei,-nei Enables (disables) special else-if process-
ing. If enabled, ifs following elses will
have the same indentation as the preceding if
statement. The default is -ei.
-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. The
default is -fc1.
-i_n The number of spaces for one indentation
level. The default is 8.
-ip,-nip Enables (disables) the indentation of parame-
ter declarations from the left margin. The
default is -ip.
-l_n Maximum length of an output line. The
default is 78.
-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.
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-pcs,-npcs If true (-pcs) all procedure calls will have
a space inserted between the name and the
`('. The default is -npcs.
-ps,-nps If true (-ps) the pointer following operator
`->' will be surrounded by spaces on either
side. The default is -nps.
-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.
The default is -psl.
-sc,-nsc Enables (disables) the placement of asterisks
(`*'s) at the left edge of all comments. The
default is -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.
-T_t_y_p_e_n_a_m_e Adds _t_y_p_e_n_a_m_e 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 typedefs - 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 _i_n_d_e_n_t can't find all typedefs.
-troff Causes indent to format the program for pro-
cessing by troff. It will produce a fancy
listing in much the same spirit as vgrind.
If the output file is not specified, the
default is standard output, rather than for-
matting in place.
-v,-nv -v turns on `verbose' mode; -nv turns it off.
When in verbose mode, _i_n_d_e_n_t reports when it
splits one line of input into two or more
lines of output, and gives some size statis-
tics at completion. The default is -nv.
FURTHER DESCRIPTION
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You may set up your own `profile' of defaults to _i_n_d_e_n_t by
creating a file called ._i_n_d_e_n_t._p_r_o in either your login
directory and/or the current directory and including what-
ever switches you like. Switches in `.indent.pro' in the
current directory override those in your login directory
(with the exception of -T type definitions, which just accu-
mulate). If _i_n_d_e_n_t is run and a profile file exists, then
it is read to set up the program's defaults. The switches
should be separated by spaces, tabs or newlines. Switches
on the command line, however, override profile switches.
Comments
`_B_o_x' _c_o_m_m_e_n_t_s. _I_n_d_e_n_t 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.
_S_t_r_a_i_g_h_t _t_e_x_t. All other comments are treated as straight
text. _I_n_d_e_n_t fits as many words (separated by blanks, tabs,
or newlines) on a line as possible. Blank lines break para-
graphs.
Comment indentation
If a comment is on a line with code it is started in the
`comment column', which is set by the -c_n command line
parameter. Otherwise, the comment is started at _n indenta-
tion levels less than where code is currently being placed,
where _n is specified by the -d_n command line parameter. If
the code on a line extends past the comment column, the com-
ment starts further to the right, and the right margin may
be automatically extended in extreme cases.
Preprocessor lines
In general, _i_n_d_e_n_t leaves preprocessor lines alone. The
only reformatting that it will do is to straighten up trail-
ing comments. It leaves embedded comments alone. Condi-
tional compilation (#ifdef...#endif) is recognized and
_i_n_d_e_n_t attempts to correctly compensate for the syntactic
peculiarities introduced.
C syntax
_I_n_d_e_n_t 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(;;)
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is handled properly.
FILES
./.indent.pro profile file
~/.indent.pro profile file
BUGS
_I_n_d_e_n_t has even more switches than _l_s.
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.
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