NAME
indent —
    indent and format C program
    source
SYNOPSIS
| indent | [input-file [output-file]]
      [ -bacc|-nbacc]
      [-bad|-nbad]
      [-badp|-nbadp]
      [-bap|-nbap]
      [-bbb|-nbbb]
      [-bc|-nbc]
      [-bl|-br]
      [-bs|-nbs]
      [-cn]
      [-cdn]
      [-cdb|-ncdb]
      [-ce|-nce]
      [-cin]
      [-clin]
      [-cs|-ncs]
      [-dn]
      [-din]
      [-dj|-ndj]
      [-ei|-nei]
      [-eei|-neei]
      [-fbs|-nfbs]
      [-fc1|-nfc1]
      [-fcb|-nfcb]
      [-in]
      [-ip|-nip]
      [-ln]
      [-lcn]
      [-ldin]
      [-lp|-nlp]
      [-lpl|-nlpl]
      [-npro]
      [-Pfile]
      [-pcs|-npcs]
      [-psl|-npsl]
      [-sc|-nsc]
      [-sob|-nsob]
      [-st] [-ta]
      [-Ttypename]
      [-tsn]
      [-Ufile]
      [-ut|-nut]
      [-v|-nv]
      [--version] | 
DESCRIPTION
Theindent utility 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’ by default. The
    extension used for the backup file may be overridden using the
    SIMPLE_BACKUP_SUFFIX environment variable.
If output-file is specified,
    indent checks to make sure that it is different from
    input-file.
The options listed below control the formatting style imposed by
    indent.
- -bacc,- -nbacc
- If -baccis 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 -badis specified, a blank line is forced after every block of declarations. Default:-nbad.
- -badp,- -nbadp
- This is vaguely similar to -badexcept that it only applies to the first set of declarations in a procedure (just after the first `{') and it causes a blank line to be generated even if there are no declarations. The default is-nbadp.
- -bap,- -nbap
- If -bapis specified, a blank line is forced after every procedure body. Default:-nbap.
- -bbb,- -nbbb
- If -bbbis specified, a blank line is forced before every block comment. Default:-nbbb.
- -bc,- -nbc
- If -bcis specified, then a newline is forced after each comma in a declaration.-nbcturns off this option. Default:-nbc.
- -bl,- -br
- Specifying -bllines up compound statements like this:if (...) { code }Specifying -br(the default) makes them look like this:if (...) { code }
- -bs,- -nbs
- Whether a blank should always be inserted after sizeof. The default is
      -nbs.
- -cn
- The column in which comments on code start. The default is 33.
- -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. The default is -cdb.
- -ce,- -nce
- Enables (disables) forcing of `else's to cuddle up to the immediately
      preceding `}'. The default is -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 -lpis in effect or the continuation indent is exactly half of the main indent.-cidefaults to the same value as-i.
- -clin
- Causes case labels to be indented n tab stops to the
      right of the containing switchstatement.-cli0.5causes case labels to be indented half a tab stop. The default is-cli0.
- -cs,- -ncs
- Control whether parenthesized type names in casts are followed by a space
      or not. The default is -ncs.
- -dn
- Controls the placement of comments which are not to the right of code. For
      example, -d1means that such comments are placed one indentation level to the left of code. Specifying the default-d0lines up these comments with the code. See the section on comment indentation below.
- -din
- Specifies the indentation, in character positions, of global variable
      names and all struct/union member names relative to the beginning of their
      type declaration. The default is -di16.
- -dj,- -ndj
- -djleft justifies declarations.- -ndjindents declarations the same as code. The default is- -ndj.
- -ei,- -nei
- Enables (disables) special else-ifprocessing. If it is enabled, aniffollowing anelsewill have the same indentation as the precedingifstatement. The default is-ei.
- -eei,- -neei
- Enables (disables) extra indentation on continuation lines of the
      expression part of ifandwhilestatements. These continuation lines will be indented one extra level. The default is-neei.
- -fbs,- -nfbs
- Enables (disables) splitting the function declaration and opening brace
      across two lines. The default is -fbs.
- -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, -nfc1should be used. The default is-fc1.
- -fcb,- -nfcb
- Enables (disables) the formatting of block comments (ones that begin with
      `/*\n'). Often, block comments have been not so carefully hand formatted
      by the programmer, but reformatting that would just change the line breaks
      is not wanted. In such cases, -nfcbshould be used. Block comments are then handled like box comments. The default is-fcb.
- -in
- The number of columns for one indentation level. The default is 8.
- -ip,- -nip
- Enables (disables) the indentation of parameter declarations from the left
      margin. The default is -ip.
- -ln
- Maximum length of an output line. The default is 78.
- -lcn
- Maximum length of an output line in a block comment. The default is 0,
      which means to limit block comment lines in accordance with
      -l.
- -ldin
- Specifies the indentation, in character positions, of local variable names relative to the beginning of their type declaration. The default is for local variable names to be indented by the same amount as global ones.
- -lp,- -nlp
- Lines up code surrounded by parentheses in continuation lines. With
      -lp, 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-nlpin effect:p1 = first_procedure(second_procedure(p2, p3), third_procedure(p4, p5)); With -lpin 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)); 
- -lpl,- -nlpl
- With -lpl, code surrounded by parentheses in continuation lines is lined up even if it would extend past the right margin. With-nlpl(the default), such a line that would extend past the right margin is moved left to keep it within the margin, if that does not require placing it to the left of the prevailing indentation level. These switches have no effect if-nlpis selected.
- -npro
- Causes the profile files, ‘./.indent.pro’ and ‘~/.indent.pro’, to be ignored.
- -Pfile
- Read profile from file.
- -pcs,- -npcs
- If true (-pcs) all procedure calls will have a space inserted between the name and the `('. The default is-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. 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 -sobis specified, indent will swallow optional blank lines. You can use this to get rid of blank lines after declarations. Default:-nsob.
- -st
- Causes indentto take its input from stdin and put its output to stdout.
- -ta
- Automatically add all identifiers ending in "_t" to the list of type keywords.
- -Ttypename
- Adds typename to the list of type keywords. Names
      accumulate: -Tcan be specified more than once. You need to specify all the typenames that appear in your program that are defined bytypedef- nothing will be harmed if you miss a few, but the program will not be formatted as nicely as it should. This sounds like a painful thing to have to do, but it is really a symptom of a problem in C:typedefcauses a syntactic change in the language andindentcannot find all instances oftypedef.
- -tsn
- Assumed distance between tab stops. The default is 8.
- -Ufile
- Adds type names from file to the list of type keywords.
- -ut,- -nut
- Enables (disables) the use of tab characters in the output. The default is
      -ut.
- -v,- -nv
- -vturns on `verbose' mode;- -nvturns it off. When in verbose mode,- indentreports 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.
- --version
- Causes indentto print its version number and exit.
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.
Comments
‘Box’
    comments.
    The indent utility 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. The
    indent utility 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
    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
The indent utility 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 malformed syntax.
    In particular, the use of macros like:
#define forever for(;;)is handled properly.
ENVIRONMENT
The indent utility uses the
    HOME environment variable.
FILES
- ./.indent.pro
- profile file
- ~/.indent.pro
- profile file
HISTORY
The indent command appeared in
    4.2BSD.
BUGS
The indent utility has even more switches
    than ls(1).
A common mistake is to try to indent all the C programs in a directory by typing:
indent *.cThis is probably a bug, not a feature.