INDENT(1) 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 speci‐ fied 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 } 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 col‐ umn 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. 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. Continuation lines will be indented that far from the beginning of the first line of the statement. Parenthesized expres‐ sions 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 statement. -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. -di_n Specifies the indentation, in character positions, from a declaration keyword to the following identifier. The default is -di16. -dj,-ndj -dj left justifies declarations. -ndj indents declara‐ tions the same as code. The default is -ndj. -ei_,-nei Enables (disables) special else-if processing. If enabled, ifs following elses will have the same indenta‐ tion 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 pro‐ grammer. 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 parameter declara‐ tions 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. -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 accu‐ mulate: -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 processing 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 formatting 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 statistics at completion. The default is -nv. FURTHER DESCRIPTION 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 cur‐ rent directory and including whatever 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 paragraphs. Comment indentation If a comment is on a line with code it is started in the ‘comment col‐ umn’, which is set by the -c_n command line parameter. Otherwise, the comment is started at _n indentation levels less than where code is cur‐ rently 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 comment starts further to the right, and the right margin may be auto‐ matically extended in extreme cases. Preprocessor lines In general, _i_n_d_e_n_t leaves preprocessor lines alone. The only reformat‐ ting that it will do is to straighten up trailing comments. It leaves embedded comments alone. Conditional compilation (#ifdef...#endif) is recognized and _i_n_d_e_n_t attempts to correctly compensate for the syntac‐ tic 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(;;) 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. 4.2 Berkeley Distribution September 10, 1985 INDENT(1)