Ubuntu Manpage: astyle - indentation and reformatting filters for C, C++, C#, Java

NAME

       astyle - indentation and reformatting filters for C, C++, C#, Java

SYNOPSIS

       astyle [options] < Original > Beautified

       astyle [options] [File1] [File2] [...]

DESCRIPTION

       Artistic Style (or astyle) is a source code indenter, formatter, and beautifier for the C,
       C++, C# and Java programming languages.

       When indenting source code, we as programmers have a tendency to use both spaces  and  tab
       characters  to  create  the  wanted  indentation. Moreover, some editors by default insert
       spaces instead of tabs when pressing the tab key, and other editors  (Emacs  for  example)
       have  the  ability to "pretty up" lines by automatically setting up the white space before
       the code on the line, possibly inserting spaces in a code that up to now  used  only  tabs
       for indentation.

       Since the NUMBER of space characters showed on screen for each tab character in the source
       code changes between editors (until the user sets up the number to his liking...), one  of
       the  standard  problems  facing  programmers  when  moving  from one source code editor to
       another is that code containing both  spaces  and  tabs  that  was  up  to  now  perfectly
       indented, suddently becomes a mess to look at when changing to another editor. Even if you
       as a programmer take care to ONLY use spaces or tabs, looking at other peoples source code
       can still be problematic.

       To  address  this  problem  astyle was created - a series of filters, written in C++, that
       automatically reindent and reformat C/C++/C#/Java source files. These can be used  from  a
       command line, or it can be incorporated as classes in another C++ program.

USAGE

       When  indenting  a  specific  file, the newly indented file RETAINS the original filename.
       While a copy of the original file is created, with  a  suffix  of  ".orig"  added  to  the
       original filename.

       By  default,  astyle is set up to indent C/C++  files, with 4 spaces per indent, a maximal
       indentation of 40 spaces inside continuous statements, and NO formatting.

       A default options file may be used to set your favorite source  style.  But,  the  command
       line  options  have  precedence.  The  default  options file can be $HOME/.astylerc, or be
       specified in the ARTISTIC_STYLE_OPTIONS environment variable or the --options command line
       option.

OPTIONS

Not specifying any option will result in 4 spaces per indent, no change in bracket
placement, and no formatting changes.

Options may be written in two different ways: long options start with two dashes (`--')
and must be written one at a time; short options start with a single dash ('-') may be
concatenated together (thus, -bps4 is the same as -b -p -s4).

A summary of the options supported by astyle is included below.

Bracket Style Options:
Bracket Style options define the bracket style to use. This option always overrides any
individual option settings. You will always get the requested style regardless of other
defined options.

All other options are available to customize the bracket style. By default, none of the
styles indent namespaces. All options default to 4 spaces per indent, indented with
spaces.

default bracket style
If no bracket style option is set, the opening brackets will not be changed and
closing brackets will be broken from the preceding line.

--style=allman, --style=ansi, --style=bsd, --style=break, -A1
Allman style formatting/indenting uses broken brackets.

--style=java, --style=attach, -A2
Java style formatting/indenting uses attached brackets.

--style=kr, --style=k&r, --style=k/r, -A3
Kernighan & Ritchie style formatting/indenting uses linux brackets. Brackets are
broken from namespaces, classes, and function definitions. Brackets are attached
to statements within a function.

--style=stroustrup, -A4
Stroustrup style formatting/indenting uses stroustrup brackets. Brackets are broken
from function definitions only. Brackets are attached to namespaces, classes, and
statements within a function. This style frequently is used with an indent of 5
spaces.

--style=whitesmith, -A5
Whitesmith style formatting/indenting uses broken, indented brackets. Class blocks
and switch blocks are indented to prevent a 'hanging indent' with switch statements
and C++ class modifiers (public, private, protected).

--style=banner, -A6
Banner style formatting/indenting uses attached, indented brackets. Class blocks
and switch blocks are indented to prevent a 'hanging indent' with switch statements
and C++ class modifiers (public, private, protected).

--style=gnu, -A7
GNU style formatting/indenting uses broken brackets and indented blocks. This
style frequently is used with an indent of 2 spaces. Extra indentation is added to
blocks within a function. The opening bracket for namespaces, classes, and
functions is not indented.

--style=linux, -A8
Linux style formatting/indenting uses linux style brackets. Brackets are broken
from namespace, class, and function definitions. Brackets are attached to
statements within a function. Minimum conditional indent is one-half indent. If
you want a different minimum conditional indent use the K&R style instead. This
style works best with a large indent. It frequently is used with an indent of 8
spaces.

Also known as Kernel Normal Form (KNF) style, this is the style used in the Linux
kernel.

--style=horstmann, -A9
Horstmann style formatting/indenting uses run-in brackets, brackets are broken and
allow run-in statements. Switches are indented to allow a run-in to the opening
switch block. This style frequently is used with an indent of 3 spaces.

--style=1tbs, --style=otbs, -A10
"One True Brace Style" formatting/indenting uses linux brackets and adds brackets
to unbracketed one line conditional statements. The option --add-one-line-brackets
can also be used with this style.

--style=pico, -A11
Pico style formatting/indenting uses run-in brackets, opening brackets are broken
and allow run-in statements. The closing bracket is attached to the last line in
the block. Switches are indented to allow a run-in to the opening switch block.
The style implies --keep-one-line-blocks and --keep-one-line-statements. This
style does not support multiple-line brackets. If add-brackets is used they will
be added as one-line brackets. This style frequently is used with an indent of 2
spaces.

--style=1isp, --style=python, -A12
Lisp style formatting/indenting uses attached brackets, opening brackets are
attached at the end of the statement. The closing bracket is attached to the last
line in the block. The style implies --keep-one-line-statements but NOT
--keep-one-line-blocks. This style does not support one-line brackets. If
--add-one-line-brackets is used they will be added as multiple-line brackets.

Tab Options:
default indent
If no indentation option is set, the default option of 4 spaces will be used (e.g.
-s4 --indent=spaces=4).

--indent=spaces, --indent=spaces=#, -s, -s#
Indent using # spaces per indent (e.g. -s6 / --indent=spaces=6). # must be between
2 and 20. Not specifying # will result in a default of 4 spaces per indent.

--indent=tab, --indent=tab=#, -t, -t#
Indent using tabs for indentation, and spaces for continuation line alignment. This
ensures that the code is displayed correctly regardless of the viewer’s tab size.
Treat each tab as # spaces (e.g. -t6 / --indent=tab=6). # must be between 2 and
20. If no # is set, treats tabs as 4 spaces.

--indent=force-tab, --indent=force-tab=#, -T, -T#
Indent using all tab characters, if possible. If a continuation line is not an even
number of tabs, spaces will be added at the end. Treat each tab as # spaces (e.g.
-T6 / --indent=force-tab=6). Uses tabs as indents where --indent=tab prefers to
use spaces, such as inside multi-line statements. # must be between 2 and 20. If
no # is set, treats tabs as 4 spaces.

--indent=force-tab-x, --indent=force-tab-x=#, -xT, -xT#
This force-tab option allows the tab length to be set to a length that is different
than the indent length. This may cause the indentation to be a mix of both tabs and
spaces. Tabs will be used to indent, if possible. If a tab indent cannot be used,
spaces will be used instead.

This option sets the tab length. Treat each tab as # spaces (e.g. -xT6 /
--indent=force-tab-x=6). # must be between 2 and 20. If no # is set, treats tabs
as 8 spaces. To change the indent length --indent=force-tab must also be used.

Indentation Options:
--indent-classes, -C
Indent 'class' and 'struct' blocks so that the blocks 'public:', ´protected:' and
'private:' are indented. The struct blocks are indented only if an access modifier
is declared somewhere in the struct. The entire block is indented. This option is
effective for C++ files only.

--indent-switches, -S
Indent 'switch' blocks so that the 'case X:' statements are indented in the switch
block. The entire case block is indented.

--indent-cases, -K
Indent 'case X:' blocks from the 'case X:' headers. Case statements not enclosed in
blocks are NOT indented.

--indent-namespaces, -N
Add extra indentation to namespace blocks. This option has no effect on Java files.

--indent-labels, -L
Add extra indentation to labels so they appear 1 indent less than the current
indentation, rather than being flushed to the left (the default).

--indent-preprocessor, -w
Indent multi-line preprocessor definitions ending with a backslash. Should be used
with --convert-tabs for proper results. Does a pretty good job, but cannot perform
miracles in obfuscated preprocessor definitions. Without this option the
preprocessor statements remain unchanged.

--indent-col1-comments, -Y
Indent C++ comments beginning in column one. By default C++ comments beginning in
column one are not indented. This option will allow the comments to be indented
with the code.

--min-conditional-indent=#, -m#
Set the minimal indent that is added when a header is built of multiple lines. This
indent helps to easily separate the header from the command statements that follow.
The value for # indicates a number of indents and is a minimum value. The indent
may be greater to align with the data on the previous line.

The valid values are:
0 - no minimal indent. The lines will be aligned with the paren on the preceding
line.
1 - indent at least one additional indent.
2 - indent at least two additional indents.
3 - indent at least one-half an additional indent. This is intended for large
indents (e.g. 8).

The default value is 2, two additional indents.

--max-instatement-indent=#, -M#
Set the maximum of # spaces to indent a continuation line. The # indicates a
number of columns and must not be greater than 120. If no # is set, the default
value of 40 will be used. A maximum of less than two indent lengths will be
ignored. This option will prevent continuation lines from extending too far to the
right. Setting a larger value will allow the code to be extended further to the
right.

Padding Options:
--break-blocks, -f
Pad empty lines around header blocks (e.g. 'if', 'for', 'while'...).

--break-blocks=all, -F
Pad empty lines around header blocks (e.g. 'if', 'for', 'while'...). Treat closing
header blocks (e.g. 'else', 'catch') as stand-alone blocks.

--pad-oper, -p
Insert space padding around operators. Any end of line comments will remain in the
original column, if possible. Note that there is no option to unpad. Once padded,
they stay padded.

--pad-paren, -P
Insert space padding around parenthesis on both the outside and the inside. Any end
of line comments will remain in the original column, if possible.

--pad-paren-out, -d
Insert space padding around parenthesis on the outside only. Any end of line
comments will remain in the original column, if possible. This can be used with
--unpad-paren below to remove unwanted spaces.

--pad-first-paren-out, -xd
Insert space padding around the first parenthesis in a series on the outside only.
Any end of line comments will remain in the original column, if possible. This can
be used with unpad-paren below to remove unwanted spaces. If used with --pad-paren
or --pad-paren-out, this option will be ignored. If used with --pad-paren-in, the
result will be the same as pad-paren.

--pad-paren-in, -D
Insert space padding around parenthesis on the inside only. Any end of line
comments will remain in the original column, if possible. This can be used with
--unpad-paren below to remove unwanted spaces.

--pad-header, -H
Insert space padding after paren headers only (e.g. 'if', 'for', 'while'...). Any
end of line comments will remain in the original column, if possible. This can be
used with --unpad-paren to remove unwanted spaces.

--unpad-paren, -U
Remove extra space padding around parenthesis on the inside and outside. Any end
of line comments will remain in the original column, if possible. This option can
be used in combination with the paren padding options --pad-paren-out and
--pad-paren-in above. Only padding that has not been requested by other options
will be removed.

--delete-empty-lines, -xe
Delete empty lines within a function or method. Empty lines outside of functions or
methods are NOT deleted. If used with --break-blocks or --break-blocks=all it will
delete all lines except the lines added by the --break-blocks options.

--fill-empty-lines, -E
Fill empty lines with the white space of their previous lines.

--align-pointer=type, -k1
--align-pointer=middle, -k2
--align-pointer=name, -k3
Attach a pointer or reference operator (*, &, or ^) to either the variable type
(left) or variable name (right), or place it between the type and name (middle).
The spacing between the type and name will be preserved, if possible. This option
is for C/C++, C++/CLI, and C# files. To format references separately use the
following --align-reference option.

--align-reference=none, -W0
--align-reference=type, -W1
--align-reference=middle, -W2
--align-reference=name, -W3
This option will align references separate from pointers. Pointers are not changed
by this option. If pointers and references are to be aligned the same, use the
previous --align-pointer option. The option --align-reference=none will not change
the reference alignment. The other options are the same as for --align-pointer.
This option is for C/C++, C++/CLI, and C# files.

Formatting Options:
--break-closing-brackets, -y
When used with --brackets=attach, --brackets=linux or --brackets=stroustrup, this
breaks closing headers (e.g. ´else´, ´catch´, ...) from their immediately preceding
closing brackets. Closing header brackets are always broken with broken brackets,
horstmann brackets, indented blocks, and indented brackets.

--break-elseifs, -e
Break "else if" header combinations into separate lines. This option has no effect
if --keep-one-line-statements is used, the "else if" statements will remain as they
are.

If this option is NOT used, "else if" header combinations will be placed on a
single line.

--add-brackets, -j
Add brackets to unbracketed one line conditional statements (e.g. 'if', 'for',
'while'...). The statement must be on a single line. The brackets will be added
according to the currently requested predefined style or bracket type. If no style
or bracket type is requested the brackets will be attached. If
--add-one-line-brackets is also used the result will be one line brackets.

--add-one-line-brackets, -J
Add one line brackets to unbracketed one line conditional statements (e.g. 'if',
'for', 'while'...). The statement must be on a single line. The option implies
--keep-one-line-blocks and will not break the one line blocks.

--keep-one-line-blocks, -O
Don't break one-line blocks.

--keep-one-line-statements, -o
Don't break complex statements and multiple statements residing on a single line.

--convert-tabs, -c
Convert tabs to spaces in the non-indentation part of the line. The number of
spaces inserted will maintain the spacing of the tab. The current setting for
spaces per tab is used. It may not produce the expected results if --convert-tabs
is used when changing spaces per tab. Tabs are not replaced in quotes.

--close-templates, -xy
Closes whitespace in the angle brackets of template definitions. Closing the
ending angle brackets is now allowed by the C++11 standard. Be sure your compiler
supports this before making the changes.

--max-code-length=#, -xC#
--break-after-logical, -xL
The option --max\[u2011]code\[u2011]length will break a line if the code exceeds #
characters. The valid values are 50 thru 200. Lines without logical conditionals
will break on a logical conditional (||, &&, ...), comma, paren, semicolon, or
space.

Some code will not be broken, such as comments, quotes, and arrays. If used with
keep‑one‑line‑blocks or add-one-line-brackets the blocks will NOT be broken. If
used with keep‑one‑line‑statements the statements will be broken at a semicolon if
the line goes over the maximum length. If there is no available break point within
the max code length, the line will be broken at the first available break point
after the max code length.

By default logical conditionals will be placed first on the new line. The option
break‑after‑logical will cause the logical conditionals to be placed last on the
previous line. This option has no effect without max‑code‑length.

--mode=c
--mode=cs
--mode=java
Indent a C/C++, C#, or Java file. The option is usually set from the file extension
for each file. You can override the setting with this entry. It will be used for
all files regardless of the file extension. It allows the formatter to identify
language specific syntax such as C++ classes, templates, and keywords.

Other options:
--suffix=####
Append the suffix #### instead of '.orig' to original filename (e.g.
--suffix=.bak). If this is to be a file extension, the dot '.' must be included.
Otherwise the suffix will be appended to the current file extension.

--suffix=none, -n
Do not retain a backup of the original file. The original file is purged after it
is formatted.

--recursive, -r, -R
For each directory in the command line, process all subdirectories recursively.
When using the recursive option the file name statement should contain a wildcard.
The filepath and name should be placed in double quotes so the shell will not
resolve the wildcards (e.g. "$HOME/src/*.cpp").

--exclude=####
Specify a file or sub directory #### to be excluded from processing.

Excludes are matched from the end of the filepath. An exclude option of "templates"
will exclude ALL directories named "templates". An exclude option of
"cpp/templates" will exclude ALL "cpp/templates" directories. You may proceed
backwards in the directory tree to exclude only the required directories.

Specific files may be excluded in the same manner. An exclude option of
"default.cpp" will exclude ALL files named "default.cpp". An exclude option of
"python/default.cpp" will exclude ALL files named "default.cpp" contained in a
"python" subdirectory. You may proceed backwards in the directory tree to exclude
only the required files.

Wildcards are NOT allowed. There may be more than one exclude statement. The
filepath and name may be placed in double quotes (e.g. --exclude="foo bar.cpp").

--ignore-exclude-errors, -i
Allow processing to continue if there are errors in the --exclude=### options.
This option lets the excludes for several projects be entered in a single option
file. This option may be placed in the same option file as the excludes. It will
display the unmatched excludes. The following option will not display the unmatched
excludes.

--ignore-exclude-errors-x, -xi
Allow processing to continue if there are errors in the --exclude=### options.
This option lets the excludes for several projects be entered in a single option
file. This option may be placed in the same option file as the excludes. It will
NOT display the unmatched excludes. The preceding option will display the unmatched
excludes.

--errors-to-stdout, -X
Print errors and help information to standard-output rather than to standard-error.

--preserve-date, -Z
Preserve the original file's date and time modified. The date and time modified
will not be changed in the formatted file. This option is not effective if
redirection is used to rename the input file. Please note that the date is not
actually preserved: 10 seconds are added to the original date (this behaviour is
reported as Debian bug #686317).

--verbose, -v
Verbose display mode. Display optional information, such as release number and
statistical data.

--formatted, -Q
Formatted files display mode. Display only the files that have been formatted. Do
not display files that are unchanged.

--quiet,-q
Quiet display mode. Suppress all output except error messages.

--lineend=windows, -z1
--lineend=linux, -z2
--lineend=macold, -z3
Force use of the specified line end style. Valid options are windows (CRLF), linux
(LF), and macold (CR). MacOld style is the format for OS 9 and earlier. Mac OS X
uses the Linux style. If one of these options is not used the line ends will be
determined automatically from the input file.

Command Line Only:
These options are available for the command-line only. They are NOT available in an
options file.

--options=####
Specify an options file #### to read and use. It must contain a file path for the
file. This will allow the file name to be changed from astylerc or .astylerc.

--options=none
Disable the default options file. Only the command-line parameters will be used.

--ascii, -I
The displayed output will be ascii characters only. The text will be displayed in
English and numbers will not be formatted. The short option must be by itself, it
cannot be concatenated with other options.

--version, -V
Print version number and quit. The short option must be by itself, it cannot be
concatenated with other options.

--help, -h, -?
Print a help message and quit. The short option must be by itself, it cannot be
concatenated with other options.

FILES

       Artistic Style looks for a default options file in the following order:

       1.     The  contents  of the file indicated by the --options= command line option; 2.  The
              contents of the ARTISTIC_STYLE_OPTIONS environment variable if it exists.

       3.     The file called .astylerc in the directory  pointed  to  by  the  HOME  environment
              variable (i.e. $HOME/.astylerc).

       4.     The  file  called .astylerc in the directory pointed to by the HOMEPATH environment
              variable (i.e. %HOMEPATH%.astylerc).

       If a default options file is found, the options in this file will  be  parsed  BEFORE  the
       command-line   options.    This   option   file  lookup  can  be  disabled  by  specifying
       --options=none on the command line.

       Long options within the default option file may be written without the  preliminary  '--',
       but short options require the preceding '-'. Lines within the options file that begin with
       '#' are considered line-comments.

VERSION

       2.03

AUTHOR

       Tal Davidson <davidsont@bigfoot.com>

       This man-page was written by Jan  Schaumann  <jschauma@netmeister.org>  as  part  of  "The
       Missing Man Pages Project".  Please see http://www.netmeister.org/misc/m2p2/index.html for
       details.

       Minor modifications by Luca Filipozzi <lfilipoz@debian.org>. Updated  on  August  2009  by
       Margarita  Manterola  <marga@debian.org>.  Updated  from  2010  to 2013 by Matteo Cypriani
       <mcy@lm7.fr>.