5 `ClangFormat` describes a set of tools that are built on top of
6 :doc:`LibFormat`. It can support your workflow in a variety of ways including a
7 standalone tool and editor integrations.
13 :program:`clang-format` is located in `clang/tools/clang-format` and can be used
14 to format C/C++/Java/JavaScript/JSON/Objective-C/Protobuf/C# code.
18 .. code-block:: console
21 OVERVIEW: A tool to format C/C++/Java/JavaScript/JSON/Objective-C/Protobuf/C# code.
23 If no arguments are specified, it formats the code from standard input
24 and writes the result to the standard output.
25 If <file>s are given, it reformats the files. If -i is specified
26 together with <file>s, the files are edited in-place. Otherwise, the
27 result is written to the standard output.
29 USAGE: clang-format [options] [@<file>] [<file> ...]
35 --Werror - If set, changes formatting warnings to errors
36 --Wno-error=<value> - If set don't error out on the specified warning type.
37 =unknown - If set, unknown format options are only warned about.
38 This can be used to enable formatting, even if the
39 configuration contains unknown (newer) options.
40 Use with caution, as this might lead to dramatically
41 differing format depending on an option being
43 --assume-filename=<string> - Set filename used to determine the language and to find
45 Only used when reading from stdin.
46 If this is not passed, the .clang-format file is searched
47 relative to the current working directory when reading stdin.
48 Unrecognized filenames are treated as C++.
52 JavaScript: .mjs .js .ts
55 Proto: .proto .protodevel
57 TextProto: .txtpb .textpb .pb.txt .textproto .asciipb
58 Verilog: .sv .svh .v .vh
59 --cursor=<uint> - The position of the cursor when invoking
60 clang-format from an editor integration
61 --dry-run - If set, do not actually make the formatting changes
62 --dump-config - Dump configuration options to stdout and exit.
63 Can be used with -style option.
64 --fail-on-incomplete-format - If set, fail with exit code 1 on incomplete format.
65 --fallback-style=<string> - The name of the predefined style used as a
66 fallback in case clang-format is invoked with
67 -style=file, but can not find the .clang-format
68 file to use. Defaults to 'LLVM'.
69 Use -fallback-style=none to skip formatting.
70 --ferror-limit=<uint> - Set the maximum number of clang-format errors to emit
71 before stopping (0 = no limit).
72 Used only with --dry-run or -n
73 --files=<filename> - A file containing a list of files to process, one per line.
74 -i - Inplace edit <file>s, if specified.
75 --length=<uint> - Format a range of this length (in bytes).
76 Multiple ranges can be formatted by specifying
77 several -offset and -length pairs.
78 When only a single -offset is specified without
79 -length, clang-format will format up to the end
81 Can only be used with one input file.
82 --lines=<string> - <start line>:<end line> - format a range of
84 Multiple ranges can be formatted by specifying
85 several -lines arguments.
86 Can't be used with -offset and -length.
87 Can only be used with one input file.
88 -n - Alias for --dry-run
89 --offset=<uint> - Format a range starting at this byte offset.
90 Multiple ranges can be formatted by specifying
91 several -offset and -length pairs.
92 Can only be used with one input file.
93 --output-replacements-xml - Output replacements as XML.
94 --qualifier-alignment=<string> - If set, overrides the qualifier alignment style
95 determined by the QualifierAlignment style flag
96 --sort-includes - If set, overrides the include sorting behavior
97 determined by the SortIncludes style flag
98 --style=<string> - Set coding style. <string> can be:
99 1. A preset: LLVM, GNU, Google, Chromium, Microsoft,
101 2. 'file' to load style configuration from a
102 .clang-format file in one of the parent directories
103 of the source file (for stdin, see --assume-filename).
104 If no .clang-format file is found, falls back to
106 --style=file is the default.
107 3. 'file:<format_file_path>' to explicitly specify
108 the configuration file.
109 4. "{key: value, ...}" to set specific parameters, e.g.:
110 --style="{BasedOnStyle: llvm, IndentWidth: 8}"
111 --verbose - If set, shows the list of processed files
115 --help - Display available options (--help-hidden for more)
116 --help-list - Display list of available options (--help-list-hidden for more)
117 --version - Display the version of this program
122 When the desired code formatting style is different from the available options,
123 the style can be customized using the ``-style="{key: value, ...}"`` option or
124 by putting your style configuration in the ``.clang-format`` or ``_clang-format``
125 file in your project's directory and using ``clang-format -style=file``.
127 An easy way to create the ``.clang-format`` file is:
129 .. code-block:: console
131 clang-format -style=llvm -dump-config > .clang-format
133 Available style options are described in :doc:`ClangFormatStyleOptions`.
138 You can create ``.clang-format-ignore`` files to make ``clang-format`` ignore
139 certain files. A ``.clang-format-ignore`` file consists of patterns of file path
140 names. It has the following format:
142 * A blank line is skipped.
143 * Leading and trailing spaces of a line are trimmed.
144 * A line starting with a hash (``#``) is a comment.
145 * A non-comment line is a single pattern.
146 * The slash (``/``) is used as the directory separator.
147 * A pattern is relative to the directory of the ``.clang-format-ignore`` file
148 (or the root directory if the pattern starts with a slash). Patterns
149 containing drive names (e.g. ``C:``) are not supported.
150 * Patterns follow the rules specified in `POSIX 2.13.1, 2.13.2, and Rule 1 of
151 2.13.3 <https://pubs.opengroup.org/onlinepubs/9699919799/utilities/
152 V3_chap02.html#tag_18_13>`_.
153 * A pattern is negated if it starts with a bang (``!``).
155 To match all files in a directory, use e.g. ``foo/bar/*``. To match all files in
156 the directory of the ``.clang-format-ignore`` file, use ``*``.
157 Multiple ``.clang-format-ignore`` files are supported similar to the
158 ``.clang-format`` files, with a lower directory level file voiding the higher
164 There is an integration for :program:`vim` which lets you run the
165 :program:`clang-format` standalone tool on your current buffer, optionally
166 selecting regions to reformat. The integration has the form of a `python`-file
167 which can be found under `clang/tools/clang-format/clang-format.py`.
169 This can be integrated by adding the following to your `.vimrc`:
174 map <C-K> :pyf <path-to-this-file>/clang-format.py<cr>
175 imap <C-K> <c-o>:pyf <path-to-this-file>/clang-format.py<cr>
176 elseif has('python3')
177 map <C-K> :py3f <path-to-this-file>/clang-format.py<cr>
178 imap <C-K> <c-o>:py3f <path-to-this-file>/clang-format.py<cr>
181 The first line enables :program:`clang-format` for NORMAL and VISUAL mode, the
182 second line adds support for INSERT mode. Change "C-K" to another binding if
183 you need :program:`clang-format` on a different key (C-K stands for Ctrl+k).
185 With this integration you can press the bound key and clang-format will
186 format the current line in NORMAL and INSERT mode or the selected region in
187 VISUAL mode. The line or region is extended to the next bigger syntactic
190 It operates on the current, potentially unsaved buffer and does not create
191 or save any files. To revert a formatting, just undo.
193 An alternative option is to format changes when saving a file and thus to
194 have a zero-effort integration into the coding workflow. To do this, add this to
199 function! Formatonsave()
201 pyf <path-to-this-file>/clang-format.py
203 autocmd BufWritePre *.h,*.cc,*.cpp call Formatonsave()
209 Similar to the integration for :program:`vim`, there is an integration for
210 :program:`emacs`. It can be found at `clang/tools/clang-format/clang-format.el`
211 and used by adding this to your `.emacs`:
213 .. code-block:: common-lisp
215 (load "<path-to-clang>/tools/clang-format/clang-format.el")
216 (global-set-key [C-M-tab] 'clang-format-region)
218 This binds the function `clang-format-region` to C-M-tab, which then formats the
219 current line or selected region.
225 :program:`clang-format` cannot be used as a text filter with BBEdit, but works
226 well via a script. The AppleScript to do this integration can be found at
227 `clang/tools/clang-format/clang-format-bbedit.applescript`; place a copy in
228 `~/Library/Application Support/BBEdit/Scripts`, and edit the path within it to
229 point to your local copy of :program:`clang-format`.
231 With this integration you can select the script from the Script menu and
232 :program:`clang-format` will format the selection. Note that you can rename the
233 menu item by renaming the script, and can assign the menu item a keyboard
234 shortcut in the BBEdit preferences, under Menus & Shortcuts.
240 :program:`clang-format` is integrated into `CLion <https://www.jetbrains
241 .com/clion/>`_ as an alternative code formatter. CLion turns it on
242 automatically when there is a ``.clang-format`` file under the project root.
243 Code style rules are applied as you type, including indentation,
244 auto-completion, code generation, and refactorings.
246 :program:`clang-format` can also be enabled without a ``.clang-format`` file.
247 In this case, CLion prompts you to create one based on the current IDE settings
248 or the default LLVM style.
251 Visual Studio Integration
252 =========================
254 Download the latest Visual Studio extension from the `alpha build site
255 <https://llvm.org/builds/>`_. The default key-binding is Ctrl-R,Ctrl-F.
258 Visual Studio Code Integration
259 ==============================
261 Get the latest Visual Studio Code extension from the `Visual Studio Marketplace <https://marketplace.visualstudio.com/items?itemName=xaver.clang-format>`_. The default key-binding is Alt-Shift-F.
266 The script `clang/tools/clang-format/git-clang-format` can be used to
267 format just the lines touched in git commits:
269 .. code-block:: console
271 % git clang-format -h
272 usage: git clang-format [OPTIONS] [<commit>] [<commit>|--staged] [--] [<file>...]
274 If zero or one commits are given, run clang-format on all lines that differ
275 between the working directory and <commit>, which defaults to HEAD. Changes are
276 only applied to the working directory, or in the stage/index.
279 To format staged changes, i.e everything that's been `git add`ed:
282 To also format everything touched in the most recent commit:
283 git clang-format HEAD~1
285 If you're on a branch off main, to format everything touched on your branch:
286 git clang-format main
288 If two commits are given (requires --diff), run clang-format on all lines in the
289 second <commit> that differ from the first <commit>.
291 The following git-config settings set the default of the corresponding option:
294 clangFormat.extensions
297 positional arguments:
298 <commit> revision from which to compute the diff
299 <file>... if specified, only consider differences in these files
302 -h, --help show this help message and exit
303 --binary BINARY path to clang-format
304 --commit COMMIT default commit to use if none is specified
305 --diff print a diff instead of applying the changes
306 --diffstat print a diffstat instead of applying the changes
307 --extensions EXTENSIONS
308 comma-separated list of file extensions to format, excluding the period and case-insensitive
309 -f, --force allow changes to unstaged files
310 -p, --patch select hunks interactively
311 -q, --quiet print less information
312 --staged, --cached format lines in the stage instead of the working dir
313 --style STYLE passed to clang-format
314 -v, --verbose print extra information
317 Script for patch reformatting
318 =============================
320 The python script `clang/tools/clang-format/clang-format-diff.py` parses the
321 output of a unified diff and reformats all contained lines with
322 :program:`clang-format`.
324 .. code-block:: console
326 usage: clang-format-diff.py [-h] [-i] [-p NUM] [-regex PATTERN] [-iregex PATTERN] [-sort-includes] [-v] [-style STYLE]
327 [-fallback-style FALLBACK_STYLE] [-binary BINARY]
329 This script reads input from a unified diff and reformats all the changed
330 lines. This is useful to reformat all the lines touched by a specific patch.
331 Example usage for git/svn users:
333 git diff -U0 --no-color --relative HEAD^ | clang-format-diff.py -p1 -i
334 svn diff --diff-cmd=diff -x-U0 | clang-format-diff.py -i
336 It should be noted that the filename contained in the diff is used unmodified
337 to determine the source file to update. Users calling this script directly
338 should be careful to ensure that the path in the diff is correct relative to the
339 current working directory.
342 -h, --help show this help message and exit
343 -i apply edits to files instead of displaying a diff
344 -p NUM strip the smallest prefix containing P slashes
345 -regex PATTERN custom pattern selecting file paths to reformat (case sensitive, overrides -iregex)
346 -iregex PATTERN custom pattern selecting file paths to reformat (case insensitive, overridden by -regex)
347 -sort-includes let clang-format sort include blocks
348 -v, --verbose be more verbose, ineffective without -i
349 -style STYLE formatting style to apply (LLVM, GNU, Google, Chromium, Microsoft, Mozilla, WebKit)
350 -fallback-style FALLBACK_STYLE
351 The name of the predefined style used as a fallback in case clang-format is invoked with-style=file, but can not
352 find the .clang-formatfile to use.
353 -binary BINARY location of binary to use for clang-format
355 To reformat all the lines in the latest Mercurial/:program:`hg` commit, do:
357 .. code-block:: console
359 hg diff -U0 --color=never | clang-format-diff.py -i -p1
361 The option `-U0` will create a diff without context lines (the script would format
364 These commands use the file paths shown in the diff output
365 so they will only work from the root of the repository.