indent(1) — Linux manual page

NAME | SYNOPSIS | DESCRIPTION | OPTIONS | INVOKING INDENT | BACKUP FILES | COMMON STYLES | BLANK LINES | --blank-lines-after-declarations | --blank-lines-after-procedures | COMMENTS | STATEMENTS | DECLARATIONS | INDENTATION | BREAKING LONG LINES | DISABLING FORMATTING | MISCELLANEOUS OPTIONS | BUGS | COPYRIGHT | Options’ Cross Key | RETURN VALUE | FILES | AUTHORS | HISTORY | COPYING | COLOPHON

INDENT(1)                General Commands Manual                INDENT(1)

NAME         top

       indent - changes the appearance of a C program by inserting or
       deleting whitespace.

SYNOPSIS         top

       indent [options] [input-files]

       indent [options] [single-input-file] [-o output-file]

       indent --version

DESCRIPTION         top

       This man page is generated from the file indent.texinfo.  This is
       Edition  of "The indent Manual", for Indent Version , last updated
       .

       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 misformed syntax.

       In version 1.2 and more recent versions, the GNU style of
       indenting is the default.

OPTIONS         top

       -as, --align-with-spaces
           If using tabs for indentation, use spaces for alignment.
           See  INDENTATION.

       -bad, --blank-lines-after-declarations
           Force blank lines after the declarations.
           See  BLANK LINES.

       -bap, --blank-lines-after-procedures
           Force blank lines after procedure bodies.
           See  BLANK LINES.

       -bbb, --blank-lines-before-block-comments
           Force blank lines before block comments.
           See  BLANK LINES.

       -bbo, --break-before-boolean-operator
           Prefer to break long lines before boolean operators.
           See  BREAKING LONG LINES.

       -bc, --blank-lines-after-commas
           Force newline after comma in declaration.
           See  DECLARATIONS.

       -bl, --braces-after-if-line
           Put braces on line after if, etc.
           See  STATEMENTS.

       -blf, --braces-after-func-def-line
           Put braces on line following function definition line.
           See  DECLARATIONS.

       -blin, --brace-indentn
           Indent braces n spaces.
           See  STATEMENTS.

       -bls, --braces-after-struct-decl-line
           Put braces on the line after struct declaration lines.
           See  DECLARATIONS.

       -br, --braces-on-if-line
           Put braces on line with if, etc.
           See  STATEMENTS.

       -brf, --braces-on-func-def-line
           Put braces on function definition line.
           See  DECLARATIONS.

       -brs, --braces-on-struct-decl-line
           Put braces on struct declaration line.
           See  DECLARATIONS.

       -bs, --Bill-Shannon, --blank-before-sizeof
           Put a space between sizeof and its argument.
           See  STATEMENTS.

       -cn, --comment-indentationn
           Put comments to the right of code in column n.
           See  COMMENTS.

       -cbin, --case-brace-indentationn
           Indent braces after a case label N spaces.
           See  STATEMENTS.

       -cdn, --declaration-comment-columnn
           Put comments to the right of the declarations in column n.
           See  COMMENTS.

       -cdb, --comment-delimiters-on-blank-lines
           Put comment delimiters on blank lines.
           See  COMMENTS.

       -cdw, --cuddle-do-while
           Cuddle while of do {} while; and preceding ‘}’.
           See  COMMENTS.

       -ce, --cuddle-else
           Cuddle else and preceding ‘}’.
           See  COMMENTS.

       -cin, --continuation-indentationn
           Continuation indent of n spaces.
           See  STATEMENTS.

       -clin, --case-indentationn
           Case label indent of n spaces.
           See  STATEMENTS.

       -cpn, --else-endif-columnn
           Put comments to the right of #else and #endif statements in
           column n.
           See  COMMENTS.

       -cs, --space-after-cast
           Put a space after a cast operator.
           See  STATEMENTS.

       -dn, --line-comments-indentationn
           Set indentation of comments not to the right of code to n
           spaces.
           See  COMMENTS.

       -bfda, --break-function-decl-args
           Break the line before all arguments in a declaration.
           See  DECLARATIONS.

       -bfde, --break-function-decl-args-end
           Break the line after the last argument in a declaration.
           See  DECLARATIONS.

       -dj, --left-justify-declarations
           If -cd 0 is used then comments after declarations are left
           justified behind the declaration.
           See  DECLARATIONS.

       -din, --declaration-indentationn
           Put variables in column n.
           See  DECLARATIONS.

       -fc1, --format-first-column-comments
           Format comments in the first column.
           See  COMMENTS.

       -fca, --format-all-comments
           Do not disable all formatting of comments.
           See  COMMENTS.

       -fnc, --fix-nested-comments
           Fix nested comments.
           See  COMMENTS.

       -gnu, --gnu-style
           Use GNU coding style.  This is the default.
           See  COMMON STYLES.

       -gts, --gettext-strings
           Treat gettext _("...") and N_("...") as strings rather than as
           functions.
           See  BREAKING LONG LINES.

       -hnl, --honour-newlines
           Prefer to break long lines at the position of newlines in the
           input.
           See  BREAKING LONG LINES.

       -in, --indent-leveln
           Set indentation level to n spaces.
           See  INDENTATION.

       -iln, --indent-labeln
           Set offset for labels to column n.
           See  INDENTATION.

       -ipn, --parameter-indentationn
           Indent parameter types in old-style function definitions by n
           spaces.
           See  INDENTATION.

       -kr, --k-and-r-style
           Use Kernighan & Ritchie coding style.
           See  COMMON STYLES.

       -ln, --line-lengthn
           Set maximum line length for non-comment lines to n.
           See  BREAKING LONG LINES.

       -lcn, --comment-line-lengthn
           Set maximum line length for comment formatting to n.
           See  COMMENTS.

       -linux, --linux-style
           Use Linux coding style.
           See  COMMON STYLES.

       -lp, --continue-at-parentheses
           Line up continued lines at parentheses.
           See  INDENTATION.

       -lps, --leave-preprocessor-space
           Leave space between ‘#’ and preprocessor directive.
           See  INDENTATION.

       -nlps, --remove-preprocessor-space
           Remove space between ‘#’ and preprocessor directive.
           See  INDENTATION.

       -nbad, --no-blank-lines-after-declarations
           Do not force blank lines after declarations.
           See  BLANK LINES.

       -nbap, --no-blank-lines-after-procedures
           Do not force blank lines after procedure bodies.
           See  BLANK LINES.

       -nbbo, --break-after-boolean-operator
           Do not prefer to break long lines before boolean operators.
           See  BREAKING LONG LINES.

       -nbc, --no-blank-lines-after-commas
           Do not force newlines after commas in declarations.
           See  DECLARATIONS.

       -nbfda, --dont-break-function-decl-args
           Don’t put each argument in a function declaration on a
           separate line.
           See  DECLARATIONS.

       -ncdb, --no-comment-delimiters-on-blank-lines
           Do not put comment delimiters on blank lines.
           See  COMMENTS.

       -ncdw, --dont-cuddle-do-while
           Do not cuddle } and the while of a do {} while;.
           See  STATEMENTS.

       -nce, --dont-cuddle-else
           Do not cuddle } and else.
           See  STATEMENTS.

       -ncs, --no-space-after-casts
           Do not put a space after cast operators.
           See  STATEMENTS.

       -ndjn, --dont-left-justify-declarations
           Comments after declarations are treated the same as comments
           after other statements.
           See  DECLARATIONS.

       -nfc1, --dont-format-first-column-comments
           Do not format comments in the first column as normal.
           See  COMMENTS.

       -nfca, --dont-format-comments
           Do not format any comments.
           See  COMMENTS.

       -ngts, --no-gettext-strings
           Treat gettext _("...") and N_("...") as normal functions.
           This is the default.
           See  BREAKING LONG LINES.

       -nhnl, --ignore-newlines
           Do not prefer to break long lines at the position of newlines
           in the input.
           See  BREAKING LONG LINES.

       -nip, --no-parameter-indentation
           Zero width indentation for parameters.
           See  INDENTATION.

       -nlp, --dont-line-up-parentheses
           Do not line up parentheses.
           See  STATEMENTS.

       -npcs, --no-space-after-function-call-names
           Do not put space after the function in function calls.
           See  STATEMENTS.

       -nprs, --no-space-after-parentheses
           Do not put a space after every ’(’ and before every ’)’.
           See  STATEMENTS.

       -npsl, --dont-break-procedure-type
           Put the type of a procedure on the same line as its name.
           See  DECLARATIONS.

       -nsaf, --no-space-after-for
           Do not put a space after every for.
           See  STATEMENTS.

       -nsai, --no-space-after-if
           Do not put a space after every if.
           See  STATEMENTS.

       -nsaw, --no-space-after-while
           Do not put a space after every while.
           See  STATEMENTS.

       -nsc, --dont-star-comments
           Do not put the ‘*’ character at the left of comments.
           See  COMMENTS.

       -nsob, --leave-optional-blank-lines
           Do not swallow optional blank lines.
           See  BLANK LINES.

       -nss, --dont-space-special-semicolon
           Do not force a space before the semicolon after certain
           statements.  Disables ‘-ss’.
           See  STATEMENTS.

       -ntac, --dont-tab-align-comments
           Do not pad comments out to the nearest tabstop.
           See  COMMENTS.

       -nut, --no-tabs
           Use spaces instead of tabs.
           See  INDENTATION.

       -nv, --no-verbosity
           Disable verbose mode.
           See  MISCELLANEOUS OPTIONS.

       -orig, --original
           Use the original Berkeley coding style.
           See  COMMON STYLES.

       -npro, --ignore-profile
           Do not read ‘.indent.pro’ files.
           See  INVOKING INDENT.

       -pal, --pointer-align-left
           Put asterisks in pointer declarations on the left of spaces,
           next to types: ‘‘char* p’’.

       -par, --pointer-align-right
           Put asterisks in pointer declarations on the right of spaces,
           next to variable names: ‘‘char *p’’. This is the default
           behavior.

       -pcs, --space-after-procedure-calls
           Insert a space between the name of the procedure being called
           and the ‘(’.
           See  STATEMENTS.

       -pin, --paren-indentationn
           Specify the extra indentation per open parentheses ’(’ when a
           statement is broken.See  STATEMENTS.

       -pmt, --preserve-mtime
           Preserve access and modification times on output files.See
            MISCELLANEOUS OPTIONS.

       -ppin, --preprocessor-indentationn
           Specify the indentation for preprocessor conditional
           statements.See  INDENTATION.

       -prs, --space-after-parentheses
           Put a space after every ’(’ and before every ’)’.
           See  STATEMENTS.

       -psl, --procnames-start-lines
           Put the type of a procedure on the line before its name.
           See  DECLARATIONS.

       -saf, --space-after-for
           Put a space after each for.
           See  STATEMENTS.

       -sai, --space-after-if
           Put a space after each if.
           See  STATEMENTS.

       -sar, --spaces-around-initializers
           Put a space after the ‘{’ and before the ‘}’ in initializers.
           See  DECLARATIONS.

       -saw, --space-after-while
           Put a space after each while.
           See  STATEMENTS.

       -sbin, --struct-brace-indentationn
           Indent braces of a struct, union or enum N spaces.
           See  STATEMENTS.

       -sc, --start-left-side-of-comments
           Put the ‘*’ character at the left of comments.
           See  COMMENTS.

       -slc, --single-line-conditionals
           Allow for unbraced conditionals (if, else, etc.) to have their
           inner statement on the same line.
           See  STATEMENTS.

       -sob, --swallow-optional-blank-lines
           Swallow optional blank lines.
           See  BLANK LINES.

       -ss, --space-special-semicolon
           On one-line for and while statements, force a blank before the
           semicolon.
           See  STATEMENTS.

       -st, --standard-output
           Write to standard output.
           See  INVOKING INDENT.

       -T  Tell indent the name of typenames.
           See  DECLARATIONS.

       -tsn, --tab-sizen
           Set tab size to n spaces.
           See  INDENTATION.

       -ut, --use-tabs
           Use tabs. This is the default.
           See  INDENTATION.

       -v, --verbose
           Enable verbose mode.
           See  MISCELLANEOUS OPTIONS.

       -version
           Output the version number of indent.
           See  MISCELLANEOUS OPTIONS.

INVOKING INDENT         top

       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.   See  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 formatted.
       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.   See  OPTION SUMMARY,  for  a  list  of
       options, including both long and short names.

       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 named ‘.indent.pro’.  indent
       will look for a profile file in three places. First it will  check
       the  environment variable INDENT_PROFILE. If that exists its value
       is expected  to  name  the  file  that  is  to  be  used.  If  the
       environment   variable   does   not   exist,   indent   looks  for
       ‘.indent.pro’ in the current directory
        and uses that if found.  Finally indent  will  search  your  home
       directory  for  ‘.indent.pro’  and  use  that file if it is found.
       This behaviour is different from that of other versions of indent,
       which load both files if they both exist.

       The format of ‘.indent.pro’ is simply a list of options,  just  as
       they  would  appear  on the command line, separated by white space
       (tabs, spaces, and newlines).  Options  in  ‘.indent.pro’  may  be
       surrounded by C or C++ comments, in which case they are ignored.

       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  (See  COMMON STYLES).  You can prevent indent
       from reading an  ‘.indent.pro’  file  by  specifying  the  ‘-npro’
       option.

BACKUP FILES         top

       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 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 suffix  by
       setting  the  environment  variable  SIMPLE_BACKUP_SUFFIX  to your
       preferred suffix.

       Numbered  backup  versions  of  a  file  ‘momeraths.c’  look  like
       ‘momeraths.c.~23~’,  where  23  is  the version of this particular
       backup.    When   making   a   numbered   backup   of   the   file
       ‘src/momeraths.c’,    the    backup    file    will    be    named
       ‘src/momeraths.c.~V~’, where V is one  greater  than  the  highest
       version   currently   existing   in   the  directory  ‘src’.   The
       environment variable VERSION_WIDTH controls the number of  digits,
       using  left  zero  padding  when necessary.  For instance, setting
       this variable to "2" will lead to  the  backup  file  being  named
       ‘momeraths.c.~04~’.

       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  numbered  backups  for  the  file being
       indented; otherwise, a simple 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         top

       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 necessary 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 -nbc -bbo -bl -bli2 -bls -ncdb -nce -cp1 -cs -di2
            -ndj -nfc1 -nfca -hnl -i2 -ip5 -lp -pcs -nprs -psl -saf -sai
            -saw -nsc -nsob

       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 semantic 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 -bbo -nbc -br -brs -c33 -cd33 -ncdb -ce -ci4 -cli0
            -cp33 -cs -d0 -di1 -nfc1 -nfca -hnl -i4 -ip0 -l75 -lp -npcs
            -nprs -npsl -saf -sai -saw -nsc -nsob -nss -par

       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 specifying ‘--original’, using the  long
       option name).  This style is equivalent to the following settings:

            -nbad -nbap -bbo -bc -br -brs -c33 -cd33 -cdb -ce -ci4 -cli0
            -cp33 -di16 -fc1 -fca -hnl -i4 -ip4 -l75 -lp -npcs -nprs -psl
            -saf -sai -saw -sc -nsob -nss -ts8

       The Linux style is used in the linux kernel code and drivers. Code
       generally  has  to  follow  the Linux coding style to be accepted.
       This style is equivalent to the following settings:

            -nbad -bap -nbc -bbo -hnl -br -brs -c33 -cd33 -ncdb -ce -ci4
            -cli0 -d0 -di1 -nfc1 -i8 -ip0 -l80 -lp -npcs -nprs -npsl -sai
            -saf -saw -ncs -nsc -sob -nfca -cp33 -ss -ts8 -il1

BLANK LINES         top

       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 boxed comment
       (See COMMENTS.)  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.

--blank-lines-after-declarations         top

       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;

--blank-lines-after-procedures         top

       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         top

       indent formats both C and C++ comments. C comments are begun  with
       ‘/*’,  terminated  with  ‘*/’  and may contain newline characters.
       C++ comments begin with the delimiter ‘//’ and end at the newline.

       indent handles comments differently depending upon their  context.
       indent  attempts  to  distinguish  between  comments  which follow
       statements, comments which follow declarations, comments following
       preprocessor directives, and comments which are  not  preceded  by
       code  of any sort, i.e., they begin the text of the line (although
       not necessarily in column 1).

       indent further distinguishes between  comments  found  outside  of
       procedures  and  aggregates,  and  those  found  within  them.  In
       particular, comments beginning a line  found  within  a  procedure
       will  be  indented  to  the  column  at  which  code  is currently
       indented.  The exception to this is a  comment  beginning  in  the
       leftmost column;  such a comment is output at that column.

       indent  attempts  to  leave boxed comments unmodified. The general
       idea of such a comment is that it is enclosed in  a  rectangle  or
       ‘‘box’’  of  stars  or  dashes  to  visually  set  it apart.  More
       precisely, boxed comments  are  defined  as  those  in  which  the
       initial  ‘/*’  is  followed immediately by the character ‘*’, ‘=’,
       ‘_’, or ‘-’, or those in which  the  beginning  comment  delimiter
       (‘/*’)  is on a line by itself, and the following line begins with
       a ‘*’ in the same column as the star of the opening delimiter.

       Examples of boxed comments are:

            /**********************
             * Comment in a box!! *
             **********************/

                   /*
                    * A different kind of scent,
                    * for a different kind of comment.
                    */

       indent attempts to leave boxed comments exactly as they are  found
       in  the  source  file.   Thus  the  indentation  of the comment is
       unchanged, and its length is not checked in  any  way.   The  only
       alteration made is that an embedded tab character may be converted
       into the appropriate number of spaces.

       If the ‘-bbb’ option is specified, all such boxed comments will be
       preceded  by  a  blank  line, unless such a comment is preceded by
       code.

       Comments which are not boxed  comments  may  be  formatted,  which
       means  that  the  line  is broken to fit within a right margin and
       left-filled with whitespace.  Single newlines are equivalent to  a
       space,  but  blank lines (two or more newlines in a row) are taken
       to mean a paragraph break.  Formatting  of  comments  which  begin
       after  the  first  column  is  enabled with the ‘-fca’ option.  To
       format those  beginning  in  column  one,  specify  ‘-fc1’.   Such
       formatting is disabled by default.

       The right margin for formatting defaults to 78, but may be changed
       with the ‘-lc’ option.  If the margin specified does not allow the
       comment  to  be printed, the margin will be automatically extended
       for the duration of that comment.  The margin is not respected  if
       the comment is not being formatted.

       If the ‘-fnc’ option is specified, all comments with ‘/*’ embedded
       will  have that character sequence replaced by a space followed by
       the character ‘*’ thus eliminating nesting.

       If the comment begins a line (i.e., there is no  program  text  to
       its  left),  it  will  be  indented  to the column it was found in
       unless the comment is within a block of code.  In that case,  such
       a  comment  will  be  aligned with the indented code of that block
       (unless the comment began in the first  column).   This  alignment
       may  be  affected by the ‘-d’ option, which specifies an amount by
       which such comments are moved to the  left,  or  unindented.   For
       example, ‘-d2’ places comments two spaces to the left of code.  By
       default,  comments are aligned with code, unless they begin in the
       first column, in which case they are left there by default ---  to
       get them aligned with the code, specify ‘-fc1’.

       Comments to the right of code will appear by default in column 33.
       This  may be changed with one of three options.  ‘-c’ will specify
       the column for comments following code, ‘-cd’ specifies the column
       for comments  following  declarations,  and  ‘-cp’  specifies  the
       column  for  comments  following preprocessor directives #else and
       #endif. ‘-dj’  together  with  ‘-cd0’  can  be  used  to  suppress
       alignment  of  comments  to the right of declarations, causing the
       comment to follow one tabstop from the  end  of  the  declaration.
       Normally ‘-cd0’ causes ‘-c’ to become effective.

       If  the  code  to  the  left  of the comment exceeds the beginning
       column, the comment column will be extended to  the  next  tabstop
       column  past  the  end  of  the code, unless the ‘-ntac’ option is
       specified.  In the case of preprocessor directives,  comments  are
       extended  to  one  space  past  the  end  of  the directive.  This
       extension lasts only for the output of that particular comment.

       The ‘-cdb’ option places the comment delimiters  on  blank  lines.
       Thus,  a  single  line  comment  like  /*  Loving  hug  */  can be
       transformed into:

            /*
               Loving hug
             */

       Stars can be placed at the beginning of multi-line  comments  with
       the  ‘-sc’  option.   Thus,  the  single-line comment above can be
       transformed (with ‘-cdb -sc’) into:

            /*
             * Loving hug
             */

STATEMENTS         top

       The ‘-br’ or ‘-bl’ option specifies how to format braces.

       The ‘-br’ option formats statement 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 following:

            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  preceding  ‘}’.   For
       example, with ‘-br -ce’ you get the following:

            if (x > 0) {
              x--;
            } else {
              fprintf (stderr, "...something wrong?\n");
            }

       With ‘-br -nce’ that code would appear as

            if (x > 0) {
              x--;
            }
            else {
              fprintf (stderr, "...something wrong?\n");
            }

       An  exception  to  the  behavior  occurs  when  there is a comment
       between the right brace and the subsequent else statement.   While
       the ‘-br’ option will cause a left brace to jump over the comment,
       the else does not jump over the comment to cuddle because it has a
       strong likelihood of changing the meaning of the comment.

       The ‘-cdw’ option causes the while in a do-while loop to cuddle up
       to  the  immediately  preceding ‘}’.  For example, with ‘-cdw’ you
       get the following:

            do {
              x--;
            } while (x);

       With ‘-ncdw’ that code would appear as

            do {
              x--;
            }
            while (x);

       The ‘-slc’ option allows for an unbraced conditional and its inner
       statement to appear on the same line. For example:

            if (x) x--;
            else x++;

       Without ‘-slc’ that code would appear as

            if (x)
              x--;
            else
              x++;

       The ‘-cli’ option specifies the number of spaces that case  labels
       should   be  indented  to  the  right  of  the  containing  switch
       statement.

       The default gives code like:

            switch (i)
              {
              case 0:
                break;
              case 1:
                {
                  ++i;
                }
              default:
                break;
              }

       Using the ‘-cli2’ that would become:

            switch (i)
              {
                case 0:
                  break;
                case 1:
                  {
                    ++i;
                  }
                default:
                  break;
              }

       The indentation of the  braces  below  a  case  statement  can  be
       controlled  with  the  ‘-cbin’  option.  For example, using ‘-cli2
       -cbi0’ results in:

            switch (i)
              {
                case 0:
                  break;
                case 1:
                {
                  ++i;
                }
                default:
                  break;
              }

       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 between a
       cast operator and the object to be cast. The ‘-ncs’  ensures  that
       there  is  no  space  between  the  cast  operator and the object.
       Remember that indent only knows about the standard  C  data  types
       and   so  cannot  recognise  user-defined  types  in  casts.  Thus
       (mytype)thing is not treated as a cast.

       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.

       The  ‘-saf’  option forces a space between a for and the following
       parenthesis.  This is the default.

       The ‘-sai’ option forces a space between a if  and  the  following
       parenthesis.  This is the default.

       The ‘-saw’ option forces a space between a while and the following
       parenthesis.  This is the default.

       The  ‘-prs’  option  causes all parentheses to be separated with a
       space from whatever is between them.  For  example,  using  ‘-prs’
       results in code like:

              while ( ( e_code - s_code ) < ( dec_ind - 1 ) )
                {
                  set_buf_break ( bb_dec_ind );
                  *e_code++ = ’ ’;
                }

DECLARATIONS         top

       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  identifiers  to  be  placed  in  the  first
       available position; for example:

            int foo;
            char *bar;

       The  value  given  to the ‘-di’ option will still affect variables
       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 ‘-bfda’ option causes a newline to be forced after  the  comma
       separating the arguments of a function declaration.  The arguments
       will  appear  at  one  indentation  level deeper than the function
       declaration.  This is particularly helpful for functions with long
       argument lists.  The option ‘-bfde’ causes a newline to be  forced
       before  the  closing bracket of the function declaration. For both
       options the ’n’ setting is the default: -nbfda and -nbfde.

       For example,

            void foo (int arg1, char arg2, int *arg3, long arg4, char arg5);
       With the ‘-bfda’ option this would look like

            void foo (
                int arg1,
                char arg2,
                int *arg3,
                long arg4,
                char arg5);

       With, in addition, the ‘-bfde’ option this would look like

            void foo (
                int arg1,
                char arg2,
                int *arg3,
                long arg4,
                char arg5
                );

       The ‘-psl’ option causes the type of a procedure being defined  to
       be  placed  on  the  line  before the name of the procedure.  This
       style is required for the etags program to work correctly, as well
       as some of the c-mode functions of Emacs.

       You must 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  specified  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’.

       The  ‘-brs’  or  ‘-bls’  option  specifies how to format braces in
       struct declarations.  The ‘-brs’ option formats braces like this:

            struct foo {
              int x;
            };

       The ‘-bls’ option formats them like this:

            struct foo
            {
              int x;
            };

       Similarly to the structure brace ‘-brs’ and ‘-bls’ options,
        the function brace options ‘-brf’ or ‘-blf’ specify how to format
       the braces in function definitions.   The  ‘-brf’  option  formats
       braces like this:

            int one(void) {
              return 1;
            };

       The ‘-blf’ option formats them like this:

            int one(void)
            {
              return 1;
            };

       The  ‘-sar’  option  affects  how  indent  will render initializer
       lists. Without ‘-sar’ they are formatted like this:

            int a[] = {1, 2, 3, 4};

            struct s {
              const char *name;
              int x;
            } a[] = {
              {"name", 0},
              {"a", 1}
            };

       With ‘-sar’ they are formatted like this, with spaces  inside  the
       braces:

            int a[] = { 1, 2, 3, 4 };

            struct s {
              const char *name;
              int x;
            } a[] = {
              { "name", 0 },
              { "a", 1 }
            };

INDENTATION         top

       The  most  basic, and most controversial issue with regard to code
       formatting is precisely how indentation  should  be  accomplished.
       Fortunately,   indent   supports   several   different  styles  of
       indentation.  The default is to use tabs for indentation, which is
       specified by the ‘-ut’ option. Assuming the default tab size of 8,
       the code would look like this:

            int a(int b)
            {
                    return b;
            |------|
             1 tab
            }

       For those that prefer spaces to tabs, ‘indent’ provides the ‘-nut’
       option. The same code would look like this:

            int a(int b)
            {
                    return b;
            |------|
            8 spaces
            }

       Another 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 broken across two lines, the
       second line 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));

       When a statement is broken in between  two  or  more  paren  pairs
       (...),   each  extra  pair  causes  the  indentation  level  extra
       indentation:

            if ((((i < 2 &&
                    k > 0) || p == 0) &&
                q == 1) ||
              n = 0)

       The option ‘-ipN’ can be used to set the extra offset  per  paren.
       For instance, ‘-ip0’ would format the above as:

            if ((((i < 2 &&
              k > 0) || p == 0) &&
              q == 1) ||
              n = 0)

       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.

       By default, indent will use tabs to indent as far as possible, and
       then  pad  with  spaces  until  the  desired  position is reached.
       However, with the ‘-as’ option, spaces will be used for  alignment
       beyond  the  current indentation level. By default, assuming ‘-lp’
       is enabled, the code would be indented  like  so  (‘t’  represents
       tabs, ‘s’ represents spaces):

            unsigned long really_long_proc_name(unsigned long x, unsigned long y,
                                                int a)
            |------||-------||------||-------|__
               t        t       t       t     ss
            {
                    p1 = first_procedure (second_procedure (p2, p3),
                                          third_procedure (p4, p5));
            |------||------||------|_____
               t       t       t    sssss
            }

       This  is fine, if you assume that whoever is reading the code will
       honor your assumption of 8-space tabs. If  the  reader  was  using
       4-space tabs, it would look like this:

            unsigned long really_long_proc_name(unsigned long x, unsigned long y,
                                  int a)
            |---||---||---||---|__
              t    t    t    t  ss
            {
                    p1 = first_procedure (second_procedure (p2, p3),
                                 third_procedure (p4, p5));
            |---||---||---|______
              t    t    t  ssssss
            }

       The  ‘-as’  option  fixes  this  so  that  the  code  will  appear
       consistent regardless of what tab size the user uses to  read  the
       code. This looks like:

            unsigned long really_long_proc_name(unsigned long x, unsigned long y,
                                                int a)
            ____________________________________
            ssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssss
            {
                    p1 = first_procedure (second_procedure (p2, p3),
                                          third_procedure (p4, p5));
            |------|______________________
               t    ssssssssssssssssssssss
            }

       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  definitions
       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’.

       ANSI  C  allows  white  space to be placed on preprocessor command
       lines between the character ‘#’ and the command name.  By default,
       indent removes  this  space,  but  specifying  the  ‘-lps’  option
       directs  indent  to leave this space unmodified. The option ‘-ppi’
       overrides  ‘-nlps’ and  ‘-lps’.

       This option can be used to request that  preprocessor  conditional
       statements  can  be  indented  by  a  given  number of spaces, for
       example with the option ‘-ppi 3’

            #if X
            #if Y
            #define Z 1
            #else
            #define Z 0
            #endif
            #endif
       becomes
            #if X
            #   if Y
            #      define Z 1
            #   else
            #      define Z 0
            #   endif
            #endif

       This option sets the offset at which a label (except case  labels)
       will  be  positioned.  If  it is set to zero or a positive number,
       this indicates how far from the left margin to indent a label.  If
       it is set to a negative number, this indicates how far  back  from
       the  current indent level to place the label.  The default setting
       is -2 which matches the behaviour of earlier versions  of  indent.
       Note  that  this  parameter  does  not  affect the placing of case
       labels; see the ‘-cli’ parameter for that. For  example  with  the
       option ‘-il 1’

            group
            function()
            {
                if (do_stuff1() == ERROR)
                    goto cleanup1;

                if (do_stuff2() == ERROR)
                    goto cleanup2;

                return SUCCESS;

              cleanup2:
                do_cleanup2();

              cleanup1:
                do_cleanup1();

                return ERROR;
            }
       becomes
            group
            function()
            {
                if (do_stuff1() == ERROR)
                    goto cleanup1;

                if (do_stuff2() == ERROR)
                    goto cleanup2;

                return SUCCESS;

             cleanup2:
                do_cleanup2();

             cleanup1:
                do_cleanup1();

                return ERROR;
            }

BREAKING LONG LINES         top

       With  the  option  ‘-ln’,  or  ‘--line-lengthn’, it is possible to
       specify the maximum length of a line  of  C  code,  not  including
       possible comments that follow it.

       When  lines  become  longer  than  the  specified line length, GNU
       indent tries to break the line at a logical place.  This is new as
       of version 2.1 however and not very intelligent or flexible yet.

       Currently there are three options that allow one to interfere with
       the algorithm that determines where to break a line.

       The ‘-bbo’ option causes GNU indent to prefer to break long  lines
       before the boolean operators && and ||.  The ‘-nbbo’ option causes
       GNU  indent not to have that preference.  For example, the default
       option ‘-bbo’  (together  with  ‘--line-length60’  and  ‘--ignore-
       newlines’) makes code look like this:

              if (mask
                  && ((mask[0] == ’\0’)
                      || (mask[1] == ’\0’
                          && ((mask[0] == ’0’) || (mask[0] == ’*’)))))

       Using the option ‘-nbbo’ will make it look like this:

              if (mask &&
                  ((mask[0] == ’\0’) ||
                   (mask[1] == ’\0’ &&
                    ((mask[0] == ’0’) || (mask[0] == ’*’)))))

       The default ‘-hnl’, however, honours newlines in the input file by
       giving  them the highest possible priority to break lines at.  For
       example, when the input file looks like this:

              if (mask
                  && ((mask[0] == ’\0’)
                  || (mask[1] == ’\0’ && ((mask[0] == ’0’) || (mask[0] == ’*’)))))

       then using the option  ‘-hnl’,  or  ‘--honour-newlines’,  together
       with  the previously mentioned ‘-nbbo’ and ‘--line-length60’, will
       cause the output not to be what is given in the last  example  but
       instead  will  prefer to break at the positions where the code was
       broken in the input file:

              if (mask
                  && ((mask[0] == ’\0’)
                      || (mask[1] == ’\0’ &&
                          ((mask[0] == ’0’) || (mask[0] == ’*’)))))

       The idea behind this option is that lines which are too long,  but
       are  already broken up, will not be touched by GNU indent.  Really
       messy code should be run through indent at least  once  using  the
       ‘--ignore-newlines’ option though.

       The  ‘-gts’ option affects how the gettext standard macros _() and
       N_() are treated.  The default behavior (or the  use  of  ‘-ngts’)
       causes  indent to treat them as it does other functions, so that a
       long string is broken like the following example.

              if (mask)
                {
                  warning (_
                           ("This is a long string that stays together."));
                }

       With the ‘-gts’ option, the underscore is treated as a part of the
       string, keeping it tied to the string,  and  respecting  the  fact
       that  gettext is unobtrusively providing a localized string.  This
       only works if _(" is together as a unit at the  beginning  of  the
       string and ") is together as a unit at the end.

              if (mask)
                {
                  warning
                    (_("This is a long string that stays together."));
                }

DISABLING FORMATTING         top

       Formatting  of C code may be disabled for portions of a program by
       embedding special control comments in the program.   To  turn  off
       formatting for a section of a program, place the disabling control
       comment  /*  *INDENT-OFF*  */ on a line by itself just before that
       section.  Program text  scanned  after  this  control  comment  is
       output   precisely  as  input  with  no  modifications  until  the
       corresponding enabling comment is scanned on  a  line  by  itself.
       The  enabling  control  comment is /* *INDENT-ON* */, and any text
       following the comment on the  line  is  also  output  unformatted.
       Formatting begins again with the input line following the enabling
       control comment.

       More  precisely,  indent  does  not  attempt to verify the closing
       delimiter (*/) for these C comments, and  any  whitespace  on  the
       line is totally transparent.

       These  control comments also function in their C++ formats, namely
       // *INDENT-OFF* and // *INDENT-ON*.

       It should be noted that  the  internal  state  of  indent  remains
       unchanged  over  the course of the unformatted section.  Thus, for
       example, turning off formatting in the middle of  a  function  and
       continuing  it  after  the end of the function may lead to bizarre
       results.  It is therefore wise to be somewhat modular in selecting
       code to be left unformatted.

       As a historical note, some earlier  versions  of  indent  produced
       error messages beginning with *INDENT**.  These versions of indent
       were  written to ignore any input text lines which began with such
       error messages.  I have removed this incestuous feature  from  GNU
       indent.

MISCELLANEOUS OPTIONS         top

       To  find  out  what  version  of  indent you have, use the command
       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.

       The  ‘-pmt’  option  causes  indent  to  preserve  the  access and
       modification times on the output files.  Using this option has the
       advantage that running indent on all source and header files in  a
       project  won’t  cause make to rebuild all targets.  This option is
       only available on Operating Systems that have the  POSIX  utime(2)
       function.

BUGS         top

       Please report any bugs to bug-indent@gnu.org.

       When  indent  is  run  twice  on a file, with the same profile, it
       should never change that file the second time.  With  the  current
       design  of indent, this can not be guaranteed, and it has not been
       extensively tested.

       indent does not understand C. In some  cases  this  leads  to  the
       inability  to  join  lines.   The  result  is  that running a file
       through indent is irreversible, even if the used  input  file  was
       the result of running indent with a given profile (‘.indent.pro’).

       While  an  attempt was made to get indent working for C++, it will
       not do a good job on any C++ source except the very simplest.

       indent does not look at  the  given  ‘--line-length’  option  when
       writing  comments  to  the  output  file.   This  results often in
       comments being put far to the right.  In order to prohibit  indent
       from  joining  a  broken  line that has a comment at the end, make
       sure that the comments start on the first line of the break.

       indent does not count lines and comments  (see  the  ‘-v’  option)
       when indent is turned off with /* *INDENT-OFF* */.

       Comments of the form /*UPPERCASE*/ are not treated as comments but
       as identifiers, causing them to be joined with the next line. This
       renders comments of this type useless, unless they are embedded in
       the code to begin with.

COPYRIGHT         top

       The following copyright notice applies to the indent program.  The
       copyright  and copying permissions for this manual appear near the
       beginning of ‘indent.texinfo’ and ‘indent.info’, and near the  end
       of ‘indent.1’.

       Copyright (c) 2015 Tim Hentenaar.
       Copyright (c) 2001 David Ingamells.
       Copyright (c) 1999 Carlo Wood.
       Copyright (c) 1995, 1996 Joseph Arceneaux.
       Copyright (c) 1989, 1992, 1993, 1994, 1995, 1996, 2014 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’ Cross Key         top

       Here is a list of options alphabetized by long option, to help you
       find the corresponding short option.

            --align-with-spaces                             -as
            --blank-lines-after-commas                      -bc
            --blank-lines-after-declarations                -bad
            --blank-lines-after-procedures                  -bap
            --blank-lines-before-block-comments             -bbb
            --braces-after-if-line                          -bl
            --braces-after-func-def-line                    -blf
            --brace-indent                                  -bli
            --braces-after-struct-decl-line                 -bls
            --braces-on-if-line                             -br
            --braces-on-func-def-line                       -brf
            --braces-on-struct-decl-line                    -brs
            --break-after-boolean-operator                  -nbbo
            --break-before-boolean-operator                 -bbo
            --break-function-decl-args                      -bfda
            --break-function-decl-args-end                  -bfde
            --case-indentation                              -clin
            --case-brace-indentation                        -cbin
            --comment-delimiters-on-blank-lines             -cdb
            --comment-indentation                           -cn
            --continuation-indentation                      -cin
            --continue-at-parentheses                       -lp
            --cuddle-do-while                               -cdw
            --cuddle-else                                   -ce
            --declaration-comment-column                    -cdn
            --declaration-indentation                       -din
            --dont-break-function-decl-args                 -nbfda
            --dont-break-function-decl-args-end             -nbfde
            --dont-break-procedure-type                     -npsl
            --dont-cuddle-do-while                          -ncdw
            --dont-cuddle-else                              -nce
            --dont-format-comments                          -nfca
            --dont-format-first-column-comments             -nfc1
            --dont-line-up-parentheses                      -nlp
            --dont-left-justify-declarations                -ndj
            --dont-space-special-semicolon                  -nss
            --dont-star-comments                            -nsc
            --dont-tab-align-comments                       -ntac
            --else-endif-column                             -cpn
            --format-all-comments                           -fca
            --format-first-column-comments                  -fc1
            --gnu-style                                     -gnu
            --honour-newlines                               -hnl
            --ignore-newlines                               -nhnl
            --ignore-profile                                -npro
            --indent-label                                  -iln
            --indent-level                                  -in
            --k-and-r-style                                 -kr
            --leave-optional-blank-lines                    -nsob
            --leave-preprocessor-space                      -lps
            --left-justify-declarations                     -dj
            --line-comments-indentation                     -dn
            --line-length                                   -ln
            --linux-style                                   -linux
            --no-blank-lines-after-commas                   -nbc
            --no-blank-lines-after-declarations             -nbad
            --no-blank-lines-after-procedures               -nbap
            --no-blank-lines-before-block-comments          -nbbb
            --no-comment-delimiters-on-blank-lines          -ncdb
            --no-space-after-casts                          -ncs
            --no-parameter-indentation                      -nip
            --no-space-after-for                    -nsaf
            --no-space-after-function-call-names            -npcs
            --no-space-after-if                -nsai
            --no-space-after-parentheses                    -nprs
            --no-space-after-while                  -nsaw
            --no-tabs                                       -nut
            --no-verbosity                                  -nv
            --original                                      -orig
            --parameter-indentation                         -ipn
            --paren-indentation                             -pin
            --preserve-mtime                   -pmt
            --preprocessor-indentation                      -ppin
            --procnames-start-lines                         -psl
            --remove-preprocessor-space                     -nlps
            --single-line-conditionals                      -slc
            --space-after-cast                              -cs
            --space-after-for                  -saf
            --space-after-if                   -sai
            --space-after-parentheses                       -prs
            --space-after-procedure-calls                   -pcs
            --space-after-while                -saw
            --space-special-semicolon                       -ss
            --spaces-around-initializers                    -sar
            --standard-output                               -st
            --start-left-side-of-comments                   -sc
            --struct-brace-indentation                      -sbin
            --swallow-optional-blank-lines                  -sob
            --tab-size                                      -tsn
            --use-tabs                                      -ut
            --verbose                                       -v

RETURN VALUE         top

       • 0 means no errors or warnings were found during a successful
         invocation of the program.

       • 2 is returned if errors occur during formatting which do not
         prevent completion of the formatting, but which appear to be
         manifested by incorrect code (i.e. code which wouldn't compile).

       • 3 is returned if formatting of a file is halted because of an
         error with the file which prevents completion of formatting. If
         more than one input file was specified, indent continues to the
         next file.

       • 4 is returned if a serious internal problem occurs and the
         entire indent process is terminated, even if all specified files
         have not been processed.

       • 64 is returned if an invocation problem (like an incorrect
         option) prevents any formatting to occur.

FILES         top

       $HOME/.indent.pro   holds default options for indent.

AUTHORS         top

       Tim Hentenaar
       Carlo Wood
       Joseph Arceneaux
       Jim Kingdon
       David Ingamells

HISTORY         top

       Derived from the UCB program "indent".

COPYING         top

       Copyright (C) 1989, 1992, 1993, 1994, 1995, 1996, 2014, 2015 Free
       Software Foundation, Inc.  Copyright (C) 1995, 1996 Joseph
       Arceneaux.  Copyright (C) 1999 Carlo Wood.  Copyright (C) 2001
       David Ingamells.  Copyright (C) 2013 Łukasz Stelmach.  Copyright
       (C) 2015 Tim Hentenaar.

       Permission is granted to make and distribute verbatim copies of
       this manual provided the copyright notice and this permission
       notice are preserved on all copies.

COLOPHON         top

       This page is part of the GNU indent (a C program formatter)
       project.  Information about the project can be found at 
       ⟨http://www.gnu.org/software/indent/⟩.  If you have a bug report
       for this manual page, send it to bug-indent@gnu.org.  This page
       was obtained from the project's upstream Git repository
       ⟨https://git.savannah.gnu.org/git/indent.git⟩ on 2025-02-02.  (At
       that time, the date of the most recent commit that was found in
       the repository was 2024-10-26.)  If you discover any rendering
       problems in this HTML version of the page, or you believe there is
       a better or more up-to-date source for the page, or you have
       corrections or improvements to the information in this COLOPHON
       (which is not part of the original manual page), send a mail to
       man-pages@man7.org

                                                                INDENT(1)