summaryrefslogtreecommitdiffstats
path: root/indenters/examples/pindent.txt
blob: 55ddefbda1dd69cf39c98b6b84935fefab0f0f31 (plain)
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
26
27
28
29
30
31
32
33
34
35
36
37
38
39
40
41
42
43
44
45
46
47
48
49
50
51
52
53
54
55
56
57
58
59
60
61
62
63
64
65
66
67
68
69
70
71
72
73
74
75
# This file contains a class and a main program that perform three
# related (though complimentary) formatting operations on Python
# programs.  When called as "pindent -c", it takes a valid Python
# program as input and outputs a version augmented with block-closing
# comments.  When called as "pindent -d", it assumes its input is a
# Python program with block-closing comments and outputs a commentless
# version.   When called as "pindent -r" it assumes its input is a
# Python program with block-closing comments but with its indentation
# messed up, and outputs a properly indented version.

# A "block-closing comment" is a comment of the form '# end <keyword>'
# where <keyword> is the keyword that opened the block.  If the
# opening keyword is 'def' or 'class', the function or class name may
# be repeated in the block-closing comment as well.  Here is an
# example of a program fully augmented with block-closing comments:

# def foobar(a, b):
#    if a == b:
#        a = a+1
#    elif a < b:
#        b = b-1
#        if b > a: a = a-1
#        # end if
#    else:
#        print 'oops!'
#    # end if
# # end def foobar

# Note that only the last part of an if...elif...else... block needs a
# block-closing comment; the same is true for other compound
# statements (e.g. try...except).  Also note that "short-form" blocks
# like the second 'if' in the example must be closed as well;
# otherwise the 'else' in the example would be ambiguous (remember
# that indentation is not significant when interpreting block-closing
# comments).

# The operations are idempotent (i.e. applied to their own output
# they yield an identical result).  Running first "pindent -c" and
# then "pindent -r" on a valid Python program produces a program that
# is semantically identical to the input (though its indentation may
# be different). Running "pindent -e" on that output produces a
# program that only differs from the original in indentation.

# Other options:
# -s stepsize: set the indentation step size (default 8)
# -t tabsize : set the number of spaces a tab character is worth (default 8)
# -e         : expand TABs into spaces
# file ...   : input file(s) (default standard input)
# The results always go to standard output

# Caveats:
# - comments ending in a backslash will be mistaken for continued lines
# - continuations using backslash are always left unchanged
# - continuations inside parentheses are not extra indented by -r
#   but must be indented for -c to work correctly (this breaks
#   idempotency!)
# - continued lines inside triple-quoted strings are totally garbled

# Secret feature:
# - On input, a block may also be closed with an "end statement" --
#   this is a block-closing comment without the '#' sign.

# Possible improvements:
# - check syntax based on transitions in 'next' table
# - better error reporting
# - better error recovery
# - check identifier after class/def

# The following wishes need a more complete tokenization of the source:
# - Don't get fooled by comments ending in backslash
# - reindent continuation lines indicated by backslash
# - handle continuation lines inside parentheses/braces/brackets
# - handle triple quoted strings spanning lines
# - realign comments
# - optionally do much more thorough reformatting, a la C indent