6 my $arg_string = undef;
8 # give Macs a chance to provide command line parameters
11 MacPerl::Ask( 'Please enter @ARGV (-h for help)',
12 defined $ARGV[0] ? "\"$ARGV[0]\"" : "" );
15 Perl::Tidy::perltidy(argv => $arg_string);
21 perltidy - a perl script indenter and reformatter
25 perltidy [ options ] file1 file2 file3 ...
26 (output goes to file1.tdy, file2.tdy, file3.tdy, ...)
27 perltidy [ options ] file1 -o outfile
28 perltidy [ options ] file1 -st >outfile
29 perltidy [ options ] <infile >outfile
33 Perltidy reads a perl script and writes an indented, reformatted script.
35 Many users will find enough information in L<"EXAMPLES"> to get
36 started. New users may benefit from the short tutorial
38 http://perltidy.sourceforge.net/tutorial.html
40 A convenient aid to systematically defining a set of style parameters
42 http://perltidy.sourceforge.net/stylekey.html
44 Perltidy can produce output on either of two modes, depending on the
45 existence of an B<-html> flag. Without this flag, the output is passed
46 through a formatter. The default formatting tries to follow the
47 recommendations in perlstyle(1), but it can be controlled in detail with
48 numerous input parameters, which are described in L<"FORMATTING
51 When the B<-html> flag is given, the output is passed through an HTML
52 formatter which is described in L<"HTML OPTIONS">.
58 This will produce a file F<somefile.pl.tdy> containing the script reformatted
59 using the default options, which approximate the style suggested in
60 perlstyle(1). Perltidy never changes the input file.
64 Execute perltidy on all F<.pl> files in the current directory with the
65 default options. The output will be in files with an appended F<.tdy>
66 extension. For any file with an error, there will be a file with extension
69 perltidy -b file1.pl file2.pl
71 Modify F<file1.pl> and F<file1.pl> in place, and backup the originals to
72 F<file1.pl.bak> and F<file2.pl.bak>. If F<file1.pl.bak> and/or F<file2.pl.bak>
73 already exist, they will be overwritten.
75 perltidy -gnu somefile.pl
77 Execute perltidy on file F<somefile.pl> with a style which approximates the
78 GNU Coding Standards for C programs. The output will be F<somefile.pl.tdy>.
80 perltidy -i=3 somefile.pl
82 Execute perltidy on file F<somefile.pl>, with 3 columns for each level of
83 indentation (B<-i=3>) instead of the default 4 columns. There will not be any
84 tabs in the reformatted script, except for any which already exist in comments,
85 pod documents, quotes, and here documents. Output will be F<somefile.pl.tdy>.
87 perltidy -i=3 -et=8 somefile.pl
89 Same as the previous example, except that leading whitespace will
90 be entabbed with one tab character per 8 spaces.
92 perltidy -ce -l=72 somefile.pl
94 Execute perltidy on file F<somefile.pl> with all defaults except use "cuddled
95 elses" (B<-ce>) and a maximum line length of 72 columns (B<-l=72>) instead of
96 the default 80 columns.
98 perltidy -g somefile.pl
100 Execute perltidy on file F<somefile.pl> and save a log file F<somefile.pl.LOG>
101 which shows the nesting of braces, parentheses, and square brackets at
102 the start of every line.
104 perltidy -html somefile.pl
106 This will produce a file F<somefile.pl.html> containing the script with
107 html markup. The output file will contain an embedded style sheet in
108 the <HEAD> section which may be edited to change the appearance.
110 perltidy -html -css=mystyle.css somefile.pl
112 This will produce a file F<somefile.pl.html> containing the script with
113 html markup. This output file will contain a link to a separate style
114 sheet file F<mystyle.css>. If the file F<mystyle.css> does not exist,
115 it will be created. If it exists, it will not be overwritten.
117 perltidy -html -pre somefile.pl
119 Write an html snippet with only the PRE section to F<somefile.pl.html>.
120 This is useful when code snippets are being formatted for inclusion in a
121 larger web page. No style sheet will be written in this case.
123 perltidy -html -ss >mystyle.css
125 Write a style sheet to F<mystyle.css> and exit.
127 perltidy -html -frm mymodule.pm
129 Write html with a frame holding a table of contents and the source code. The
130 output files will be F<mymodule.pm.html> (the frame), F<mymodule.pm.toc.html>
131 (the table of contents), and F<mymodule.pm.src.html> (the source code).
133 =head1 OPTIONS - OVERVIEW
135 The entire command line is scanned for options, and they are processed
136 before any files are processed. As a result, it does not matter
137 whether flags are before or after any filenames. However, the relative
138 order of parameters is important, with later parameters overriding the
139 values of earlier parameters.
141 For each parameter, there is a long name and a short name. The short
142 names are convenient for keyboard input, while the long names are
143 self-documenting and therefore useful in scripts. It is customary to
144 use two leading dashes for long names, but one may be used.
146 Most parameters which serve as on/off flags can be negated with a
147 leading "n" (for the short name) or a leading "no" or "no-" (for the
148 long name). For example, the flag to outdent long quotes is is B<-olq>
149 or B<--outdent-long-quotes>. The flag to skip this is B<-nolq>
150 or B<--nooutdent-long-quotes> or B<--no-outdent-long-quotes>.
152 Options may not be bundled together. In other words, options B<-q> and
153 B<-g> may NOT be entered as B<-qg>.
155 Option names may be terminated early as long as they are uniquely identified.
156 For example, instead of B<-dump-token-types>, it would be sufficient to enter
157 B<-dump-tok>, or even B<-dump-t>, to uniquely identify this command.
161 The following parameters concern the files which are read and written.
165 =item B<-h>, B<--help>
167 Show summary of usage and exit.
169 =item B<-o>=filename, B<--outfile>=filename
171 Name of the output file (only if a single input file is being
172 processed). If no output file is specified, and output is not
173 redirected to the standard output, the output will go to F<filename.tdy>.
175 =item B<-st>, B<--standard-output>
177 Perltidy must be able to operate on an arbitrarily large number of files
178 in a single run, with each output being directed to a different output
179 file. Obviously this would conflict with outputting to the single
180 standard output device, so a special flag, B<-st>, is required to
181 request outputting to the standard output. For example,
183 perltidy somefile.pl -st >somefile.new.pl
185 This option may only be used if there is just a single input file.
186 The default is B<-nst> or B<-nostandard-output>.
188 =item B<-se>, B<--standard-error-output>
190 If perltidy detects an error when processing file F<somefile.pl>, its
191 default behavior is to write error messages to file F<somefile.pl.ERR>.
192 Use B<-se> to cause all error messages to be sent to the standard error
193 output stream instead. This directive may be negated with B<-nse>.
194 Thus, you may place B<-se> in a F<.perltidyrc> and override it when
195 desired with B<-nse> on the command line.
197 =item B<-oext>=ext, B<--output-file-extension>=ext
199 Change the extension of the output file to be F<ext> instead of the
200 default F<tdy> (or F<html> in case the -B<-html> option is used).
201 See L<Specifying File Extensions>.
203 =item B<-opath>=path, B<--output-path>=path
205 When perltidy creates a filename for an output file, by default it merely
206 appends an extension to the path and basename of the input file. This
207 parameter causes the path to be changed to F<path> instead.
209 The path should end in a valid path separator character, but perltidy will try
210 to add one if it is missing.
214 perltidy somefile.pl -opath=/tmp/
216 will produce F</tmp/somefile.pl.tdy>. Otherwise, F<somefile.pl.tdy> will
217 appear in whatever directory contains F<somefile.pl>.
219 If the path contains spaces, it should be placed in quotes.
221 This parameter will be ignored if output is being directed to standard output,
222 or if it is being specified explicitly with the B<-o=s> parameter.
224 =item B<-b>, B<--backup-and-modify-in-place>
226 Modify the input file or files in-place and save the original with the
227 extension F<.bak>. Any existing F<.bak> file will be deleted. See next item
228 for changing the default backup extension.
230 A B<-b> flag will be ignored if input is from standard input, or
231 if the B<-html> flag is set.
233 =item B<-bext>=ext, B<--backup-file-extension>=ext
235 Change the extension of the backup file to be something other than the
236 default F<.bak>. See L<Specifying File Extensions>.
238 =item B<-w>, B<--warning-output>
240 Setting B<-w> causes any non-critical warning
241 messages to be reported as errors. These include messages
242 about possible pod problems, possibly bad starting indentation level,
243 and cautions about indirect object usage. The default, B<-nw> or
244 B<--nowarning-output>, is not to include these warnings.
246 =item B<-q>, B<--quiet>
248 Deactivate error messages and syntax checking (for running under
251 For example, if you use a vi-style editor, such as vim, you may execute
252 perltidy as a filter from within the editor using something like
256 where C<n1,n2> represents the selected text. Without the B<-q> flag,
257 any error message may mess up your screen, so be prepared to use your
260 =item B<-log>, B<--logfile>
262 Save the F<.LOG> file, which has many useful diagnostics. Perltidy always
263 creates a F<.LOG> file, but by default it is deleted unless a program bug is
264 suspected. Setting the B<-log> flag forces the log file to be saved.
266 =item B<-g=n>, B<--logfile-gap=n>
268 Set maximum interval between input code lines in the logfile. This purpose of
269 this flag is to assist in debugging nesting errors. The value of C<n> is
270 optional. If you set the flag B<-g> without the value of C<n>, it will be
271 taken to be 1, meaning that every line will be written to the log file. This
272 can be helpful if you are looking for a brace, paren, or bracket nesting error.
274 Setting B<-g> also causes the logfile to be saved, so it is not necessary to
275 also include B<-log>.
277 If no B<-g> flag is given, a value of 50 will be used, meaning that at least
278 every 50th line will be recorded in the logfile. This helps prevent
279 excessively long log files.
281 Setting a negative value of C<n> is the same as not setting B<-g> at all.
283 =item B<-npro> B<--noprofile>
285 Ignore any F<.perltidyrc> command file. Normally, perltidy looks first in
286 your current directory for a F<.perltidyrc> file of parameters. (The format
287 is described below). If it finds one, it applies those options to the
288 initial default values, and then it applies any that have been defined
289 on the command line. If no F<.perltidyrc> file is found, it looks for one
290 in your home directory.
292 If you set the B<-npro> flag, perltidy will not look for this file.
294 =item B<-pro=filename> or B<--profile=filename>
296 To simplify testing and switching .perltidyrc files, this command may be
297 used to specify a configuration file which will override the default
298 name of .perltidyrc. There must not be a space on either side of the
299 '=' sign. For example, the line
301 perltidy -pro=testcfg
303 would cause file F<testcfg> to be used instead of the
304 default F<.perltidyrc>.
306 =item B<-opt>, B<--show-options>
308 Write a list of all options used to the F<.LOG> file.
309 Please see B<--dump-options> for a simpler way to do this.
311 =item B<-f>, B<--force-read-binary>
313 Force perltidy to process binary files. To avoid producing excessive
314 error messages, perltidy skips files identified by the system as non-text.
315 However, valid perl scripts containing binary data may sometimes be identified
316 as non-text, and this flag forces perltidy to process them.
320 =head1 FORMATTING OPTIONS
326 =item B<-l=n>, B<--maximum-line-length=n>
328 The default maximum line length is n=80 characters. Perltidy will try
329 to find line break points to keep lines below this length. However, long
330 quotes and side comments may cause lines to exceed this length.
331 Setting B<-l=0> is equivalent to setting B<-l=(a large number)>.
333 =item B<-i=n>, B<--indent-columns=n>
335 Use n columns per indentation level (default n=4).
339 Using tab characters will almost certainly lead to future portability
340 and maintenance problems, so the default and recommendation is not to
341 use them. For those who prefer tabs, however, there are two different
344 Except for possibly introducing tab indentation characters, as outlined
345 below, perltidy does not introduce any tab characters into your file,
346 and it removes any tabs from the code (unless requested not to do so
347 with B<-fws>). If you have any tabs in your comments, quotes, or
348 here-documents, they will remain.
352 =item B<-et=n>, B<--entab-leading-whitespace>
354 This flag causes each B<n> initial space characters to be replaced by
355 one tab character. Note that the integer B<n> is completely independent
356 of the integer specified for indentation parameter, B<-i=n>.
358 =item B<-t>, B<--tabs>
360 This flag causes one leading tab character to be inserted for each level
361 of indentation. Certain other features are incompatible with this
362 option, and if these options are also given, then a warning message will
363 be issued and this flag will be unset. One example is the B<-lp>
368 =item B<-syn>, B<--check-syntax>
370 This flag causes perltidy to run C<perl -c -T> to check syntax of input
371 and output. (To change the flags passed to perl, see the next
372 item, B<-pscf>). The results are written to the F<.LOG> file, which
373 will be saved if an error is detected in the output script. The output
374 script is not checked if the input script has a syntax error. Perltidy
375 does its own checking, but this option employs perl to get a "second
378 If perl reports errors in the input file, they will not be reported in
379 the error output unless the B<-warning-output> flag is given.
381 The default is B<not> to do this type of syntax checking (although
382 perltidy will still do as much self-checking as possible). The reason
383 is that it causes all code in BEGIN blocks to be executed, for all
384 modules being used, and this opens the door to security issues and
385 infinite loops when running perltidy.
387 =item B<-pscf=s>, B<-perl-syntax-check-flags=s>
389 When perl is invoked to check syntax, the normal flags are C<-c -T>. In
390 addition, if the B<-x> flag is given to perltidy, then perl will also be
391 passed a B<-x> flag. It should not normally be necessary to change
392 these flags, but it can be done with the B<-pscf=s> flag. For example,
393 if the taint flag, C<-T>, is not wanted, the flag could be set to be just
396 Perltidy will pass your string to perl with the exception that it will
397 add a B<-c> and B<-x> if appropriate. The F<.LOG> file will show
398 exactly what flags were passed to perl.
400 =item B<-io>, B<--indent-only>
402 This flag is used to deactivate all formatting and line break changes.
403 When it is in effect, the only change to the script will be indentation.
404 And any flags controlling whitespace and newlines will be ignored. You
405 might want to use this if you are perfectly happy with your whitespace
406 and line breaks, and merely want perltidy to handle the indentation.
407 (This also speeds up perltidy by well over a factor of two, so it might be
408 useful when perltidy is merely being used to help find a brace error in
411 Setting this flag is equivalent to setting B<--freeze-newlines> and
412 B<--freeze-whitespace>.
414 =item B<-ole=s>, B<--output-line-ending=s>
416 where s=C<win>, C<dos>, C<unix>, or C<mac>. This flag tells perltidy
417 to output line endings for a specific system. Normally,
418 perltidy writes files with the line separator character of the host
419 system. The C<win> and C<dos> flags have an identical result.
420 B<NOTE>: This only works under unix-like systems and is ignored under
423 =item B<-ple>, B<--preserve-line-endings>
425 This flag tells perltidy to write its output files with the same line
426 endings as the input file, if possible. It should work for
427 B<dos>, B<unix>, and B<mac> line endings. It will only work if perltidy
428 input comes from a filename (rather than stdin, for example). If
429 perltidy has trouble determining the input file line ending, it will
430 revert to the default behavior of using the line ending of the host system.
431 B<NOTE>: This only works under unix-like systems and is ignored under
436 =head2 Code Indentation Control
440 =item B<-ci=n>, B<--continuation-indentation=n>
442 Continuation indentation is extra indentation spaces applied when
443 a long line is broken. The default is n=2, illustrated here:
446 ( $max_index_to_go >= 0 ) ? $levels_to_go[0] : $last_output_level;
448 The same example, with n=0, is a little harder to read:
451 ( $max_index_to_go >= 0 ) ? $levels_to_go[0] : $last_output_level;
453 The value given to B<-ci> is also used by some commands when a small
454 space is required. Examples are commands for outdenting labels,
455 B<-ola>, and control keywords, B<-okw>.
457 When default values are not used, it is suggested that the value B<n>
458 given with B<-ci=n> be no more than about one-half of the number of
459 spaces assigned to a full indentation level on the B<-i=n> command.
461 =item B<-sil=n> B<--starting-indentation-level=n>
463 By default, perltidy examines the input file and tries to determine the
464 starting indentation level. While it is often zero, it may not be
465 zero for a code snippet being sent from an editing session. If the
466 default method does not work correctly, or you want to change the
467 starting level, use B<-sil=n>, to force the starting level to be n.
469 =item List indentation using B<-lp>, B<--line-up-parentheses>
471 By default, perltidy indents lists with 4 spaces, or whatever value
472 is specified with B<-i=n>. Here is a small list formatted in this way:
476 'Jan', 'Feb', 'Mar', 'Apr', 'May', 'Jun',
477 'Jul', 'Aug', 'Sep', 'Oct', 'Nov', 'Dec'
480 Use the B<-lp> flag to add extra indentation to cause the data to begin
481 past the opening parentheses of a sub call or list, or opening square
482 bracket of an anonymous array, or opening curly brace of an anonymous
483 hash. With this option, the above list would become:
487 'Jan', 'Feb', 'Mar', 'Apr', 'May', 'Jun',
488 'Jul', 'Aug', 'Sep', 'Oct', 'Nov', 'Dec'
491 If the available line length (see B<-l=n> ) does not permit this much
492 space, perltidy will use less. For alternate placement of the
493 closing paren, see the next section.
495 This option has no effect on code BLOCKS, such as if/then/else blocks,
496 which always use whatever is specified with B<-i=n>. Also, the
497 existence of line breaks and/or block comments between the opening and
498 closing parens may cause perltidy to temporarily revert to its default
501 Note: The B<-lp> option may not be used together with the B<-t> tabs option.
502 It may, however, be used with the B<-et=n> tab method.
504 In addition, any parameter which significantly restricts the ability of
505 perltidy to choose newlines will conflict with B<-lp> and will cause
506 B<-lp> to be deactivated. These include B<-io>, B<-fnl>, B<-nanl>, and
507 B<-ndnl>. The reason is that the B<-lp> indentation style can require
508 the careful coordination of an arbitrary number of break points in
509 hierarchical lists, and these flags may prevent that.
511 =item B<-cti=n>, B<--closing-token-indentation>
513 The B<-cti=n> flag controls the indentation of a line beginning with
514 a C<)>, C<]>, or a non-block C<}>. Such a line receives:
516 -cti = 0 no extra indentation (default)
517 -cti = 1 extra indentation such that the closing token
518 aligns with its opening token.
519 -cti = 2 one extra indentation level if the line looks like:
522 The flags B<-cti=1> and B<-cti=2> work well with the B<-lp> flag (previous
525 # perltidy -lp -cti=1
527 'Jan', 'Feb', 'Mar', 'Apr', 'May', 'Jun',
528 'Jul', 'Aug', 'Sep', 'Oct', 'Nov', 'Dec'
531 # perltidy -lp -cti=2
533 'Jan', 'Feb', 'Mar', 'Apr', 'May', 'Jun',
534 'Jul', 'Aug', 'Sep', 'Oct', 'Nov', 'Dec'
537 These flags are merely hints to the formatter and they may not always be
538 followed. In particular, if -lp is not being used, the indentation for
539 B<cti=1> is constrained to be no more than one indentation level.
541 If desired, this control can be applied independently to each of the
542 closing container token types. In fact, B<-cti=n> is merely an
543 abbreviation for B<-cpi=n -csbi=n -cbi=n>, where:
544 B<-cpi> or B<-closing-paren-indentation> controls B<)>'s,
545 B<-csbi> or B<-closing-square-bracket-indentation> controls B<]>'s,
546 B<-cbi> or B<-closing-brace-indentation> controls non-block B<}>'s.
548 =item B<-icp>, B<--indent-closing-paren>
550 The B<-icp> flag is equivalent to
551 B<-cti=2>, described in the previous section. The B<-nicp> flag is
552 equivalent B<-cti=0>. They are included for backwards compatability.
554 =item B<-icb>, B<--indent-closing-brace>
556 The B<-icb> option leaves a brace which terminates a code block
557 indented with the same indentation as the previous line. For example,
566 The default is not to do this, indicated by B<-nicb>.
568 =item B<-olq>, B<--outdent-long-quotes>
570 When B<-olq> is set, lines which is a quoted string longer than the
571 value B<maximum-line-length> will have their indentation removed to make
572 them more readable. This is the default. To prevent such out-denting,
573 use B<-nolq> or B<--nooutdent-long-lines>.
575 =item B<-oll>, B<--outdent-long-lines>
577 This command is equivalent to B<--outdent-long-quotes> and
578 B<--outdent-long-comments>, and it is included for compatibility with previous
579 versions of perltidy. The negation of this also works, B<-noll> or
580 B<--nooutdent-long-lines>, and is equivalent to setting B<-nolq> and B<-nolc>.
582 =item Outdenting Labels: B<-ola>, B<--outdent-labels>
584 This command will cause labels to be outdented by 2 spaces (or whatever B<-ci>
585 has been set to), if possible. This is the default. For example:
588 LOOP: while ( $i = <FOTOS> ) {
594 Use B<-nola> to not outdent labels.
596 =item Outdenting Keywords
600 =item B<-okw>, B<--outdent-keywords>
602 The command B<-okw> will will cause certain leading control keywords to
603 be outdented by 2 spaces (or whatever B<-ci> has been set to), if
604 possible. By default, these keywords are C<redo>, C<next>, C<last>,
605 C<goto>, and C<return>. The intention is to make these control keywords
606 easier to see. To change this list of keywords being outdented, see
609 For example, using C<perltidy -okw> on the previous example gives:
612 LOOP: while ( $i = <FOTOS> ) {
618 The default is not to do this.
620 =item Specifying Outdented Keywords: B<-okwl=string>, B<--outdent-keyword-list=string>
622 This command can be used to change the keywords which are outdented with
623 the B<-okw> command. The parameter B<string> is a required list of perl
624 keywords, which should be placed in quotes if there are more than one.
625 By itself, it does not cause any outdenting to occur, so the B<-okw>
626 command is still required.
628 For example, the commands C<-okwl="next last redo goto" -okw> will cause
629 those four keywords to be outdented. It is probably simplest to place
630 any B<-okwl> command in a F<.perltidyrc> file.
636 =head2 Whitespace Control
638 Whitespace refers to the blank space between variables, operators,
639 and other code tokens.
643 =item B<-fws>, B<--freeze-whitespace>
645 This flag causes your original whitespace to remain unchanged, and
646 causes the rest of the whitespace commands in this section, the
647 Code Indentation section, and
648 the Comment Control section to be ignored.
650 =item Tightness of curly braces, parentheses, and square brackets.
652 Here the term "tightness" will mean the closeness with which
653 pairs of enclosing tokens, such as parentheses, contain the quantities
654 within. A numerical value of 0, 1, or 2 defines the tightness, with
655 0 being least tight and 2 being most tight. Spaces within containers
656 are always symmetric, so if there is a space after a C<(> then there
657 will be a space before the corresponding C<)>.
659 The B<-pt=n> or B<--paren-tightness=n> parameter controls the space within
660 parens. The example below shows the effect of the three possible
663 if ( ( my $len_tab = length( $tabstr ) ) > 0 ) { # -pt=0
664 if ( ( my $len_tab = length($tabstr) ) > 0 ) { # -pt=1 (default)
665 if ((my $len_tab = length($tabstr)) > 0) { # -pt=2
667 When n is 0, there is always a space to the right of a '(' and to the left
668 of a ')'. For n=2 there is never a space. For n=1, the default, there
669 is a space unless the quantity within the parens is a single token, such
670 as an identifier or quoted string.
672 Likewise, the parameter B<-sbt=n> or B<--square-bracket-tightness=n>
673 controls the space within square brackets, as illustrated below.
675 $width = $col[ $j + $k ] - $col[ $j ]; # -sbt=0
676 $width = $col[ $j + $k ] - $col[$j]; # -sbt=1 (default)
677 $width = $col[$j + $k] - $col[$j]; # -sbt=2
679 Curly braces which do not contain code blocks are controlled by
680 the parameter B<-bt=n> or B<--brace-tightness=n>.
682 $obj->{ $parsed_sql->{ 'table' }[0] }; # -bt=0
683 $obj->{ $parsed_sql->{'table'}[0] }; # -bt=1 (default)
684 $obj->{$parsed_sql->{'table'}[0]}; # -bt=2
686 And finally, curly braces which contain blocks of code are controlled by the
687 parameter B<-bbt=n> or B<--block-brace-tightness=n> as illustrated in the
690 %bf = map { $_ => -M $_ } grep { /\.deb$/ } dirents '.'; # -bbt=0 (default)
691 %bf = map { $_ => -M $_ } grep {/\.deb$/} dirents '.'; # -bbt=1
692 %bf = map {$_ => -M $_} grep {/\.deb$/} dirents '.'; # -bbt=2
694 =item B<-sts>, B<--space-terminal-semicolon>
696 Some programmers prefer a space before all terminal semicolons. The
697 default is for no such space, and is indicated with B<-nsts> or
698 B<--nospace-terminal-semicolon>.
701 $i = 1; # -nsts (default)
703 =item B<-sfs>, B<--space-for-semicolon>
705 Semicolons within B<for> loops may sometimes be hard to see,
706 particularly when commas are also present. This option places spaces on
707 both sides of these special semicolons, and is the default. Use
708 B<-nsfs> or B<--nospace-for-semicolon> to deactivate it.
710 for ( @a = @$ap, $u = shift @a ; @a ; $u = $v ) { # -sfs (default)
711 for ( @a = @$ap, $u = shift @a; @a; $u = $v ) { # -nsfs
713 =item B<-asc>, B<--add-semicolons>
715 Setting B<-asc> allows perltidy to add any missing optional semicolon at the end
716 of a line which is followed by a closing curly brace on the next line. This
717 is the default, and may be deactivated with B<-nasc> or B<--noadd-semicolons>.
719 =item B<-dsm>, B<--delete-semicolons>
721 Setting B<-dsm> allows perltidy to delete extra semicolons which are
722 simply empty statements. This is the default, and may be deactivated
723 with B<-ndsm> or B<--nodelete-semicolons>. (Such semicolons are not
724 deleted, however, if they would promote a side comment to a block
727 =item B<-aws>, B<--add-whitespace>
729 Setting this option allows perltidy to add certain whitespace improve
730 code readability. This is the default. If you do not want any
731 whitespace added, but are willing to have some whitespace deleted, use
732 B<-naws>. (Use B<-fws> to leave whitespace completely unchanged).
734 =item B<-dws>, B<--delete-old-whitespace>
736 Setting this option allows perltidy to remove some old whitespace
737 between characters, if necessary. This is the default. If you
738 do not want any old whitespace removed, use B<-ndws> or
739 B<--nodelete-old-whitespace>.
741 =item Detailed whitespace controls around tokens
743 For those who want more detailed control over the whitespace around
744 tokens, there are four parameters which can directly modify the default
745 whitespace rules built into perltidy for any token. They are:
747 B<-wls=s> or B<--want-left-space=s>,
749 B<-nwls=s> or B<--nowant-left-space=s>,
751 B<-wrs=s> or B<--want-right-space=s>,
753 B<-nwrs=s> or B<--nowant-right-space=s>.
755 These parameters are each followed by a quoted string, B<s>, containing a
756 list of token types. No more than one of each of these parameters
757 should be specified, because repeating a command-line parameter
758 always overwrites the previous one before perltidy ever sees it.
760 To illustrate how these are used, suppose it is desired that there be no
761 space on either side of the token types B<= + - / *>. The following two
762 parameters would specify this desire:
764 -nwls="= + - / *" -nwrs="= + - / *"
766 (Note that the token types are in quotes, and that they are separated by
767 spaces). With these modified whitespace rules, the following line of math:
769 $root = -$b + sqrt( $b * $b - 4. * $a * $c ) / ( 2. * $a );
773 $root=-$b+sqrt( $b*$b-4.*$a*$c )/( 2.*$a );
775 These parameters should be considered to be hints to perltidy rather
776 than fixed rules, because perltidy must try to resolve conflicts that
777 arise between them and all of the other rules that it uses. One
778 conflict that can arise is if, between two tokens, the left token wants
779 a space and the right one doesn't. In this case, the token not wanting
780 a space takes priority.
782 It is necessary to have a list of all token types in order to create
783 this type of input. Such a list can be obtained by the command
784 B<-dump-token-types>.
786 =item Space between keyword and opening paren
788 When an opening paren follows a keyword, no space is introduced after the
789 keyword, unless it is (by default) one of these:
791 my local our and or eq ne if else elsif until unless
792 while for foreach return switch case given when
794 These defaults can be modified with two commands:
796 B<-sak=s> or B<--space-after-keyword=s> adds keywords.
798 B<-nsak=s> or B<--nospace-after-keyword=s> removes keywords.
800 where B<s> is a list of keywords (in quotes if necessary). For example,
802 my ( $a, $b, $c ) = @_; # default
803 my( $a, $b, $c ) = @_; # -nsak="my local our"
805 =item Trimming whitespace around C<qw> quotes
807 B<-tqw> or B<--trim-qw> provide the default behavior of trimming
808 spaces around multi-line C<qw> quotes and indenting them appropriately.
810 B<-ntqw> or B<--notrim-qw> cause leading and trailing whitespace around
811 multi-line C<qw> quotes to be left unchanged. This option will not
812 normally be necessary, but was added for testing purposes, because in
813 some versions of perl, trimming C<qw> quotes changes the syntax tree.
817 =head2 Comment Controls
819 Perltidy has a number of ways to control the appearance of both block comments
820 and side comments. The term B<block comment> here refers to a full-line
821 comment, whereas B<side comment> will refer to a comment which appears on a
822 line to the right of some code.
826 =item B<-ibc>, B<--indent-block-comments>
828 Block comments normally look best when they are indented to the same
829 level as the code which follows them. This is the default behavior, but
830 you may use B<-nibc> to keep block comments left-justified. Here is an
833 # this comment is indented (-ibc, default)
834 if ($task) { yyy(); }
836 The alternative is B<-nibc>:
838 # this comment is not indented (-nibc)
839 if ($task) { yyy(); }
841 See also the next item, B<-isbc>, as well as B<-sbc>, for other ways to
842 have some indented and some outdented block comments.
844 =item B<-isbc>, B<--indent-spaced-block-comments>
846 If there is no leading space on the line, then the comment will not be
847 indented, and otherwise it may be.
849 If both B<-ibc> and B<-isbc> are set, then B<-isbc> takes priority.
851 =item B<-olc>, B<--outdent-long-comments>
853 When B<-olc> is set, lines which are full-line (block) comments longer
854 than the value B<maximum-line-length> will have their indentation
855 removed. The default is not to do this.
857 =item B<-msc=n>, B<--minimum-space-to-comment=n>
859 Side comments look best when lined up several spaces to the right of
860 code. Perltidy will try to keep comments at least n spaces to the
861 right. The default is n=4 spaces.
863 =item B<-hsc>, B<--hanging-side-comments>
865 By default, perltidy tries to identify and align "hanging side
866 comments", which are something like this:
868 my $IGNORE = 0; # This is a side comment
869 # This is a hanging side comment
872 A comment is considered to be a hanging side comment if (1) it immediately
873 follows a line with a side comment, or another hanging side comment, and
874 (2) there is some leading whitespace on the line.
875 To deactivate this feature, use B<-nhsc> or B<--nohanging-side-comments>.
876 If block comments are preceded by a blank line, or have no leading
877 whitespace, they will not be mistaken as hanging side comments.
879 =item Closing Side Comments
881 A closing side comment is a special comment which perltidy can
882 automatically create and place after the closing brace of a code block.
883 They can be useful for code maintenance and debugging. The command
884 B<-csc> (or B<-closing-side-comments>) adds or updates closing side
885 comments. For example, here is a small code snippet
888 if ( !defined( $_[0] ) ) {
889 print("Hello, World\n");
892 print( $_[0], "\n" );
896 And here is the result of processing with C<perltidy -csc>:
899 if ( !defined( $_[0] ) ) {
900 print("Hello, World\n");
903 print( $_[0], "\n" );
907 A closing side comment was added for C<sub message> in this case, but not
908 for the C<if> and C<else> blocks, because they were below the 6 line
909 cutoff limit for adding closing side comments. This limit may be
910 changed with the B<-csci> command, described below.
912 The command B<-dcsc> (or B<--delete-closing-side-comments>) reverses this
913 process and removes these comments.
915 Several commands are available to modify the behavior of these two basic
916 commands, B<-csc> and B<-dcsc>:
920 =item B<-csci=n>, or B<-closing-side-comment-interval=n>
922 where C<n> is the minimum number of lines that a block must have in
923 order for a closing side comment to be added. The default value is
924 C<n=6>. To illustrate:
926 # perltidy -csci=2 -csc
928 if ( !defined( $_[0] ) ) {
929 print("Hello, World\n");
930 } ## end if ( !defined( $_[0] ))
932 print( $_[0], "\n" );
933 } ## end else [ if ( !defined( $_[0] ))
936 Now the C<if> and C<else> blocks are commented. However, now this has
937 become very cluttered.
939 =item B<-cscp=string>, or B<-closing-side-comment-prefix=string>
941 where string is the prefix used before the name of the block type. The
942 default prefix, shown above, is C<## end>. This string will be added to
943 closing side comments, and it will also be used to recognize them in
944 order to update, delete, and format them. Any comment identified as a
945 closing side comment will be placed just a single space to the right of
948 =item B<-cscl=string>, or B<-closing-side-comment-list-string>
950 where C<string> is a list of block types to be tagged with closing side
951 comments. By default, all code block types preceded by a keyword or
952 label (such as C<if>, C<sub>, and so on) will be tagged. The B<-cscl>
953 command changes the default list to be any selected block types; see
954 L<Specifying Block Types>.
955 For example, the following command
956 requests that only C<sub>'s, labels, C<BEGIN>, and C<END> blocks be
957 affected by any B<-csc> or B<-dcsc> operation:
959 -cscl="sub : BEGIN END"
961 =item B<-csct=n>, or B<-closing-side-comment-maximum-text=n>
963 The text appended to certain block types, such as an C<if> block, is
964 whatever lies between the keyword introducing the block, such as C<if>,
965 and the opening brace. Since this might be too much text for a side
966 comment, there needs to be a limit, and that is the purpose of this
967 parameter. The default value is C<n=20>, meaning that no additional
968 tokens will be appended to this text after its length reaches 20
969 characters. Omitted text is indicated with C<...>. (Tokens, including
970 sub names, are never truncated, however, so actual lengths may exceed
971 this). To illustrate, in the above example, the appended text of the
972 first block is C< ( !defined( $_[0] )...>. The existing limit of
973 C<n=20> caused this text to be truncated, as indicated by the C<...>.
975 =item B<-csce=n>, or B<-closing-side-comment-else-flag=n>
977 The default, B<n=0>, places the text of the opening C<if> statement after any
980 If B<n=2> is used, then each C<elsif> is also given the text of the opening
981 C<if> statement. Also, an C<else> will include the text of a preceding
982 C<elsif> statement. Note that this may result some long closing
985 If B<n=1> is used, the results will be the same as B<n=2> whenever the
986 resulting line length is less than the maximum allowed.
988 =item B<-cscw>, or B<-closing-side-comment-warnings>
990 This parameter is intended to help make the initial transition to the use of
991 closing side comments.
993 things to happen if a closing side comment replaces an existing, different
994 closing side comment: first, an error message will be issued, and second, the
995 original side comment will be placed alone on a new specially marked comment
996 line for later attention.
998 The intent is to avoid clobbering existing hand-written side comments
999 which happen to match the pattern of closing side comments. This flag
1000 should only be needed on the first run with B<-csc>.
1004 B<Important Notes on Closing Side Comments:>
1010 Closing side comments are only placed on lines terminated with a closing
1011 brace. Certain closing styles, such as the use of cuddled elses
1012 (B<-ce>), preclude the generation of some closing side comments.
1016 Please note that adding or deleting of closing side comments takes
1017 place only through the commands B<-csc> or B<-dcsc>. The other commands,
1018 if used, merely modify the behavior of these two commands.
1022 It is recommended that the B<-cscw> flag be used along with B<-csc> on
1023 the first use of perltidy on a given file. This will prevent loss of
1024 any existing side comment data which happens to have the csc prefix.
1028 Once you use B<-csc>, you should continue to use it so that any
1029 closing side comments remain correct as code changes. Otherwise, these
1030 comments will become incorrect as the code is updated.
1034 If you edit the closing side comments generated by perltidy, you must also
1035 change the prefix to be different from the closing side comment prefix.
1036 Otherwise, your edits will be lost when you rerun perltidy with B<-csc>. For
1037 example, you could simply change C<## end> to be C<## End>, since the test is
1038 case sensitive. You may also want to use the B<-ssc> flag to keep these
1039 modified closing side comments spaced the same as actual closing side comments.
1043 Temporarily generating closing side comments is a useful technique for
1044 exploring and/or debugging a perl script, especially one written by someone
1045 else. You can always remove them with B<-dcsc>.
1049 =item Static Block Comments
1051 Static block comments are block comments with a special leading pattern,
1052 C<##> by default, which will be treated slightly differently from other
1053 block comments. They effectively behave as if they had glue along their
1054 left and top edges, because they stick to the left edge and previous line
1055 when there is no blank spaces in those places. This option is
1056 particularly useful for controlling how commented code is displayed.
1060 =item B<-sbc>, B<--static-block-comments>
1062 When B<-sbc> is used, a block comment with a special leading pattern, C<##> by
1063 default, will be treated specially.
1065 Comments so identified are treated as follows:
1071 If there is no leading space on the line, then the comment will not
1072 be indented, and otherwise it may be,
1076 no new blank line will be
1077 inserted before such a comment, and
1081 such a comment will never become
1082 a hanging side comment.
1086 For example, assuming C<@month_of_year> is
1089 @month_of_year = ( # -sbc (default)
1090 'Jan', 'Feb', 'Mar', 'Apr', 'May', 'Jun', 'Jul', 'Aug', 'Sep', 'Oct',
1094 Without this convention, the above code would become
1096 @month_of_year = ( # -nsbc
1097 'Jan', 'Feb', 'Mar', 'Apr', 'May', 'Jun', 'Jul', 'Aug', 'Sep', 'Oct',
1103 which is not as clear.
1104 The default is to use B<-sbc>. This may be deactivated with B<-nsbc>.
1106 =item B<-sbcp=string>, B<--static-block-comment-prefix=string>
1108 This parameter defines the prefix used to identify static block comments
1109 when the B<-sbc> parameter is set. The default prefix is C<##>,
1110 corresponding to C<-sbcp=##>. The first character must be a C<#>
1111 symbol, since this must only match comments. As a simple example, to
1112 identify all comments as static block comments, one would use C<-sbcp=#>.
1114 Please note that B<-sbcp> merely defines the pattern used to identify static
1115 block comments; it will not be used unless the switch B<-sbc> is set. Also,
1116 please be aware that this string is used in a perl regular expression which
1117 identifies these comments, so it must enable a valid regular expression to be
1120 =item B<-osbc>, B<--outdent-static-block-comments>
1122 The command B<-osbc> will will cause static block comments to be outdented by 2
1123 spaces (or whatever B<-ci=n> has been set to), if possible.
1127 =item Static Side Comments
1129 Static side comments are side comments with a special leading pattern.
1130 This option can be useful for controlling how commented code is displayed
1131 when it is a side comment.
1135 =item B<-ssc>, B<--static-side-comments>
1137 When B<-ssc> is used, a side comment with a static leading pattern, which is
1138 C<##> by default, will be be spaced only a single space from previous
1139 character, and it will not be vertically aligned with other side comments.
1141 The default is B<-nssc>.
1143 =item B<-sscp=string>, B<--static-side-comment-prefix=string>
1145 This parameter defines the prefix used to identify static side comments
1146 when the B<-ssc> parameter is set. The default prefix is C<##>,
1147 corresponding to C<-sscp=##>.
1149 Please note that B<-sscp> merely defines the pattern used to identify
1150 static side comments; it will not be used unless the switch B<-ssc> is
1151 set. Also, note that this string is used in a perl regular expression
1152 which identifies these comments, so it must enable a valid regular
1153 expression to be formed.
1160 =head2 Line Break Control
1164 =item B<-fnl>, B<--freeze-newlines>
1166 If you do not want any changes to the line breaks in your script, set
1167 B<-fnl>, and they will remain fixed, and the rest of the commands in
1168 this section and sections
1169 L<Controlling List Formatting>,
1170 L<Retaining or Ignoring Existing Line Breaks>, and
1171 L<Blank Line Control> will be ignored. You may want to use B<-noll>
1174 =item B<-ce>, B<--cuddled-else>
1176 Enable the "cuddled else" style, in which C<else> and C<elsif> are
1177 follow immediately after the curly brace closing the previous block.
1178 The default is not to use cuddled elses, and is indicated with the flag
1179 B<-nce> or B<--nocuddled-else>. Here is a comparison of the
1191 else { # -nce (default)
1195 =item B<-bl>, B<--opening-brace-on-new-line>
1197 Use the flag B<-bl> to place the opening brace on a new line:
1199 if ( $input_file eq '-' ) # -bl
1201 important_function();
1204 This flag applies to all structural blocks, including sub's (unless
1205 the B<-sbl> flag is set -- see next item).
1207 The default style, B<-nbl>, places an opening brace on the same line as
1208 the keyword introducing it. For example,
1210 if ( $input_file eq '-' ) { # -nbl (default)
1212 =item B<-sbl>, B<--opening-sub-brace-on-new-line>
1214 The flag B<-sbl> can be used to override the value of B<-bl> for
1215 opening sub braces. For example,
1219 produces this result:
1223 if (!defined($_[0])) {
1224 print("Hello, World\n");
1231 This flag is negated with B<-nsbl>. If B<-sbl> is not specified,
1232 the value of B<-bl> is used.
1234 =item B<-bli>, B<--brace-left-and-indent>
1236 The flag B<-bli> is the same as B<-bl> but in addition it causes one
1237 unit of continuation indentation ( see B<-ci> ) to be placed before
1238 an opening and closing block braces.
1242 if ( $input_file eq '-' ) # -bli
1244 important_function();
1247 By default, this extra indentation occurs for blocks of type:
1248 B<if>, B<elsif>, B<else>, B<unless>, B<for>, B<foreach>, B<sub>,
1249 B<while>, B<until>, and also with a preceding label. The next item
1250 shows how to change this.
1252 =item B<-blil=s>, B<--brace-left-and-indent-list=s>
1254 Use this parameter to change the types of block braces for which the
1255 B<-bli> flag applies; see L<Specifying Block Types>. For example,
1256 B<-blil='if elsif else'> would apply it to only C<if/elsif/else> blocks.
1258 =item B<-bar>, B<--opening-brace-always-on-right>
1260 The default style, B<-nbl> places the opening brace on a new
1261 line if it does not fit on the same line as the opening keyword, like
1264 if ( $bigwasteofspace1 && $bigwasteofspace2
1265 || $bigwasteofspace3 && $bigwasteofspace4 )
1267 big_waste_of_time();
1270 To force the opening brace to always be on the right, use the B<-bar>
1271 flag. In this case, the above example becomes
1273 if ( $bigwasteofspace1 && $bigwasteofspace2
1274 || $bigwasteofspace3 && $bigwasteofspace4 ) {
1275 big_waste_of_time();
1278 A conflict occurs if both B<-bl> and B<-bar> are specified.
1280 =item Vertical tightness of non-block curly braces, parentheses, and square brackets.
1282 These parameters control what shall be called vertical tightness. Here are the
1289 Opening tokens (except for block braces) are controlled by B<-vt=n>, or
1290 B<--vertical-tightness=n>, where
1292 -vt=0 always break a line after opening token (default).
1293 -vt=1 do not break unless this would produce more than one
1294 step in indentation in a line.
1295 -vt=2 never break a line after opening token
1299 You must also use the B<-lp> flag when you use the B<-vt> flag; the
1300 reason is explained below.
1304 Closing tokens (except for block braces) are controlled by B<-vtc=n>, or
1305 B<--vertical-tightness-closing=n>, where
1307 -vtc=0 always break a line before a closing token (default),
1308 -vtc=1 do not break before a closing token which is followed
1309 by a semicolon or another closing token, and is not in
1311 -vtc=2 never break before a closing token.
1313 The rules for B<-vtc=1> are designed to maintain a reasonable balance
1314 between tightness and readability in complex lists.
1318 Different controls may be applied to to different token types,
1319 and it is also possible to control block braces; see below.
1323 Finally, please note that these vertical tightness flags are merely
1324 hints to the formatter, and it cannot always follow them. Things which
1325 make it difficult or impossible include comments, blank lines, blocks of
1326 code within a list, and possibly the lack of the B<-lp> parameter.
1327 Also, these flags may be ignored for very small lists (2 or 3 lines in
1332 Here are some examples:
1334 # perltidy -lp -vt=0 -vtc=0
1342 # perltidy -lp -vt=1 -vtc=0
1343 %romanNumerals = ( one => 'I',
1349 # perltidy -lp -vt=1 -vtc=1
1350 %romanNumerals = ( one => 'I',
1355 The difference between B<-vt=1> and B<-vt=2> is shown here:
1357 # perltidy -lp -vt=1
1359 mysprintf( "(void)find_threadsv(%s);",
1360 cstring( $threadsv_names[ $op->targ ] )
1364 # perltidy -lp -vt=2
1365 $init->add( mysprintf( "(void)find_threadsv(%s);",
1366 cstring( $threadsv_names[ $op->targ ] )
1370 With B<-vt=1>, the line ending in C<add(> does not combine with the next
1371 line because the next line is not balanced. This can help with
1372 readability, but B<-vt=2> can be used to ignore this rule.
1374 The tightest, and least readable, code is produced with both C<-vt=2> and
1377 # perltidy -lp -vt=2 -vtc=2
1378 $init->add( mysprintf( "(void)find_threadsv(%s);",
1379 cstring( $threadsv_names[ $op->targ ] ) ) );
1381 Notice how the code in all of these examples collapses vertically as
1382 B<-vt> increases, but the indentation remains unchanged. This is
1383 because perltidy implements the B<-vt> parameter by first formatting as
1384 if B<-vt=0>, and then simply overwriting one output line on top of the
1385 next, if possible, to achieve the desired vertical tightness. The
1386 B<-lp> indentation style has been designed to allow this vertical
1387 collapse to occur, which is why it is required for the B<-vt> parameter.
1389 The B<-vt=n> and B<-vtc=n> parameters apply to each type of container
1390 token. If desired, vertical tightness controls can be applied
1391 independently to each of the closing container token types.
1393 The parameters for controlling parentheses are B<-pvt=n> or
1394 B<--paren-vertical-tightness=n>, and B<-pcvt=n> or
1395 B<--paren-vertical-tightness-closing=n>.
1397 Likewise, the parameters for square brackets are B<-sbvt=n> or
1398 B<--square-bracket-vertical-tightness=n>, and B<-sbcvt=n> or
1399 B<--square-bracket-vertical-tightness-closing=n>.
1401 Finally, the parameters for controlling non-code block braces are
1402 B<-bvt=n> or B<--brace-vertical-tightness=n>, and B<-bcvt=n> or
1403 B<--brace-vertical-tightness-closing=n>.
1405 In fact, the parameter B<-vt=n> is actually just an abbreviation for
1406 B<-pvt=n -bvt=n sbvt=n>, and likewise B<-vtc=n> is an abbreviation
1407 for B<-pvtc=n -bvtc=n sbvtc=n>.
1409 =item B<-bbvt=n> or B<--block-brace-vertical-tightness=n>
1411 The B<-bbvt=n> flag is just like the B<-vt=n> flag but applies
1412 to opening code block braces.
1414 -bbvt=0 break after opening block brace (default).
1415 -bbvt=1 do not break unless this would produce more than one
1416 step in indentation in a line.
1417 -bbvt=2 do not break after opening block brace.
1419 It is necessary to also use either B<-bl> or B<-bli> for this to work,
1420 because, as with other vertical tightness controls, it is implemented by
1421 simply overwriting a line ending with an opening block brace with the
1422 subsequent line. For example:
1424 # perltidy -bli -bbvt=0
1425 if ( open( FILE, "< $File" ) )
1427 while ( $File = <FILE> )
1435 # perltidy -bli -bbvt=1
1436 if ( open( FILE, "< $File" ) )
1437 { while ( $File = <FILE> )
1444 By default this applies to blocks associated with keywords B<if>,
1445 B<elsif>, B<else>, B<unless>, B<for>, B<foreach>, B<sub>, B<while>,
1446 B<until>, and also with a preceding label. This can be changed with
1447 the parameter B<-bbvtl=string>, or
1448 B<--block-brace-vertical-tightness-list=string>, where B<string> is a
1449 space-separated list of block types. For more information on the
1450 possible values of this string, see L<Specifying Block Types>
1452 For example, if we want to just apply this style to C<if>,
1453 C<elsif>, and C<else> blocks, we could use
1454 C<perltidy -bli -bbvt -bbvtl='if elsif else'>.
1456 There is no vertical tightness control for closing block braces; with
1457 the exception of one-line blocks, they will normally remain on a
1460 =item B<-dnl>, B<--delete-old-newlines>
1462 By default, perltidy first deletes all old line break locations, and then it
1463 looks for good break points to match the desired line length. Use B<-ndnl>
1464 or B<--nodelete-old-newlines> to force perltidy to retain all old line break
1467 =item B<-anl>, B<--add-newlines>
1469 By default, perltidy will add line breaks when necessary to create
1470 continuations of long lines and to improve the script appearance. Use
1471 B<-nanl> or B<-noadd-newlines> to prevent any new line breaks.
1473 This flag does not prevent perltidy from eliminating existing line
1474 breaks; see B<-freeze-newlines> to completely prevent changes to line
1477 =item Controlling whether perltidy breaks before or after operators
1479 Two command line parameters provide some control over whether
1480 a line break should be before or after specific token types.
1482 B<-wba=s> or B<--want-break-after=s>, and
1484 B<-wbb=s> or B<--want-break-before=s>.
1486 These parameters are each followed by a quoted string, B<s>, containing
1487 a list of token types (separated only by spaces). No more than one of each
1488 of these parameters should be specified, because repeating a
1489 command-line parameter always overwrites the previous one before
1490 perltidy ever sees it.
1492 By default, perltidy breaks B<after> these token types:
1493 % + - * / x != == >= <= =~ !~ < > | & >= <
1494 = **= += *= &= <<= &&= -= /= |= >>= ||= .= %= ^= x=
1496 And perltidy breaks B<before> these token types by default:
1499 To illustrate, to cause a break after a concatenation operator, C<'.'>,
1500 rather than before it, the command line would be
1504 As another example, the following command would cause a break before
1505 math operators C<'+'>, C<'-'>, C<'/'>, and C<'*'>:
1509 These commands should work well for most of the token types that
1510 perltidy uses (use B<--dump-token-types> for a list). However, for a
1511 few token types there may be conflicts with hardwired logic which cause
1512 unexpected results. One example is curly braces, which should be
1513 controlled with the parameter B<bl> provided for that purpose.
1517 =head2 Controlling List Formatting
1519 Perltidy attempts to place comma-separated arrays of values in tables
1520 which look good. Its default algorithms usually work well, and they
1521 have been improving with each release, but several parameters are
1522 available to control list formatting.
1526 =item B<-boc>, B<--break-at-old-comma-breakpoints>
1528 This flag tells perltidy to try to break at all old commas. This is not
1529 the default. Normally, perltidy makes a best guess at list formatting,
1530 and seldom uses old comma breakpoints. Usually this works well,
1539 The default formatting will flatten this down to one line:
1541 # perltidy (default)
1542 my @list = ( 1, 1, 1, 1, 2, 1, 1, 3, 3, 1, 1, 4, 6, 4, 1, );
1544 which hides the structure. Using B<-boc>, plus additional flags
1545 to retain the original style, yields
1547 # perltidy -boc -lp -pt=2 -vt=1 -vtc=1
1554 A disadvantage of this flag is that all tables in the file
1555 must already be nicely formatted.
1557 =item B<-mft=n>, B<--maximum-fields-per-table=n>
1559 If the computed number of fields for any table exceeds B<n>, then it
1560 will be reduced to B<n>. The default value for B<n> is a large number,
1561 40. While this value should probably be left unchanged as a general
1562 rule, it might be used on a small section of code to force a list to
1563 have a particular number of fields per line, and then either the B<-boc>
1564 flag could be used to retain this formatting, or a single comment could
1565 be introduced somewhere to freeze the formatting in future applications
1578 =item B<-cab=n>, B<--comma-arrow-breakpoints=n>
1580 A comma which follows a comma arrow, '=>', requires special
1581 consideration. In a long list, it is common to break at all such
1582 commas. This parameter can be used to control how perltidy breaks at
1583 these commas. (However, it will have no effect if old comma breaks are
1584 being forced because B<-boc> is used). The possible values of B<n> are:
1586 n=0 break at all commas after =>
1587 n=1 stable: break at all commas after => unless this would break
1588 an existing one-line container (default)
1589 n=2 break at all commas after =>, but try to form the maximum
1590 maximum one-line container lengths
1591 n=3 do not treat commas after => specially at all
1593 For example, given the following single line, perltidy by default will
1594 not add any line breaks because it would break the existing one-line
1597 bless { B => $B, Root => $Root } => $package;
1599 Using B<-cab=0> will force a break after each comma-arrow item:
1607 If perltidy is subsequently run with this container broken, then by
1608 default it will break after each '=>' because the container is now
1609 broken. To reform a one-line container, the parameter B<-cab=2> would
1612 The flag B<-cab=3> can be used to prevent these commas from being
1613 treated specially. In this case, an item such as "01" => 31 is
1614 treated as a single item in a table. The number of fields in this table
1615 will be determined by the same rules that are used for any other table.
1620 "01" => 31, "02" => 29, "03" => 31, "04" => 30,
1621 "05" => 31, "06" => 30, "07" => 31, "08" => 31,
1622 "09" => 30, "10" => 31, "11" => 30, "12" => 31
1627 =head2 Retaining or Ignoring Existing Line Breaks
1629 Several additional parameters are available for controlling the extent
1630 to which line breaks in the input script influence the output script.
1631 In most cases, the default parameter values are set so that, if a choice
1632 is possible, the output style follows the input style. For example, if
1633 a short logical container is broken in the input script, then the
1634 default behavior is for it to remain broken in the output script.
1636 Most of the parameters in this section would only be required for a
1637 one-time conversion of a script from short container lengths to longer
1638 container lengths. The opposite effect, of converting long container
1639 lengths to shorter lengths, can be obtained by temporarily using a short
1640 maximum line length.
1644 =item B<-bol>, B<--break-at-old-logical-breakpoints>
1646 By default, if a logical expression is broken at a C<&&>, C<||>, C<and>,
1647 or C<or>, then the container will remain broken. Also, breaks
1648 at internal keywords C<if> and C<unless> will normally be retained.
1649 To prevent this, and thus form longer lines, use B<-nbol>.
1651 =item B<-bok>, B<--break-at-old-keyword-breakpoints>
1653 By default, perltidy will retain a breakpoint before keywords which may
1654 return lists, such as C<sort> and <map>. This allows chains of these
1655 operators to be displayed one per line. Use B<-nbok> to prevent
1656 retaining these breakpoints.
1658 =item B<-bot>, B<--break-at-old-trinary-breakpoints>
1660 By default, if a conditional (trinary) operator is broken at a C<:>,
1661 then it will remain broken. To prevent this, and thereby
1662 form longer lines, use B<-nbot>.
1664 =item B<-iob>, B<--ignore-old-breakpoints>
1666 Use this flag to tell perltidy to ignore existing line breaks to the
1667 maximum extent possible. This will tend to produce the longest possible
1668 containers, regardless of type, which do not exceed the line length
1673 =head2 Blank Line Control
1675 Blank lines can improve the readability of a script if they are carefully
1676 placed. Perltidy has several commands for controlling the insertion,
1677 retention, and removal of blank lines.
1681 =item B<-bbc>, B<--blanks-before-comments>
1683 A blank line will be introduced before a full-line comment. This is the
1684 default. Use B<-nbbc> or B<--noblanks-before-comments> to prevent
1685 such blank lines from being introduced.
1687 =item B<-bbs>, B<--blanks-before-subs>
1689 A blank line will be introduced before a B<sub> definition, unless it is a
1690 one-liner or preceded by a comment. A blank line will also be introduced
1691 before a B<package> statement and a B<BEGIN> and B<END> block. This is the
1692 default. The intention is to help display the structure of a program by
1693 setting off certain key sections of code. This is negated with B<-nbbs> or
1694 B<--noblanks-before-subs>.
1696 =item B<-bbb>, B<--blanks-before-blocks>
1698 A blank line will be introduced before blocks of coding delimited by
1699 B<for>, B<foreach>, B<while>, B<until>, and B<if>, B<unless>, in the following
1706 The block is not preceded by a comment.
1710 The block is not a one-line block.
1714 The number of consecutive non-blank lines at the current indentation depth is at least B<-lbl>
1719 This is the default. The intention of this option is to introduce
1720 some space within dense coding.
1721 This is negated with B<-nbbb> or B<--noblanks-before-blocks>.
1723 =item B<-lbl=n> B<--long-block-line-count=n>
1725 This controls how often perltidy is allowed to add blank lines before
1726 certain block types (see previous section). The default is 8. Entering
1727 a value of B<0> is equivalent to entering a very large number.
1729 =item B<-mbl=n> B<--maximum-consecutive-blank-lines=n>
1731 This parameter specifies the maximum number of consecutive blank lines
1732 in the output script. The default is n=1. If the input file has more
1733 than n consecutive blank lines, the number will be reduced to n.
1734 (This obviously does not apply to pod sections, here-documents, and quotes).
1736 =item B<-sob>, B<--swallow-optional-blank-lines>
1738 All blank lines not required by the above flags, B<-bbb>, B<-bbs>, and B<-bbc>,
1739 will be deleted. (But essential blank lines above pod documents will be
1740 retained). This is NOT the default.
1742 =item B<-nsob>, B<--noswallow-optional-blank-lines>
1744 Retain blank lines, including those which do not corresponding to flags
1745 B<-bbb>, B<-bbs>, and B<-bbc>. This is the default. The number of
1746 blanks retained is subject to the limit imposed by
1747 B<--maximum-consecutive-blank-lines>, however.
1753 A style refers to a convenient collection of existing parameters.
1757 =item B<-gnu>, B<--gnu-style>
1759 B<-gnu> gives an approximation to the GNU Coding Standards (which do
1760 not apply to perl) as they are sometimes implemented. At present, this
1761 style overrides the default style with the following parameters:
1763 -lp -bl -noll -pt=2 -bt=2 -sbt=2 -icp
1767 =head2 Other Controls
1771 =item Deleting selected text
1773 Perltidy can selectively delete comments and/or pod documentation. The
1774 command B<-dac> or B<--delete-all-comments> will delete all comments
1775 B<and> all pod documentation, leaving just code and any leading system
1778 The command B<-dp> or B<--delete-pod> will remove all pod documentation
1781 Two commands which remove comments (but not pod) are: B<-dbc> or
1782 B<--delete-block-comments> and B<-dsc> or B<--delete-side-comments>.
1783 (Hanging side comments will be deleted with block comments here.)
1785 The negatives of these commands also work, and are the defaults. When
1786 block comments are deleted, any leading 'hash-bang' will be retained.
1787 Also, if the B<-x> flag is used, any system commands before a leading
1788 hash-bang will be retained (even if they are in the form of comments).
1790 =item Writing selected text to a file
1792 When perltidy writes a formatted text file, it has the ability to also
1793 send selected text to a file with a F<.TEE> extension. This text can
1794 include comments and pod documentation.
1796 The command B<-tac> or B<--tee-all-comments> will write all comments
1797 B<and> all pod documentation.
1799 The command B<-tp> or B<--tee-pod> will write all pod documentation (but
1802 The commands which write comments (but not pod) are: B<-tbc> or
1803 B<--tee-block-comments> and B<-tsc> or B<--tee-side-comments>.
1804 (Hanging side comments will be written with block comments here.)
1806 The negatives of these commands also work, and are the defaults.
1808 =item Using a F<.perltidyrc> command file
1810 If you use perltidy frequently, you probably won't be happy until you
1811 create a F<.perltidyrc> file to avoid typing commonly-used parameters.
1812 Perltidy will first look in your current directory for a command file
1813 named F<.perltidyrc>. If it does not find one, it will continue looking
1814 for one in other standard locations.
1816 These other locations are system-dependent, and may be displayed with
1817 the command C<perltidy -dpro>. Under Unix systems, it will look for a
1818 F<.perltidyrc> file in the home directory, and then for a system-wide
1819 file F</usr/local/etc/perltidyrc>, and then it will look for
1820 F</etc/perltidyrc>. Note that these last two system-wide files do not
1821 have a leading dot. Further system-dependent information will be found
1822 in the INSTALL file distributed with perltidy.
1824 This file is free format, and simply a list of parameters, just as they
1825 would be entered on a command line. Any number of lines may be used,
1826 with any number of parameters per line, although it may be easiest to
1827 read with one parameter per line. Blank lines are ignored, and text
1828 after a '#' is ignored to the end of a line.
1830 Here is an example of a F<.perltidyrc> file:
1832 # This is a simple of a .perltidyrc configuration file
1833 # This implements a highly spaced style
1834 -se # errors to standard error output
1835 -w # show all warnings
1836 -bl # braces on new lines
1837 -pt=0 # parens not tight at all
1838 -bt=0 # braces not tight
1839 -sbt=0 # square brackets not tight
1841 The parameters in the F<.perltidyrc> file are installed first, so any
1842 parameters given on the command line will have priority over them.
1844 To avoid confusion, perltidy ignores any command in the .perltidyrc
1845 file which would cause some kind of dump and an exit. These are:
1847 -h -v -ddf -dln -dop -dsn -dtt -dwls -dwrs -ss
1849 There are several options may be helpful in debugging a F<.perltidyrc>
1856 A very helpful command is B<--dump-profile> or B<-dpro>. It writes a
1857 list of all configuration filenames tested to standard output, and
1858 if a file is found, it dumps the content to standard output before
1859 exiting. So, to find out where perltidy looks for its configuration
1860 files, and which one if any it selects, just enter
1866 It may be simplest to develop and test configuration files with
1867 alternative names, and invoke them with B<-pro=filename> on the command
1868 line. Then rename the desired file to F<.perltidyrc> when finished.
1872 The parameters in the F<.perltidyrc> file can be switched off with
1873 the B<-npro> option.
1877 The commands B<-dump-options>, B<-dump-defaults>, B<-dump-long-names>,
1878 and B<-dump-short-names>, all described below, may all be helpful.
1882 =item Creating a new abbreviation
1884 A special notation is available for use in a F<.perltidyrc> file
1885 for creating an abbreviation for a group
1886 of options. This can be used to create a
1887 shorthand for one or more styles which are frequently, but not always,
1888 used. The notation is to group the options within curly braces which
1889 are preceded by the name of the alias (without leading dashes), like this:
1896 where B<newword> is the abbreviation, and B<opt1>, etc, are existing parameters
1897 I<or other abbreviations>. The main syntax requirement is that
1898 the new abbreviation must begin on a new line.
1899 Space before and after the curly braces is optional.
1901 specific example, the following line
1903 airy {-bl -pt=0 -bt=0 -sbt=0}
1905 could be placed in a F<.perltidyrc> file, and then invoked at will with
1907 perltidy -airy somefile.pl
1909 (Either C<-airy> or C<--airy> may be used).
1911 =item Skipping leading non-perl commands with B<-x> or B<--look-for-hash-bang>
1913 If your script has leading lines of system commands or other text which
1914 are not valid perl code, and which are separated from the start of the
1915 perl code by a "hash-bang" line, ( a line of the form C<#!...perl> ),
1916 you must use the B<-x> flag to tell perltidy not to parse and format any
1917 lines before the "hash-bang" line. This option also invokes perl with a
1918 -x flag when checking the syntax. This option was originally added to
1919 allow perltidy to parse interactive VMS scripts, but it should be used
1920 for any script which is normally invoked with C<perl -x>.
1922 =item Making a file unreadable
1924 The goal of perltidy is to improve the readability of files, but there
1925 are two commands which have the opposite effect, B<--mangle> and
1926 B<--extrude>. They are actually
1927 merely aliases for combinations of other parameters. Both of these
1928 strip all possible whitespace, but leave comments and pod documents,
1929 so that they are essentially reversible. The
1930 difference between these is that B<--mangle> puts the fewest possible
1931 line breaks in a script while B<--extrude> puts the maximum possible.
1932 Note that these options do not provided any meaningful obfuscation, because
1933 perltidy can be used to reformat the files. They were originally
1934 developed to help test the tokenization logic of perltidy, but they
1936 One use for B<--mangle> is the following:
1938 perltidy --mangle myfile.pl -st | perltidy -o myfile.pl.new
1940 This will form the maximum possible number of one-line blocks (see next
1941 section), and can sometimes help clean up a badly formatted script.
1943 A similar technique can be used with B<--extrude> instead of B<--mangle>
1944 to make the minimum number of one-line blocks.
1946 Another use for B<--mangle> is to combine it with B<-dac> to reduce
1947 the file size of a perl script.
1949 =item One-line blocks
1951 There are a few points to note regarding one-line blocks. A one-line
1952 block is something like this,
1954 if ($x > 0) { $y = 1 / $x }
1956 where the contents within the curly braces is short enough to fit
1959 With few exceptions, perltidy retains existing one-line blocks, if it
1960 is possible within the line-length constraint, but it does not attempt
1961 to form new ones. In other words, perltidy will try to follow the
1962 one-line block style of the input file.
1964 If an existing one-line block is longer than the maximum line length,
1965 however, it will be broken into multiple lines. When this happens, perltidy
1966 checks for and adds any optional terminating semicolon (unless the B<-nasc>
1967 option is used) if the block is a code block.
1969 The main exception is that perltidy will attempt to form new one-line
1970 blocks following the keywords C<map>, C<eval>, and C<sort>, because
1971 these code blocks are often small and most clearly displayed in a single
1974 One-line block rules can conflict with the cuddled-else option. When
1975 the cuddled-else option is used, perltidy retains existing one-line
1976 blocks, even if they do not obey cuddled-else formatting.
1978 Occasionally, when one-line blocks get broken because they exceed the
1979 available line length, the formatting will violate the requested brace style.
1980 If this happens, reformatting the script a second time should correct
1985 The following flags are available for debugging:
1987 B<--dump-defaults> or B<-ddf> will write the default option set to standard output and quit
1989 B<--dump-profile> or B<-dpro> will write the name of the current
1990 configuration file and its contents to standard output and quit.
1992 B<--dump-options> or B<-dop> will write current option set to standard
1995 B<--dump-long-names> or B<-dln> will write all command line long names (passed
1996 to Get_options) to standard output and quit.
1998 B<--dump-short-names> or B<-dsn> will write all command line short names
1999 to standard output and quit.
2001 B<--dump-token-types> or B<-dtt> will write a list of all token types
2002 to standard output and quit.
2004 B<--dump-want-left-space> or B<-dwls> will write the hash %want_left_space
2005 to standard output and quit. See the section on controlling whitespace
2008 B<--dump-want-right-space> or B<-dwrs> will write the hash %want_right_space
2009 to standard output and quit. See the section on controlling whitespace
2012 B<-DEBUG> will write a file with extension F<.DEBUG> for each input file
2013 showing the tokenization of all lines of code.
2015 =item Working with MakeMaker, AutoLoader and SelfLoader
2017 The first $VERSION line of a file which might be eval'd by MakeMaker
2018 is passed through unchanged except for indentation.
2019 Use B<--nopass-version-line>, or B<-npvl>, to deactivate this feature.
2021 If the AutoLoader module is used, perltidy will continue formatting
2022 code after seeing an __END__ line.
2023 Use B<--nolook-for-autoloader>, or B<-nlal>, to deactivate this feature.
2025 Likewise, if the SelfLoader module is used, perltidy will continue formatting
2026 code after seeing a __DATA__ line.
2027 Use B<--nolook-for-selfloader>, or B<-nlsl>, to deactivate this feature.
2029 =item Working around problems with older version of Perl
2031 Perltidy contains a number of rules which help avoid known subtleties
2032 and problems with older versions of perl, and these rules always
2033 take priority over whatever formatting flags have been set. For example,
2034 perltidy will usually avoid starting a new line with a bareword, because
2035 this might cause problems if C<use strict> is active.
2037 There is no way to override these rules.
2045 =item The B<-html> master switch
2047 The flag B<-html> causes perltidy to write an html file with extension
2048 F<.html>. So, for example, the following command
2050 perltidy -html somefile.pl
2052 will produce a syntax-colored html file named F<somefile.pl.html>
2053 which may be viewed with a browser.
2055 B<Please Note>: In this case, perltidy does not do any formatting to the
2056 input file, and it does not write a formatted file with extension
2057 F<.tdy>. This means that two perltidy runs are required to create a
2058 fully reformatted, html copy of a script.
2060 =item The B<-pre> flag for code snippets
2062 When the B<-pre> flag is given, only the pre-formatted section, within
2063 the <PRE> and </PRE> tags, will be output. This simplifies inclusion
2064 of the output in other files. The default is to output a complete
2067 =item The B<-nnn> flag for line numbering
2069 When the B<-nnn> flag is given, the output lines will be numbered.
2071 =item The B<-toc>, or B<--html-table-of-contents> flag
2073 By default, a table of contents to packages and subroutines will be
2074 written at the start of html output. Use B<-ntoc> to prevent this.
2075 This might be useful, for example, for a pod document which contains a
2076 number of unrelated code snippets. This flag only influences the code
2077 table of contents; it has no effect on any table of contents produced by
2078 pod2html (see next item).
2080 =item The B<-pod>, or B<--pod2html> flag
2082 There are two options for formatting pod documentation. The default is
2083 to pass the pod through the Pod::Html module (which forms the basis of
2084 the pod2html utility). Any code sections are formatted by perltidy, and
2085 the results then merged. Note: perltidy creates a temporary file when
2086 Pod::Html is used; see L<"FILES">. Also, Pod::Html creates temporary
2087 files for its cache.
2089 NOTE: Perltidy counts the number of C<=cut> lines, and either moves the
2090 pod text to the top of the html file if there is one C<=cut>, or leaves
2091 the pod text in its original order (interleaved with code) otherwise.
2093 Most of the flags accepted by pod2html may be included in the perltidy
2094 command line, and they will be passed to pod2html. In some cases,
2095 the flags have a prefix C<pod> to emphasize that they are for the
2096 pod2html, and this prefix will be removed before they are passed to
2097 pod2html. The flags which have the additional C<pod> prefix are:
2099 --[no]podheader --[no]podindex --[no]podrecurse --[no]podquiet
2100 --[no]podverbose --podflush
2102 The flags which are unchanged from their use in pod2html are:
2104 --backlink=s --cachedir=s --htmlroot=s --libpods=s --title=s
2105 --podpath=s --podroot=s
2107 where 's' is an appropriate character string. Not all of these flags are
2108 available in older versions of Pod::Html. See your Pod::Html documentation for
2111 The alternative, indicated with B<-npod>, is not to use Pod::Html, but
2112 rather to format pod text in italics (or whatever the stylesheet
2113 indicates), without special html markup. This is useful, for example,
2114 if pod is being used as an alternative way to write comments.
2116 =item The B<-frm>, or B<--frames> flag
2118 By default, a single html output file is produced. This can be changed
2119 with the B<-frm> option, which creates a frame holding a table of
2120 contents in the left panel and the source code in the right side. This
2121 simplifies code browsing. Assume, for example, that the input file is
2122 F<MyModule.pm>. Then, for default file extension choices, these three
2123 files will be created:
2125 MyModule.pm.html - the frame
2126 MyModule.pm.toc.html - the table of contents
2127 MyModule.pm.src.html - the formatted source code
2129 Obviously this file naming scheme requires that output be directed to a real
2130 file (as opposed to, say, standard output). If this is not the
2131 case, or if the file extension is unknown, the B<-frm> option will be
2134 =item The B<-text=s>, or B<--html-toc-extension> flag
2136 Use this flag to specify the extra file extension of the table of contents file
2137 when html frames are used. The default is "toc".
2138 See L<Specifying File Extensions>.
2140 =item The B<-sext=s>, or B<--html-src-extension> flag
2142 Use this flag to specify the extra file extension of the content file when html
2143 frames are used. The default is "src".
2144 See L<Specifying File Extensions>.
2146 =item The B<-hent>, or B<--html-entities> flag
2148 This flag controls the use of Html::Entities for html formatting. By
2149 default, the module Html::Entities is used to encode special symbols.
2150 This may not be the right thing for some browser/language
2151 combinations. Use --nohtml-entities or -nhent to prevent this.
2155 Style sheets make it very convenient to control and adjust the
2156 appearance of html pages. The default behavior is to write a page of
2157 html with an embedded style sheet.
2159 An alternative to an embedded style sheet is to create a page with a
2160 link to an external style sheet. This is indicated with the
2161 B<-css=filename>, where the external style sheet is F<filename>. The
2162 external style sheet F<filename> will be created if and only if it does
2163 not exist. This option is useful for controlling multiple pages from a
2166 To cause perltidy to write a style sheet to standard output and exit,
2167 use the B<-ss>, or B<--stylesheet>, flag. This is useful if the style
2168 sheet could not be written for some reason, such as if the B<-pre> flag
2169 was used. Thus, for example,
2171 perltidy -html -ss >mystyle.css
2173 will write a style sheet with the default properties to file
2176 The use of style sheets is encouraged, but a web page without a style
2177 sheets can be created with the flag B<-nss>. Use this option if you
2178 must to be sure that older browsers (roughly speaking, versions prior to
2179 4.0 of Netscape Navigator and Internet Explorer) can display the
2180 syntax-coloring of the html files.
2182 =item Controlling HTML properties
2184 Note: It is usually more convenient to accept the default properties
2185 and then edit the stylesheet which is produced. However, this section
2186 shows how to control the properties with flags to perltidy.
2188 Syntax colors may be changed from their default values by flags of the either
2189 the long form, B<-html-color-xxxxxx=n>, or more conveniently the short form,
2190 B<-hcx=n>, where B<xxxxxx> is one of the following words, and B<x> is the
2191 corresponding abbreviation:
2194 ---------- -------- --
2197 identifier identifier i
2198 bareword, function bareword w
2200 quite, pattern quote q
2201 here doc text here-doc-text h
2202 here doc target here-doc-target hh
2203 punctuation punctuation pu
2205 structural braces structure s
2206 semicolon semicolon sc
2210 sub definition name subroutine m
2211 pod text pod-text pd
2213 A default set of colors has been defined, but they may be changed by providing
2214 values to any of the following parameters, where B<n> is either a 6 digit
2215 hex RGB color value or an ascii name for a color, such as 'red'.
2217 To illustrate, the following command will produce an html
2218 file F<somefile.pl.html> with "aqua" keywords:
2220 perltidy -html -hck=00ffff somefile.pl
2222 and this should be equivalent for most browsers:
2224 perltidy -html -hck=aqua somefile.pl
2226 Perltidy merely writes any non-hex names that it sees in the html file.
2227 The following 16 color names are defined in the HTML 3.2 standard:
2246 Many more names are supported in specific browsers, but it is safest
2247 to use the hex codes for other colors. Helpful color tables can be
2248 located with an internet search for "HTML color tables".
2250 Besides color, two other character attributes may be set: bold, and italics.
2251 To set a token type to use bold, use the flag
2252 B<-html-bold-xxxxxx> or B<-hbx>, where B<xxxxxx> or B<x> are the long
2253 or short names from the above table. Conversely, to set a token type to
2254 NOT use bold, use B<-nohtml-bold-xxxxxx> or B<-nhbx>.
2256 Likewise, to set a token type to use an italic font, use the flag
2257 B<-html-italic-xxxxxx> or B<-hix>, where again B<xxxxxx> or B<x> are the
2258 long or short names from the above table. And to set a token type to
2259 NOT use italics, use B<-nohtml-italic-xxxxxx> or B<-nhix>.
2261 For example, to use bold braces and lime color, non-bold, italics keywords the
2262 following command would be used:
2264 perltidy -html -hbs -hck=00FF00 -nhbk -hik somefile.pl
2266 The background color can be specified with B<-html-color-background=n>,
2267 or B<-hcbg=n> for short, where n is a 6 character hex RGB value. The
2268 default color of text is the value given to B<punctuation>, which is
2271 Here are some notes and hints:
2273 1. If you find a preferred set of these parameters, you may want
2274 to create a F<.perltidyrc> file containing them. See the perltidy man
2275 page for an explanation.
2277 2. Rather than specifying values for these parameters, it is probably
2278 easier to accept the defaults and then edit a style sheet. The style
2279 sheet contains comments which should make this easy.
2281 3. The syntax-colored html files can be very large, so it may be best to
2282 split large files into smaller pieces to improve download times.
2286 =head1 SOME COMMON INPUT CONVENTIONS
2288 =head2 Specifying Block Types
2290 Several parameters which refer to code block types may be customized by also
2291 specifying an associated list of block types. The type of a block is the name
2292 of the keyword which introduces that block, such as B<if>, B<else>, or B<sub>.
2293 An exception is a labeled block, which has no keyword, and should be specified
2296 For example, the following parameter specifies C<sub>, labels, C<BEGIN>, and
2299 -cscl="sub : BEGIN END"
2301 (the meaning of the -cscl parameter is described above.) Note that
2302 quotes are required around the list of block types because of the
2305 =head2 Specifying File Extensions
2307 Several parameters allow default file extensions to be overridden. For
2308 example, a backup file extension may be specified with B<-bext=ext>,
2309 where B<ext> is some new extension. In order to provides the user some
2310 flexibility, the following convention is used in all cases to decide if
2311 a leading '.' should be used. If the extension C<ext> begins with
2312 C<A-Z>, C<a-z>, or C<0-9>, then it will be appended to the filename with
2313 an intermediate '.' (or perhaps an '_' on VMS systems). Otherwise, it
2314 will be appended directly.
2316 For example, suppose the file is F<somefile.pl>. For C<-bext=old>, a '.' is
2317 added to give F<somefile.pl.old>. For C<-bext=.old>, no additional '.' is
2318 added, so again the backup file is F<somefile.pl.old>. For C<-bext=~>, then no
2319 dot is added, and the backup file will be F<somefile.pl~> .
2321 =head1 SWITCHES WHICH MAY BE NEGATED
2323 The following list shows all short parameter names which allow a prefix
2324 'n' to produce the negated form:
2326 D anl asc aws b bbb bbc bbs bli boc bok bol bot syn ce csc
2327 dac dbc dcsc dnl dws dp dpro dsm dsc ddf dln dop dsn dtt dwls dwrs
2328 f fll frm hsc html ibc icb icp iob isbc lp log lal x lsl ple pod bl
2329 sbl okw ola oll ple pvl q opt sbc sfs ssc sts se st sob
2330 t tac tbc toc tp tsc tqw w
2332 Equivalently, the prefix 'no' or 'no-' on the corresponding long names may be
2339 =item Parsing Limitations
2341 Perltidy should work properly on most perl scripts. It does a lot of
2342 self-checking, but still, it is possible that an error could be
2343 introduced and go undetected. Therefore, it is essential to make
2344 careful backups and to test reformatted scripts.
2346 The main current limitation is that perltidy does not scan modules
2347 included with 'use' statements. This makes it necessary to guess the
2348 context of any bare words introduced by such modules. Perltidy has good
2349 guessing algorithms, but they are not infallible. When it must guess,
2350 it leaves a message in the log file.
2352 If you encounter a bug, please report it.
2354 =item What perltidy does not parse and format
2356 Perltidy indents but does not reformat comments and C<qw> quotes.
2357 Perltidy does not in any way modify the contents of here documents or
2358 quoted text, even if they contain source code. (You could, however,
2359 reformat them separately). Perltidy does not format 'format' sections
2360 in any way. And, of course, it does not modify pod documents.
2368 =item Temporary files
2370 Under the -html option with the default --pod2html flag, a temporary file is
2371 required to pass text to Pod::Html. Unix systems will try to use the POSIX
2372 tmpnam() function. Otherwise the file F<perltidy.TMP> will be temporarily
2373 created in the current working directory.
2375 =item Special files when standard input is used
2377 When standard input is used, the log file, if saved, is F<perltidy.LOG>,
2378 and any errors are written to F<perltidy.ERR> unless the B<-se> flag is
2379 set. These are saved in the current working directory.
2381 =item Files overwritten
2383 The following file extensions are used by perltidy, and files with these
2384 extensions may be overwritten or deleted: F<.ERR>, F<.LOG>, F<.TEE>,
2385 and/or F<.tdy>, F<.html>, and F<.bak>, depending on the run type and
2388 =item Files extensions limitations
2390 Perltidy does not operate on files for which the run could produce a file with
2391 a duplicated file extension. These extensions include F<.LOG>, F<.ERR>,
2392 F<.TEE>, and perhaps F<.tdy> and F<.bak>, depending on the run type. The
2393 purpose of this rule is to prevent generating confusing filenames such as
2394 F<somefile.tdy.tdy.tdy>.
2400 perlstyle(1), Perl::Tidy(3)
2404 This man page documents perltidy version 20031021.
2408 Michael Cartmell supplied code for adaptation to VMS and helped with
2411 Yves Orton supplied code for adaptation to the various versions
2414 Axel Rose supplied a patch for MacPerl.
2416 Hugh S. Myers designed and implemented the initial Perl::Tidy module interface.
2418 Many others have supplied key ideas, suggestions, and bug reports;
2419 see the CHANGES file.
2424 email: perltidy at users.sourceforge.net
2425 http://perltidy.sourceforge.net
2429 Copyright (c) 2000-2003 by Steve Hancock
2433 This package is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify it
2434 under the terms of the "GNU General Public License".
2436 Please refer to the file "COPYING" for details.
2440 This package is distributed in the hope that it will be useful,
2441 but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of
2442 MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE.
2444 See the "GNU General Public License" for more details.
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