Is there an automatic code formatter for C#?

Question

In my work I deal mostly with C# code nowadays, with a sprinkle of java from time to time. What I absolutely love about Eclipse (and I know people using it daily love it even more) is a sophisticated code formatter, able to mould code into any coding standard one might imagine. Is there such a tool for C#? Visual Studio code formatting (Crtl+K, Crtl+D) is subpar and StyleCop only checks the source without fixing it.

My dream tool would run from console (for easy inclusion in automated builds or pre-commit hooks and for execution on Linux + Mono), have text-file based configuration easy to store in a project repository and a graphical rule editor with preview - just like the Eclipse Code Formatter does.

score 49 · Accepted Answer · edited Jun 13 '20 at 18:17

For Visual Studio, take a look at ReSharper. It's an awesome tool and a definite must-have. Versions after 4.0 have the code formatting and clean-up feature that you are looking for. There's also plugin integration with StyleCop, including formatting settings file.

You'll probably want Agent Smith plugin as well, for spell-checking the identifiers and comments. ReSharper supports per-solution formatting setting files, which can be checked into version control system and shared by the whole team. The keyboard shortcut for code cleanup is Ctrl + E, C.

In 'vanilla' Visual Studio, the current file can be automatically formatted with Ctrl + K, Ctrl + D, and Ctrl + K, Ctrl + F formats the selected text.

As for a runs-everywhere command line tool to be used with commit hooks, try NArrange. It's free, can process whole directories at once and runs on Mono as well as on Microsoft .NET.

Some people also use the Artistic Style command line tool, although it requires Perl and works better with C/C++ code than with C#.

works well... and it does more than format code! – jle Apr 22 '09 at 13:58 — jle, Apr 22 '09 at 13:58

score 24 · Answer 2 · edited Jun 13 '20 at 18:50

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The .NET Foundation just released their code formatting tool on GitHub

https://github.com/dotnet/codeformatter

It uses the Roslyn compiler services to parse project documents and convert them to their expected formatting conventions. They're applying this to some of the very old CLR code in order to make all the projects consistent.

edited Jun 13 '20 at 18:50

Peter Mortensen

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answered Feb 10 '15 at 00:23

Paul Turner

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Be sure to configure your own Editor Config file: http://editorconfig.org/ – Shaun Luttin Jun 24 '15 at 20:23
https://github.com/dotnet/codeformatter/releases – caoanan Jul 24 '15 at 10:01
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Can't get it to work, it just does nothing. And why does this tool want a project file anyway? How is formatting not a per-file job? – John Jul 09 '19 at 15:54
Their is also CSharpier https://github.com/belav/csharpier (inspired by Prettier) – aloisdg Jan 05 '22 at 22:28
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Note that this tool seems to have been replaced by [`dotnet-format`](https://github.com/dotnet/format). – Chris Long Jan 29 '22 at 21:55

score 15 · Answer 3 · edited Aug 20 '15 at 22:17

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Further to @Chris Karcher's answer - you can also automatically format the whole document by hitting Ctrl+K, Ctrl+D.

These formatting features work on a variety of file formats - it works wonders on ugly HTML.

edited Aug 20 '15 at 22:17

Valery Viktorovsky

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answered Aug 27 '08 at 14:19

Ian Nelson

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score 6 · Answer 4 · answered Apr 22 '09 at 13:55

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Another option: NArrange;

free
console based (so good for commit hooks etc, but can still be used as an "External Tool" in VS)
flexible config file

answered Apr 22 '09 at 13:55

Marc Gravell

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I haven't managed to use NArrange for code formatting (yet?). All it seemed to do was randomize the order of members in my source files based on basically arbitrary criteria such as access level or member type, but erroneous indentation and operator spacing within methods was left untouched. In fact, the NArrange docs even say "NArrange does not currently parse to the statement level of constructors, methods and properties" - if this means what I think it means, NArrange may be useful for code reorganization, but doesn't really do much formatting. – O. R. Mapper Jan 23 '13 at 14:59

score 5 · Answer 5 · edited Jun 13 '20 at 18:19

5

For me, Ctrl + Shift + F maps to Find in Files. When I need to format code, I highlight it and hit Ctrl + K, Ctrl + F.

I understand this doesn't really address automated formatting. I just wanted to clarify for those who may not know this feature even exists in Visual Studio.

edited Jun 13 '20 at 18:19

Peter Mortensen

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answered Aug 27 '08 at 13:43

Chris Karcher

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score 3 · Answer 6 · answered Aug 27 '08 at 13:42

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I've heard only good things about ReSharper. It's on my to-learn list.

answered Aug 27 '08 at 13:42

Zack Peterson

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But it costs USD 1000 per year? – Peter Mortensen Jun 13 '20 at 01:53

score 3 · Answer 7 · edited Jun 13 '20 at 18:48

http://www.sourceformat.com/

This tool is around (~30$). I tried it and it works nice (with multiple languages).

I like this tool the best because it doesn't check code file for correctness. I can post code snippets from the Internet and it will translate them correctly no matter if they are in missing parts of the code. Other tools I try complain in that cases. The tool can also be integrated easily into editors as it allows command line driving.

Other tools:

http://www.polystyle.com/index.jsp

http://astyle.sourceforge.net/ (open source)

score 2 · Answer 8 · answered Aug 27 '08 at 13:33

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Not directly, but I use the Agent Smith plugin for R# to do this. Unfortunately, R# isn't free.

answered Aug 27 '08 at 13:33

JamesSugrue

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score 2 · Answer 9 · answered Aug 27 '08 at 13:47

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Also take a look at Microsoft StyleCop

answered Aug 27 '08 at 13:47

SQLMenace

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Or its replacement https://github.com/DotNetAnalyzers/StyleCopAnalyzers – cjbarth Jun 12 '22 at 01:44

score 1 · Answer 10 · edited Jun 13 '20 at 18:49

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Maybe you could be interested in this free Addin for Visual Studio 2010/2012.

edited Jun 13 '20 at 18:49

Peter Mortensen

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answered Sep 22 '13 at 16:42

NinjaCross

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score 1 · Answer 11 · edited Jun 13 '20 at 18:44

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I haven't tried this (found it through Google). It might work. http://www.semdesigns.com/Products/Formatters/CSharpFormatter.html. It's fairly cheap at USD50, but a trial is not available.

edited Jun 13 '20 at 18:44

Peter Mortensen

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answered Mar 03 '09 at 22:33

Jan

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score 1 · Answer 12 · edited May 23 '17 at 11:54

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See this previous question:

Is there any tool for reformatting C# code?

Searching for [c#] astyle shows up some more previous questions too.

edited May 23 '17 at 11:54

Community

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answered Apr 22 '09 at 12:55

Simon Steele

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score 0 · Answer 13 · answered Nov 27 '12 at 05:42

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Here is an open source code formatting tool which has amazing features

CodeMaid

answered Nov 27 '12 at 05:42

Vikram

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this addon is not able to formatting the code, only comments formatting is supported – binball Apr 10 '15 at 10:10

score 0 · Answer 14 · edited Jun 13 '20 at 18:51

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If you want to do it online, have a freecodeformat.

edited Jun 13 '20 at 18:51

Peter Mortensen

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answered Mar 03 '17 at 16:06

Alexandre Nascimento

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Is there an automatic code formatter for C#?

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