SunOS 5.6 1
Misc. Reference Manual Pages INDENT(1L)
NAME
indent - changes the appearance of a C program by inserting
or deleting whitespace.
SYNOPSIS
indent [-bad] [-bap] [-bbb] [-bc] [-bl] [-bliN] [-br] [-cN] [-cdN] [-cdb]
[-ce] [-ciN] [-cliN] [-cpN] [-cs] [-bs] [-dN] [-diN] [-fc1] [-fca]
[-gnu] [-iN] [-ipN] [-kr] [-lN] [-lp] [-nbad] [-nbap] [-nbbb]
[-nbc] [-ncdb] [-nce] [-ncs] [-nfc1] [-nfca] [-nip] [-nlp] [-npcs]
[-npsl] [-nsc] [-nsob] [-nss] [-nv] [-orig] [-npro] [-pcs] [-psl]
[-sc] [-sob] [-ss] [-st] [-T] [-tsN] [-v] [-version] [file]
DESCRIPTION
This man page is based on the Info file indent.info, pro-
duced by Makeinfo-1.47 from the input file indent.texinfo.
This is Edition 0.02, 5 May 1992, of The `indent' Manual,
for Indent Version 1.3.
Copyright (C) 1989, 1992 Free Software Foundation, Inc.
COPYING
Permission is granted to make and distribute verbatim copies
of this manual provided the copyright notice and this per-
mission notice are preserved on all copies.
INTRODUCTION
The `indent' program can be used to make code easier to
read. It can also convert from one style of writing C to
another.
`indent' understands a substantial amount about the syntax
of C, but it also attempts to cope with incomplete and mis-
formed syntax.
In version 1.2 and more recent versions, the GNU style of
indenting is the default.
INVOKING INDENT
As of version 1.3, the format of the `indent' command is:
indent [OPTIONS] [INPUT-FILES]
indent [OPTIONS] [SINGLE-INPUT-FILE] [-o OUTPUT-FILE]
This format is different from earlier versions and other
versions of `indent'.
In the first form, one or more input files are specified.
`indent' makes a backup copy of each file, and the original
file is replaced with its indented version. *Note Backup
files::, for an explanation of how backups are made.
In the second form, only one input file is specified. In
this case, or when the standard input is used, you may
specify an output file after the `-o' option.
To cause `indent' to write to standard output, use the `-st'
option. This is only allowed when there is only one input
file, or when the standard input is used.
If no input files are named, the standard input is read for
input. Also, if a filename named `-' is specified, then the
standard input is read.
As an example, each of the following commands will input the
program `slithy_toves.c' and write its indented text to
`slithy_toves.out':
indent slithy_toves.c -o slithy_toves.out
indent -st slithy_toves.c > slithy_toves.out
cat slithy_toves.c | indent -o slithy_toves.out
Most other options to `indent' control how programs are for-
matted. As of version 1.2, `indent' also recognizes a long
name for each option name. Long options are prefixed by
either `--' or `+'. `+' is being superseded by `--' to
maintain consistency with the POSIX standard. In most of
this document, the traditional, short names are used for the
sake of brevity.
Here is another example:
indent -br test/metabolism.c -l85
This will indent the program `test/metabolism.c' using the
`-br' and `-l85' options, write the output back to
`test/metabolism.c', and write the original contents of
`test/metabolism.c' to a backup file in the directory
`test'.
Equivalent invocations using long option names for this
example would be:
indent --braces-on-if-line --line-length185
test/metabolism.c
indent +braces-on-if-line +line-length185
test/metabolism.c
If you find that you often use `indent' with the same
options, you may put those options into a file called
`.indent.pro'. `indent' will first look for `.indent.pro' in
the current directory and use that if found. Otherwise,
`indent' will search your home directory for `.indent.pro'
and use that file if it is found. This behaviour is dif-
ferent from that of other versions of `indent', which load
both files if they both exist.
Command line switches are handled *after* processing
`.indent.pro'. Options specified later override arguments
specified earlier, with one exception: Explicitly specified
options always override background options (*note Common
styles::.). You can prevent `indent' from reading an
`.indent.pro' file by specifying the `-npro' option.
BACKUP FILES
As of version 1.3, GNU `indent' makes GNU--style backup
files, the same way GNU Emacs does. This means that either
"simple" or "numbered" backup filenames may be made.
Simple backup file names are generated by appending a suffix
to the original file name. The default for the this suffix
is the one-character string `~' (tilde). Thus, the backup
file for `python.c' would be `python.c~'.
Instead of the default, you may specify any string as a suf-
fix by setting the environment variable
`SIMPLE_BACKUP_SUFFIX' to your preferred suffix.
Numbered backup versions of a file `momewraths' look like
`momewraths.c.~23~', where 23 is the version of this partic-
ular backup. When making a numbered backup of the file
`src/momewrath.c', the backup file will be named
`src/momewrath.c.~V~', where V is one greater than the
highest version currently existing in the directory `src'.
The type of backup file made is controlled by the value of
the environment variable `VERSION_CONTROL'. If it is the
string `simple', then only simple backups will be made. If
its value is the string `numbered', then numbered backups
will be made. If its value is `numbered-existing', then
numbered backups will be made if there *already exist* num-
bered backups for the file being indented; otherwise, a sim-
ple backup is made. If `VERSION_CONTROL' is not set, then
`indent' assumes the behaviour of `numbered-existing'.
Other versions of `indent' use the suffix `.BAK' in naming
backup files. This behaviour can be emulated by setting
`SIMPLE_BACKUP_SUFFIX' to `.BAK'.
Note also that other versions of `indent' make backups in
the current directory, rather than in the directory of the
source file as GNU `indent' now does.
COMMON STYLES
There are several common styles of C code, including the GNU
style, the Kernighan & Ritchie style, and the original
Berkeley style. A style may be selected with a single
"background" option, which specifies a set of values for all
other options. However, explicitly specified options always
override options implied by a background option.
As of version 1.2, the default style of GNU `indent' is the
GNU style. Thus, it is no longer neccessary to specify the
option `-gnu' to obtain this format, although doing so will
not cause an error. Option settings which correspond to the
GNU style are:
-nbad -bap -nbbb -nbc -bl -bli2 -c33 -cd33 -ncdb -nce
-cli0 -cp1 -di0 -nfc1 -nfca -i2 -ip5 -lp -pcs -psl -nsc
-nsob -nss -ts8
The GNU coding style is that preferred by the GNU project.
It is the style that the GNU Emacs C mode encourages and
which is used in the C portions of GNU Emacs. (People
interested in writing programs for Project GNU should get a
copy of `The GNU Coding Standards', which also covers seman-
tic and portability issues such as memory usage, the size of
integers, etc.)
The Kernighan & Ritchie style is used throughout their
well-known book `The C Programming Language'. It is enabled
with the `-kr' option. The Kernighan & Ritchie style
corresponds to the following set of options:
-nbad -bap -nbbb -nbc -br -c33 -cd33 -ncdb -ce -ci4
-cli0 -cp33 -d0 -di1 -nfc1 -nfca -i4 -ip0 -l75 -lp
-npcs -npsl -nsc -nsob -nss -ts8
Kernighan & Ritchie style does not put comments to the right
of code in the same column at all times (nor does it use
only one space to the right of the code), so for this style
`indent' has arbitrarily chosen column 33.
The style of the original Berkeley `indent' may be obtained
by specifying `-orig' (or by specifyfying `--original',
using the long option name). This style is equivalent to
the following settings:
-nbap -nbad -nbbb -bc -br -c33 -cd33 -cdb -ce -ci4
-cli0 -cp33 -d4 -di16 -fc1 -fca -i4 -ip4 -l75 -lp -npcs
-psl -sc -nsob -nss -ts8
BLANK LINES
Various programming styles use blank lines in different
places. `indent' has a number of options to insert or
delete blank lines in specific places.
The `-bad' option causes `indent' to force a blank line
after every block of declarations. The `-nbad' option
causes `indent' not to force such blank lines.
The `-bap' option forces a blank line after every procedure
body. The `-nbap' option forces no such blank line.
The `-bbb' option forces a blank line before every block
comment. A block comment is one which starts in column one
when formatting of such comments is disabled, or one with
`-' or `*' immediately following the `/*'. The `-nbbb'
option does not force such blank lines.
The `-sob' option causes `indent' to swallow optional blank
lines (that is, any optional blank lines present in the
input will be removed from the output). If the `-nsob' is
specified, any blank lines present in the input file will be
copied to the output file.
The `-bad' option forces a blank line after every block of
declarations. The `-nbad' option does not add any such
blank lines.
For example, given the input
char *foo;
char *bar;
/* This separates blocks of declarations. */
int baz;
`indent -bad' produces
char *foo;
char *bar;
/* This separates blocks of declarations. */
int baz;
and `indent -nbad' produces
char *foo;
char *bar;
/* This separates blocks of declarations. */
int baz;
The `-bap' option forces a blank line after every procedure
body. For example, given the input
int
foo ()
{
puts("Hi");
}
/* The procedure bar is even less interesting. */
char *
bar ()
{
puts("Hello");
}
`indent -bap' produces
int
foo ()
{
puts ("Hi");
}
/* The procedure bar is even less interesting. */
char *
bar ()
{
puts ("Hello");
}
and `indent -nbap' produces
int
foo ()
{
puts ("Hi");
}
/* The procedure bar is even less interesting. */
char *
bar ()
{
puts ("Hello");
}
No blank line will be added after the procedure `foo'.
COMMENTS
Comments are no longer formatted by default as of version
1.2. This can be enabled with the `-fca' option. Doing so
will cause newlines in the comment text to be ignored and
the line will be filled up to the length of a line (which
can be modified with `-l'). When formatting is enabled,
blank lines indicate paragraph breaks.
The `-fc1' option enables the formatting of comments which
begin in the first column. The `-nfc1' option disables the
formatting of first column comments. When comment format-
ting is disabled, overall comment indentation may still be
adjusted.
The indentation of comments which do not appear to the right
of code is set by the `-d' option, which specifies the
number of spaces to the left of the surrounding code that
the comment appears. For example, `-d2' places comments two
spaces to the left of code; `-d0' lines up comments with the
code. The `-cdb' option controls whether the `/*' and `*/'
are placed on blank lines. With `-cdb', comments look like
this:
/*
* this is a comment
*/
With `-ncdb', comments look like this:
/* this is a comment */
`-cdb' only affects block comments, not comments to the
right of code. The default is `-ncdb'.
Comments which appear on the same line as code are placed to
the right. The column in which comments on code start is
controlled by the `-c' option. The column in which comments
to the right of declarations start is controlled by the `-
cd' option. By default, they start in the same column as
comments to the right of code, which is column 33. The
column number for comments to the right of `#else' and
`#endif' statements is controlled by the `-cp' option. 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.
If the `-sc' option is specified, `*' is placed at the left
edge of all comments. For example:
/* This is a comment which extends from one line
* onto the next line, thus causing us to consider
* how it should continue. */
instead of
/* This is a comment which extends from one line
onto the next line, thus causing us to consider
how it should continue. */
STATEMENTS
The `-br' or `-bl' option specifies how to format braces.
The `-br' option formats braces like this:
if (x > 0) {
x--;
}
The `-bl' option formats them like this:
if (x > 0)
{
x--;
}
If you use the `-bl' option, you may also want to specify
the `-bli' option. This option specifies the number of
spaces by which braces are indented. `-bli2', the default,
gives the result shown above. `-bli0' results in the fol-
lowing:
if (x > 0)
{
x--;
}
If you are using the `-br' option, you probably want to also
use the `-ce' option. This causes the `else' in an if-
then-else construct to cuddle up to the immediately preced-
ing `}'. For example, with `-br -ce' you get the following:
if (x > 0) {
x--;
} else {
fprintf (stderr, "...something wrong?0);
}
With `-br -nce' that code would appear as
if (x > 0) {
x--;
}
else {
fprintf (stderr, "...something wrong?0);
}
The `-cli' option specifies the number of spaces that case
labels should be indented to the right of the containing
`switch' statement.
If a semicolon is on the same line as a `for' or `while'
statement, the `-ss' option will cause a space to be placed
before the semicolon. This emphasizes the semicolon, making
it clear that the body of the `for' or `while' statement is
an empty statement. `-nss' disables this feature.
The `-pcs' option causes a space to be placed between the
name of the procedure being called and the `(' (for example,
`puts ("Hi");'. The `-npcs' option would give
`puts("Hi");').
If the `-cs' option is specified, `indent' puts a space
after a cast operator.
The `-bs' option ensures that there is a space between the
keyword `sizeof' and its argument. In some versions, this
is known as the `Bill_Shannon' option.
DECLARATIONS
By default `indent' will line up identifiers, in the column
specified by the `-di' option. For example, `-di16' makes
things look like:
int foo;
char *bar;
Using a small value (such as one or two) for the `-di'
option can be used to cause the indentifiers to be placed in
the first available position, for example
int foo;
char *bar;
The value given to the `-di' option will still affect vari-
ables which are put on separate lines from their types, for
example `-di2' will lead to
int
foo;
If the `-bc' option is specified, a newline is forced after
each comma in a declaration. For example,
int a,
b,
c;
With the `-nbc' option this would look like
int a, b, c;
The `-psl' option causes the type of a procedure being
defined to be placed on the line before the name of the pro-
cedure. This style is required for the `etags' program to
work correctly, as well as some of the `c-mode' functions of
Emacs.
If you are not using the `-di1' option to place variables
being declared immediately after their type, you need to use
the `-T' option to tell `indent' the name of all the
typenames in your program that are defined by `typedef'.
`-T' can be specified more than once, and all names speci-
fied are used. For example, if your program contains
typedef unsigned long CODE_ADDR;
typedef enum {red, blue, green} COLOR;
you would use the options `-T CODE_ADDR -T COLOR'.
INDENTATION
One issue in the formatting of code is how far each line
should be indented from the left margin. When the beginning
of a statement such as `if' or `for' is encountered, the
indentation level is increased by the value specified by the
`-i' option. For example, use `-i8' to specify an eight
character indentation for each level. When a statement is
continued from a previous line, it is indented by a number
of additional spaces specified by the `-ci' option. `-ci'
defaults to 0. However, if the `-lp' option is specified,
and a line has a left parenthesis which is not closed on
that line, then continuation lines will be lined up to start
at the character position just after the left parenthesis.
This processing also applies to `[' and applies to `{' when
it occurs in initialization lists. For example, a piece of
continued code might look like this with `-nlp -ci3' in
effect:
p1 = first_procedure (second_procedure (p2, p3),
third_procedure (p4, p5));
With `-lp' in effect the code looks somewhat clearer:
p1 = first_procedure (second_procedure (p2, p3),
third_procedure (p4, p5));
`indent' assumes that tabs are placed at regular intervals
of both input and output character streams. These intervals
are by default 8 columns wide, but (as of version 1.2) may
be changed by the `-ts' option. Tabs are treated as the
equivalent number of spaces.
The indentation of type declarations in old-style function
definitions is controlled by the `-ip' parameter. This is a
numeric parameter specifying how many spaces to indent type
declarations. For example, the default `-ip5' makes defini-
tions look like this:
char *
create_world (x, y, scale)
int x;
int y;
float scale;
{
. . .
}
For compatibility with other versions of indent, the option
`-nip' is provided, which is equivalent to `-ip0'.
MISCELLANEOUS OPTIONS
To find out what version of `indent' you have, use the com-
mand `indent -version'. This will report the version number
of `indent', without doing any of the normal processing.
The `-v' option can be used to turn on verbose mode. When
in verbose mode, `indent' reports when it splits one line of
input into two more more lines of output, and gives some
size statistics at completion.
COPYRIGHT
The following copyright notice applies to the `indent' pro-
gram. The copyright and copying permissions for this manual
appear near the beginning of this document.
Copyright (c) 1989, 1992 Free Software Foundation
Copyright (c) 1985 Sun Microsystems, Inc.
Copyright (c) 1980 The Regents of the University of California.
Copyright (c) 1976 Board of Trustees of the University of Illinois.
All rights reserved.
Redistribution and use in source and binary forms are permitted
provided that the above copyright notice and this paragraph are
duplicated in all such forms and that any documentation,
advertising materials, and other materials related to such
distribution and use acknowledge that the software was developed
by the University of California, Berkeley, the University of Illinois,
Urbana, and Sun Microsystems, Inc. The name of either University
or Sun Microsystems may not be used to endorse or promote products
derived from this software without specific prior written permission.
THIS SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED ``AS IS'' AND WITHOUT ANY EXPRESS OR
IMPLIED WARRANTIES, INCLUDING, WITHOUT LIMITATION, THE IMPLIED
WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTIBILITY AND FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR
PURPOSE.
OPTIONS
Here is a list of all the options for `indent', alphabetized
by short option. It is followed by a cross key alphabetized
by long option.
`-bad'
`--blank-lines-after-declarations'
Force blank lines after the declarations.
`-bap'
`--blank-lines-after-procedures'
Force blank lines after procedure bodies.
`-bbb'
`--blank-lines-after-block-comments'
Force blank lines after block comments.
`-bc'
`--blank-lines-after-commas'
Force newline after comma in declaration.
`-bl'
`--braces-after-if-line'
Put braces on line after `if', etc.
`-bliN'
`--brace-indentN'
Indent braces N spaces.
`-br'
`--braces-on-if-line'
Put braces on line with `if', etc.
`-cN'
`--comment-indentationN'
Put comments to the right of code in column N.
`-cdN'
`--declaration-comment-columnN'
Put comments to the right of the declarations in column N.
`-cdb'
`--comment-delimiters-on-blank-lines'
Put comment delimiters on blank lines.
`-ce'
`--cuddle-else'
Cuddle else and preceeding `}'.
`-ciN'
`--continuation-indentationN'
Continuation indent of N spaces.
`-cliN'
`--case-indentationN'
Case label indent of N spaces.
`-cpN'
`--else-endif-columnN'
Put comments to the right of `#else' and `#endif' statements in
column N.
`-cs'
`--space-after-cast'
Put a space after a cast operator.
`-bs'
`--blank-before-sizeof'
Put a space between `sizeof' and its argument.
`-dN'
`--line-comments-indentationN'
Set indentation of comments not to the right of code to N spaces.
`-diN'
`--declaration-indentationN'
Put variables in column N.
`-fc1'
`--format-first-column-comments'
Format comments in the first column.
`-fca'
`--format-all-comments'
Do not disable all formatting of comments.
`-gnu'
`--gnu-style'
Use GNU coding style. This is the default.
`-iN'
`--indent-levelN'
Set indentation level to N spaces.
`-ipN'
`--parameter-indentationN'
Indent parameter types in old-style function definitions by N
spaces.
`-kr'
`--k-and-r-style'
Use Kernighan & Ritchie coding style.
`-lN'
`--line-lengthN'
Set maximum line length to N.
`-lp'
`--continue-at-parentheses'
Line up continued lines at parentheses.
`-nbad'
`--no-blank-lines-after-declarations'
Do not force blank lines after declarations.
`-nbap'
`--no-blank-lines-after-procedures'
Do not force blank lines after procedure bodies.
`-nbbb'
`--no-blank-lines-after-block-comments'
Do not force blank-lines after block comments.
`-nbc'
`--no-blank-lines-after-commas'
Do not force newlines after commas in declarations.
`-ncdb'
`--no-comment-delimiters-on-blank-lines'
Do not put comment delimiters on blank lines.
`-nce'
`--dont-cuddle-else'
Do not cuddle `}' and `else'.
`-ncs'
`--no-space-after-casts'
Do not put a space after cast operators.
`-nfc1'
`--dont-format-first-column-comments'
Do not format comments in the first column as normal.
`-nfca'
`--dont-format-comments'
Do not format any comments.
`-nip'
`--no-parameter-indentation'
Zero width indentation for parameters.
`-nlp'
`--dont-line-up-parentheses'
Do not line up parentheses.
`-npcs'
`--no-space-after-function-call-names'
Do not put space after the function in function calls.
`-npsl'
`--dont-break-procedure-type'
Put the type of a procedure on the same line as its name.
`-nsc'
`--dont-star-comments'
Do not put the `*' character at the left of comments.
`-nsob'
`--leave-optional-blank-lines'
Do not swallow optional blank lines.
`-nss'
`--dont-space-special-semicolon'
Do not force a space before the semicolon after certain statements.
Disables `-ss'.
`-nv'
`--no-verbosity'
`-orig'
`--original'
Use the original Berkeley coding style.
`-npro'
`--ignore-profile'
Do not read `.indent.pro' files.
`-pcs'
`--space-after-procedure-calls'
Insert a space between the name of the procedure being called and
the `('.
`-psl'
`--procnames-start-lines'
Put the type of a procedure on the line before its name.
`-sc'
`--start-left-side-of-comments'
Put the `*' character at the left of comments.
`-sob'
`--swallow-optional-blank-lines'
Swallow optional blank lines.
`-ss'
`--space-special-semicolon'
On one-line `for' and `while' statments, force a blank before the
semicolon.
`-st'
`--standard-output'
Write to standard output.
`-T'
Tell `indent' the name of typenames.
`-tsN'
`--tab-sizeN'
Set tab size to N spaces.
`-v'
`--verbose'
Enable verbose mode.
`-version'
Output the version number of `indent'.
OPTIONS CROSS-REFERENCE
Here is a list of options alphabetized by long option, to
help you find the corresponding short option.
--blank-lines-after-block-comments -bbb
--blank-lines-after-commas -bc
--blank-lines-after-declarations -bad
--blank-lines-after-procedures -bap
--braces-after-if-line -bl
--brace-indent -bli
--braces-on-if-line -br
--case-indentation -cliN
--comment-delimiters-on-blank-lines -cdb
--comment-indentation -cN
--continuation-indentation -ciN
--continue-at-parentheses -lp
--cuddle-else -ce
--declaration-comment-column -cdN
--declaration-indentation -diN
--dont-break-procedure-type -npsl
--dont-cuddle-else -nce
--dont-format-comments -nfca
--dont-format-first-column-comments -nfc1
--dont-line-up-parentheses -nlp
--dont-space-special-semicolon -nss
--dont-star-comments -nsc
--else-endif-column -cpN
--format-all-comments -fca
--format-first-column-comments -fc1
--gnu-style -gnu
--ignore-profile -npro
--indent-level -iN
--k-and-r-style -kr
--leave-optional-blank-lines -nsob
--line-comments-indentation -dN
--line-length -lN
--no-blank-lines-after-block-comments -nbbb
--no-blank-lines-after-commas -nbc
--no-blank-lines-after-declarations -nbad
--no-blank-lines-after-procedures -nbap
--no-comment-delimiters-on-blank-lines -ncdb
--no-space-after-casts -ncs
--no-parameter-indentation -nip
--no-space-after-function-call-names -npcs
--no-verbosity -nv
--original -orig
--parameter-indentation -ipN
--procnames-start-lines -psl
--space-after-cast -cs
--space-after-procedure-calls -pcs
--space-special-semicolon -ss
--standard-output -st
--start-left-side-of-comments -sc
--swallow-optional-blank-lines -sob
--tab-size -tsN
--verbose -v
RETURN VALUE
Unknown
FILES
$HOME/.indent.pro holds default options for indent.
AUTHOR
The Free Software Foundation.
HISTORY
Derived from the UCB program "indent".
SunOS 5.6 Last change: 17