Code formatting

Reformat a code fragment in a file

1. In the editor, select a code fragment you want to reformat.

2. From the main menu, select Code | Reformat Code or press Ctrl+Alt+L.

   note

   If you don't select a code fragment, CLion will reformat the whole file.

Reformat a file

1. Either open your file in the editor and press Ctrl+Alt+Shift+L or in the Project tool window, right-click the file and select Reformat Code.

   note

   Keep pressing Shift and select additional files for a group reformatting.

2. In the dialog that opens, if you need, select the following reformatting options:

   

   • Optimize imports: select this option if you want to remove unused imports, add missing ones, or organize import statements.

   • Code cleanup: select this option to run the code cleanup inspections.

3. Click OK.

   If you want to see the exact changes made to your code during the reformatting, use the Local History feature.

Reformat line indents

You can reformat line indents based on the specified settings.

1. While in the editor, select the necessary code fragment and press Ctrl+Alt+I.

2. If you need to adjust indentation settings, in the Settings/Preferences dialog Ctrl+Alt+S, go to Editor | Code Style.

3. On the appropriate language page, on the Tabs and Indents tab, specify the appropriate indents options and click OK.

note

In some cases, the option Detect and use existing file indents for editing located in the Indent Detection section in File | Settings/Preferences | Editor | Code Style can override your settings. In this case CLion will display a notification.

Automatically reformat code on save

You can configure the IDE to reformat code in modified files automatically when your changes are saved.

1. In the Settings/Preferences dialog Ctrl+Alt+S, select Tools | Actions on Save.

2. Enable the Reformat code option.

   Additionally, you can click Configure scope to specify the patterns of filenames and directories that you want to exclude from reformatting.

Exclude files from reformatting

You can exclude a group of files and directories from reformatting and import optimization.

1. In the Settings/Preferences dialog Ctrl+Alt+S, go to Editor | Code Style.

2. Switch to the Formatter tab and in the Do not format field, enter the files and directories that you want to exclude using a glob pattern.

   You can specify several glob patterns separated with a semicolon ;. If you click , the field will expand, and each pattern will be shown on a separate line.

3. Apply the changes and close the dialog.

   

Exclude code fragments from reformatting in the editor

1. In the Settings/Preferences dialog Ctrl+Alt+S, go to Editor | Code Style.

2. Switch to the Formatter tab and enable the Turn formatter on/off with markers in code comments option.

3. In the editor, at the beginning of a region that you want to exclude, create a line comment Ctrl+/ and type @formatter:off. At the end of the region, create another line comment and type @formatter:on.

   The code between the markers won't be reformatted.

Keep existing formatting

You can select formatting rules which will be ignored when you reformat the code. For example, you can adjust the IDE to keep simple methods and functions in one line, whereas normally they are expanded into multiple lines after code reformatting.

1. Go to Settings/Preferences | Editor | Code Style, select your programming language, and open the Wrapping and Braces tab.

2. In the Keep when reformatting section, select the formatting rules which you want to ignore and deselect those which should be applied.

3. Reformat your code (Ctrl+Alt+L).

CLion will reformat your code in accordance with the current style settings, keeping existing formatting for the rules which you've selected.