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  1. Configure the IDE
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  3. Format files from the command line

Format files from the command line

Last modified: 27 October 2021

CLion can format your code according to the configured code style settings. You can also apply your code style formatting to the specified files from the command line.

The command-line formatter launches an instance of CLion in the background and applies the formatting. It will not work if another instance of CLion is already running. In this case, you can perform code style formatting from the running instance. Use the command-line formatter for automated regular maintenance of a large codebase with many contributors to ensure a consistent coding style.

To be able to format files, install and enable plugins with support for the corresponding file types in CLion (for example, the Shell Script plugin to format shell script files).

You can find the executable for running CLion in the installation directory under bin. To use this executable as the command-line launcher, add it to your system PATH as described in Command-line interface.

Syntax
clion64.exe format [<options>] <path ...>
Examples

Format two specific files from the C:\Data\src directory using the default code style settings:

>
clion64.exe format C:\Data\src\hello.cpp C:\Data\src\world.cpp

Recursively format all files in the C:\Data\src directory including all subdirectories using the default code style settings:

>
clion64.exe format -r C:\Data\src

Non-recursively format all the .cpp and .h files in the C:\Data\src directory using code style settings from C:\Data\settings.xml:

>
clion64.exe format -s C:\Data\settings.xml -m *.cpp,*.h C:\Data\src

Options

Option

Description

-h

Show the help message and quit.

-m|-mask

Specify a comma-separated list of file masks that define the files to be processed. You can use the * (any string) and ? (any single character) wildcards.

-r|-R

Process specified directories recursively.

-s|-settings

Specify the code style settings file to use for formatting. This can be one of the following:

  • A file with the exported code style settings: open the Editor | Code Style page of the IDE settings Ctrl+Alt+S, click The Show Scheme Actions button, and select Export.

  • The .idea/codeStyleSettings.xml file stored in your project directory (for CLion version 2017.2 and earlier).

  • The .idea/codeStyles/Project.xml file stored in your project directory (for CLion version 2017.3 and later).

note

If this option is not specified, the default code style settings will be used.