NAME
    perltidy - a Perl script indenter and reformatter

SYNOPSIS
        perltidy [ options ] file1 file2 file3 ...
                (output goes to file1.tdy, file2.tdy, file3.tdy, ...)
        perltidy [ options ] file1 -o outfile
        perltidy [ options ] file1 -st >outfile
        perltidy [ options ] <infile >outfile

DESCRIPTION
    Perltidy reads a Perl script and writes an indented, reformatted script.
    The default formatting tries to follow the recommendations in
    perlstyle(1).

    Many users will find enough information in the section on "EXAMPLES" to
    get started. New users may benefit from the short tutorial which comes
    with the distribution.

    The formatting can be controlled in detail with numerous input
    parameters, which are described in the section on "OPTIONS".

EXAMPLES
      perltidy somefile.pl

    This will produce a file somefile.pl.tdy containing the script
    reformatted using the default options, which approximate the style
    suggested in perlstyle(1). Perltidy never changes the input file.

      perltidy *.pl

    Execute perltidy on all .pl files in the current directory with the
    default options. The output will be in files with an appended .tdy
    extension. For any file with an error, there will be a file with
    extension .ERR.

      perltidy -gnu somefile.pl

    Execute perltidy on file somefile.pl with a style which approximates the
    GNU Coding Standards for C programs. The output will be somefile.pl.tdy.

      perltidy -i=3 somefile.pl

    Execute perltidy on file somefile.pl, with 3 columns for each level of
    indentation (-i=3) instead of the default 4 columns. There will not be
    any tabs in the reformatted script, except for any which already exist
    in comments, pod documents, quotes, and here documents. Output will be
    somefile.pl.tdy.

      perltidy -i=3 -t somefile.pl

    Same as the previous example, except that each set of 3 columns of
    indentation (-i=3) will be represented by one leading tab character
    (-t).

      perltidy -ce -l=72 somefile.pl

    Execute perltidy on file somefile.pl with all defaults except use
    "cuddled elses" (-ce) and a maximum line length of 72 columns (-l=72)
    instead of the default 80 columns.

      perltidy -g somefile.pl

    Execute perltidy on file somefile.pl and save a log file somefile.pl.LOG
    which shows the nesting of braces, parentheses, and square brackets at
    the start of every line.

OPTIONS
    The entire command line is scanned for options, and they are processed
    before any files are processed. As a result, it does not matter whether
    flags are before or after any filenames. However, the relative order of
    parameters is important, with later parameters overriding the values of
    earlier parameters.

    For each parameter, there is a long name and a short name. The short
    names are convenient for keyboard input, while the long names are
    self-documenting and therefore useful in scripts. It is customary to use
    two leading dashes for long names, but one may be used.

    Most parameters which serve as on/off flags can be negated with a
    leading "n" (for the short name) or a leading "no" (for the long name).
    For example, the flag to use tabs is -t or --tabs. The flag to use no
    tabs (the default) is -nt or --notabs.

    Options may not be bundled together. In other words, options -q and -g
    may NOT be entered as -qg.

    Option names may be terminated early as long as they are uniquely
    identified. For example, instead of -dump-token-types, it would be
    sufficient to enter -dump-tok, or even -dump-t, to uniquely identify
    this command.

  I/O control

    -h, --help
        Show summary of usage and exit.

    -o=filename, --outfile=filename
        Name of the output file (only if a single input file is being
        processed). If no output file is specified, and output is not
        redirected to the standard output, the output will go to
        filename.tdy.

    -st, --standard-output
        Perltidy must be able to operate on an arbitrarily large number of
        files in a single run, with each output being directed to a
        different output file. Obviously this would conflict with outputting
        to the single standard output device, so a special flag, -st, is
        required to request outputting to the standard output. For example,

          perltidy somefile.pl -st >somefile.new.pl

        This option may only be used if there is just a single input file.
        When this option is used, perltidy will have to create a temporary
        copy of the output file, perltidy.TMPO, to feed to perl for syntax
        checking, unless allow syntax checking is disabled. This file will
        be deleted when the job finishes. The default is -nst or
        -nostandard-output.

    -se, --standard-error-output
        If perltidy detects an error when processing file somefile.pl, its
        default behavior is to write error messages to file somefile.pl.ERR.
        Use -se to cause all error meassages to be sent to the standard
        error output stream instead. This directive may be negated with
        -nse. Thus, you may place -se in a .perltidyrc and override it when
        desired with -nse on the command line.

    -w, --warning-output
        Setting -w causes perltidy to include any non-critical warning
        messages be reported as errors. These include messages about
        possible pod problems, possibly bad starting indentation level, and
        cautions about indirect object usage. The default, -nw or
        --nowarning-output, is not to include these warnings.

    -q, --quiet
        Deactivate error messages and syntax checking (for running under an
        editor).

        For example, if you use a vi-style editor, such as vim, you may
        execute perltidy as a filter from within the editor using something
        like

         :n1,n2!perltidy -q

        where "n1,n2" represents the selected text. Without the -q flag, any
        error messages will mess up your screen. Besides, it is common to
        run perltidy on incomplete blocks from an editor, and you don't want
        to see any complaints about that. (Or maybe you do; in that case, be
        prepared to use your "undo" key).

    -syn, --check-syntax
        This causes perltidy to run "perl -T -c" to check syntax of input
        and output. The results are written to the .LOG file, which will be
        saved if an error is detected in the output script. The output
        script is not checked if the input script has a syntax error. To
        skip syntax checking, use -nsyn or --nocheck-syntax. Syntax checking
        is also deactivated by the --quiet flag, discussed above.

        The default is to do a syntax check.

    -log, --logfile
        Save the .LOG file, which has many useful diagnostics. Perltidy
        always creates a .LOG file, but by default it is deleted unless a
        program bug is suspected. Setting the -log flag forces the log file
        to be saved.

    -g=n, --logfile-gap=n
        Set maximum interval between input code lines in the logfile. This
        purpose of this flag is to assist in debugging nesting errors. The
        value of "n" is optional. If you set the flag -g without the value
        of "n", it will be taken to be 1, meaning that every line will be
        written to the log file. This can be helpful if you are looking for
        a brace, paren, or bracket nesting error.

        Setting -g also causes the logfile to be saved, so it is not
        necessary to also include -log.

        If no -g flag is given, a value of 50 will be used, meaning that at
        least every 50th line will be recorded in the logfile. This helps
        prevent excessively long log files.

        Setting a negative value of "n" is the same as not setting -g at
        all.

    -npro --noprofile
        Ignore any .perltidyrc command file. Normally, perltidy looks first
        in your current directory for a .perltidyrc file of parameters. (The
        format is described below). If it finds one, it applies those
        options to the initial default values, and then it applies any that
        have been defined on the command line. If no .perltidyrc file is
        found, it looks for one in your home directory.

        If you set the -npro flag, perltidy will not look for this file.

    -opt, --show-options
        Write a list of all options used to the .LOG file. This is useful
        for debugging command files. In the list, the status of on/off
        switches is indicated by a 0 for off and a 1 for on. Please see
        --dump-options for a simpler way to do this.

    -f, --force-read-binary
        Force perltidy to process binary files. Normally, perltidy skips
        files identified by the system as non-text. This flag causes all
        existing files to be processed.

  Basic Options

    -i=n, --indent-columns=n
        Use n columns per indentation level (default n=4).

        See also --tabs.

    -t, --tabs
        This flag defines the characters used to indicate the indentation
        level of each line of code to be tabs. Perltidy allows two possible
        ways to represent the indentation at the beginning of each line of
        code. You may either use one tab character per level of indentation
        (signified with the -t flag), or you may use n real space characters
        per level, (where n is defined by the -i flag). The choice depends
        upon which is most convenient for your editor or viewer. The default
        is to use ASCII space characters because they should be properly
        displayed on all editors or viewers, even though they are not always
        the most convenient for editing. Of course, you can always rerun
        perltidy to change the indentation characters.

        If you choose tabs, you will want to give the appropriate setting to
        your editor to display tabs as 4 blanks (or whatever value has been
        set with the -i command).

        Except for these possible tab indentation characters, Perltidy does
        not introduce any tab characters into your file, and it removes any
        tabs from the code (unless requested not to do so with -fws). If you
        have any tabs in your comments, quotes, or here-documents, they will
        remain.

    -nt, --notabs
        Use space (blank) characters instead of tabs for leading
        indentation. This is the default, following the recommendation in
        perlstyle(1), although some programmers will prefer tabs.

    -io, --indent-only
        This flag is used to deactivate all formatting and line break
        changes. When it is in effect, the only change to the script will be
        indentation. And any flags controlling whitespace and newlines will
        be ignored. You might want to use this if you are perfectly happy
        with your whitespace and line breaks, and merely want perltidy to
        handle the indentation. (This also speeds up perltidy by about a
        factor of two, so it might be useful when perltidy is merely being
        used to help find a brace error in a large script).

        Setting this flag is equivalent to setting --freeze-newlines and
        --freeze-whitespace.

  Whitespace Control

    -fws, --freeze-whitespace
        This flag causes your original whitespace to remain unchanged, and
        causes the rest of the whitespace commands in this section to be
        ignored.

    Tightness of curly braces, parentheses, and square brackets.
        Here the term "tightness" will mean the closeness with which pairs
        of enclosing tokens, such as parentheses, contain the quantities
        within. A numerical value of 0, 1, or 2 defines the tightness, with
        0 being least tight and 2 being most tight.

        The -pt=n or --paren-tightness parameter controls the space within
        parens. The example below shows the effect of the three possible
        values, 0, 1, and 2:

         if ( ( my $len_tab = length( $tabstr ) ) > 0 ) {  # -pt=0
         if ( ( my $len_tab = length($tabstr) ) > 0 ) {    # -pt=1 (default)
         if ((my $len_tab = length($tabstr)) > 0) {        # -pt=2

        When n is 0, there is always a space to the right of a '(' and to
        the left of a ')'. For n=2 there is never a space. For n=1, the
        default, there is a space unless the quantity within the parens is a
        single token, such as an identifier or quoted string.

        Likewise, the parameter -sbt=n or --square-bracket-tightness
        controls the space within square brackets, as illustrated below.

         $width = $col[ $j + $k ] - $col[ $j ];  # -sbt=0
         $width = $col[ $j + $k ] - $col[$j];    # -sbt=1 (default)
         $width = $col[$j + $k] - $col[$j];      # -sbt=2 

        Curly braces which do not contain code blocks are controlled by the
        parameter -bt=n or --brace-tightness=n.

         $obj->{ $parsed_sql->{ 'table' }[0] };    # -bt=0
         $obj->{ $parsed_sql->{'table'}[0] };      # -bt=1 (default)
         $obj->{$parsed_sql->{'table'}[0]};        # -bt=2

        And finally, curly braces which contain blocks of code are
        controlled by the parameter -bbt=n or --block-brace-tightness=n as
        illustrated in the example below.

         %bf = map { $_ => -M $_ } grep { /\.deb$/ } dirents '.'; # -bbt=0 (default)
         %bf = map { $_ => -M $_ } grep {/\.deb$/} dirents '.';   # -bbt=1
         %bf = map {$_ => -M $_} grep {/\.deb$/} dirents '.';     # -bbt=2

    -ci=n, --continuation-indentation=n
        Continuation indentation is extra indentation spaces applied when a
        long line is broken. The default is n=2, illustrated here:

         my $level =   # -ci=2      
           ( $max_index_to_go >= 0 ) ? $levels_to_go[0] : $last_output_level;

        The same example, with n=0, is a little harder to read:

         my $level =   # -ci=0    
         ( $max_index_to_go >= 0 ) ? $levels_to_go[0] : $last_output_level;

    List indentation using -lp, --line-up-parentheses
        By default, perltidy indents lists with 4 spaces, or whatever value
        is specified with -i=n. Here is a small list formatted in this way:

            @month_of_year = (
                'Jan', 'Feb', 'Mar', 'Apr', 'May', 'Jun', 'Jul', 'Aug', 'Sep', 'Oct',
                'Nov', 'Dec'
            );

        Use the -lp flag to add extra indentation to cause the data to begin
        past the opening parentheses of a sub call or list, or opening
        square bracket of an anonymous array, or opening curly brace of an
        anonymous hash. With this option set, the above list would become:

            @month_of_year = (
                               'Jan', 'Feb', 'Mar', 'Apr', 'May', 'Jun', 'Jul', 'Aug',
                               'Sep', 'Oct', 'Nov', 'Dec'
            );

        If the available line length (see -l=n ) does not permit this much
        space, perltidy will use less.

        This option has no effect on code BLOCKS, such as if/then/else
        blocks, which always use whatever is specified with -i=n. Also, the
        existance of line breaks and/or block comments between the opening
        and closing parens may cause perltidy to temporarily revert to its
        default method.

        Note: The -lp option may not be used together with the -t tabs
        option. If -t is specified, it will be ignored.

        In addition, any parameter which restricts the ability of perltidy
        to choose newlines will all conflict with -lp and will cause -lp to
        be deactivated. These include -io, -fnl, -nanl, and -ndnl.

    -icp, --indent-closing-paren
        The -icp option leaves a list-termination line of the form ");",
        "};", or "];" indented with the same indentation as the previous
        line. The previous example with -icp would give,

            @month_of_year = (          # -icp
                'Jan', 'Feb', 'Mar', 'Apr', 'May', 'Jun', 'Jul', 'Aug', 'Sep', 'Oct',
                'Nov', 'Dec'
                );

    -icb, --indent-closing-brace
        The -icb option leaves a brace which terminates a code block
        indented with the same indentation as the previous line. For
        example,

                if ($task) {
                    yyy();
                    }    # -icb
                else {
                    zzz();
                    }

        The default is not to do this, indicated by -nicb.

    -ibc, --indent-block-comments
        Block comments, meaning full-line comments, normally look best when
        they are indented to the same level as the code which follows them.
        This is the default behavior, but you may use -nibc to keep block
        comments left-justified. Here is an example:

                     # this comment is indented      (-ibc, default)
                     if ($task) { yyy(); }

    -nibc, --noindent-block-comments
        Do not indent block comments. Here is an example:

         # this comment is not indented              (-nibc)
                     if ($task) { yyy(); }

    -hsc, --hanging-side-comments
        By default, perltidy tries to identify and align "hanging side
        comments", which are something like this:

                my $IGNORE = 0;    # This is a side comment
                                   # This is a hanging side comment
                                   # And so is this

        A comment is considered to be a hanging side comment if it
        immediately follows a line with a side comment, or another hanging
        side comment. To deactivate this feature, use -nhsc or
        --nohanging-side-comments. If block comments are preceded by a blank
        line, they will not be mistaken as hanging side comments.

    -oll, --outdent-long-lines
        When -oll is set, lines which cannot be broken into pieces less than
        the maximum-line-length will have their indentation removed to make
        them more readable. This is the default. This can mainly occur for
        long quoted strings and long comments. To prevent such out-denting,
        use -noll or --nooutdent-long-lines.

    -msc=n, minimum-space-to-comment=n
        Side comments look best when lined up several spaces to the right of
        code. Perltidy will try to keep comments at least n spaces to the
        right. The default is n=4 spaces.

    -sts, --space-terminal-semicolon
        Some programmers prefer a space before all terminal semicolons. The
        default is for no such space, and is indicated with -nsts or
        --nospace-terminal-semicolon.

                $i = 1 ;     #  -sts
                $i = 1;      #  -nsts   (default)

    -sfs, --space-for-semicolon
        Semicolons within for loops may sometimes be hard to see,
        particularly when commas are also present. This option places spaces
        on both sides of these special semicolons, and is the default. Use
        -nsfs or --nospace-for-semicolon to deactivate it.

         for ( @a = @$ap, $u = shift @a ; @a ; $u = $v ) {  # -sfs (default)
         for ( @a = @$ap, $u = shift @a; @a; $u = $v ) {    # -nsfs

    -asc, --add-semicolons
        Setting -asc allows perltidy to add any missing optional semicolon
        at the end of a line which is followed by a closing curly brace on
        the next line. This is the default, and may be deactivated with
        -nasc or --noadd-semicolons.

    -dsm, --delete-semicolons
        Setting -dsm allows perltidy to delete extra semicolons which are
        simply empty statements. This is the default, and may be deactivated
        with -ndsm or --nodelete-semicolons. (Such semicolons are not
        deleted, however, if they would promote a side comment to a block
        comment).

    -aws, --add-whitespace
        Setting this option allows perltidy to add certain whitespace
        improve code readability. This is the default. If you do not want
        any whitespace added, but are willing to have some whitespace
        deleted, use -naws. (Use -fws to leave whitespace completely
        unchanged).

    -dws, --delete-old-whitespace
        Setting this option allows perltidy to remove some old whitespace
        between characters, if necessary. This is the default. If you do not
        want any old whitespace removed, use -ndws or
        --nodelete-old-whitespace.

    Detailed whitespace controls
        For those who want more detailed control over the whitespace around
        tokens, there are four parameters which can directly modify the
        default whitespace rules built into perltidy for any token. They
        are:

        -wls=s or --want-left-space=s,

        -nwls=s or --nowant-left-space=s,

        -wrs=s or --want-right-space=s,

        -nwrs=s or --nowant-right-space=s.

        These parameters are each followed by a quoted string, s, containing
        a list of token types. No more than one of each of these parameters
        should be specified, because repeating a command-line parameter
        always overwrites the previous one before perltidy ever sees it.

        To illustrate how these are used, suppose it is desired that there
        be no space on either side of the token types = + - / *. The
        following two parameters would specify this desire:

          -nwls="= + - / *"    -nwrs="= + - / *"

        (Note that the token types are in quotes, and that they are
        separated by spaces). With these modified whitespace rules, the
        following line of math:

          $root = -$b + sqrt( $b * $b - 4. * $a * $c ) / ( 2. * $a );

        becomes this:

          $root=-$b+sqrt( $b*$b-4.*$a*$c )/( 2.*$a );

        These parameters should be considered to be hints to perltidy rather
        than fixed rules, because perltidy must try to resolve conflicts
        that arise between them and all of the other rules that it uses. One
        conflict that can arise is if, between two tokens, the left token
        wants a space and the right one doesn't. In this case, the token not
        wanting a space takes priority.

        It is necessary to have a list of all token types in order to create
        this type of input. Such a list can be obtained by the command
        -dump-token-types.

    Trimming whitespace around "qw" quotes
        -tqw or --trim-qw provide the default behavior of trimming spaces
        around multiline "qw" quotes and indenting them appropriately.

        -ntqw or --notrim-qw cause leading and trailing whitespace around
        multi-line "qw" quotes to be left unchanged. This option will not
        normally be necessary, but was added for testing purposes, because
        in some versions of perl, trimming "qw" quotes changes the syntax
        tree.

  Line Break Control

    -fnl, --freeze-newlines
        If you do not want any changes to the line breaks in your script,
        set -fnl, and they will remain fixed, and the rest of the commands
        in this section will be ignored. You may want to use -noll with
        this.

    -l=n, --maximum-line-length=n
        The default maximum line length is n=80 characters. Perltidy will
        try to find line break points to keep lines below this length.
        However, long quotes and side comments may cause lines to exceed
        this length. Setting -l=0 is equivalent to setting -l=(a large
        number).

    -bbc, --blanks-before-comments
        A blank line will be introduced before a full-line comment. This is
        the default. Use -nbbc or --noblanks-before-comments to prevent such
        blank lines from being introduced.

    -bbs, --blanks-before-subs
        A blank line will be introduced before a sub definition, unless it
        is a one-liner or preceded by a comment. A blank line will also be
        introduced before a package statement and a BEGIN and END block.
        This is the default. The intention is to help display the structure
        of a program by setting off certain key sections of code. This is
        negated with -nbbs or --noblanks-before-subs.

    -bbb, --blanks-before-blocks
        A blank line will be introduced before blocks of coding delimited by
        for, foreach, while, until, and if, unless, in the following
        circumstances:

        *   The block is not preceded by a comment.

        *   The block is not a one-line block.

        *   The number of consecutive non-blank lines at the current
            indentation depth is at least -lbl (see next section).

        This is the default. The intention of this option is to introduce
        some space within dense coding. This is negated with -nbbb or
        --noblanks-before-blocks.

    -lbl=n --long-block-line-count=n
        This controls how often perltidy is allowed to add blank lines
        before certain block types (see previous section). The default is 8.
        Entering a value of 0 is equivalent to entering a very large number.

    -mbl=n --maximum-consecutive-blank-lines=n
        This parameter specifies the maximum number of consecutive blank
        lines in the output script. The default is n=1. If the input file
        has more than n consecutive blank lines, the number will be reduced
        to n.

    -sob, --swallow-optional-blank-lines
        Blank lines governed by the above flags, -bbb, -bbs, and -bbc, will
        be deleted. (But essential blank lines above pod documents will be
        retained). This is NOT the default.

    -nsob, --noswallow-optional-blank-lines
        Retain blank lines, including those which do not corresponding to
        flags -bbb, -bbs, and -bbc. This is the default. The number of
        blanks retained is subject to the limit imposed by
        --maximum-consecutive-blank-lines, however.

    -ce, --cuddled-else
        Enable the "cuddled else" style, in which "else" and "elsif" are
        follow immediately after the curly brace closing the previous block.
        The default is not to use cuddled elses, and is indicated with the
        flag -nce or --nocuddled-else. Here is a comparison of the
        alternatives:

          if ($task) {
              yyy();
          } else {    # -ce
              zzz();
          }

          if ($task) {
                yyy();
          }
          else {    # -nce  (default)
                zzz();
          }

    -bl, --opening-brace-on-new-line
        Use the flag -bl to place the opening brace on a new line:

          if ( $input_file eq '-' )    # -bl 
          {                          
              important_function();
          }

        This flag applies to all structural blocks, including sub's (unless
        the -sbl flag is set -- see next item).

        The default style, -nbl, places an opening brace on the same line as
        the keyword introducing it. For example,

          if ( $input_file eq '-' ) {   # -nbl (default)

    -sbl, --opening-sub-brace-on-new-line
        The flag -sbl can be used to override the value of -bl for opening
        sub braces. For example,

         perltidy -sbl

        produces this result:

         sub foo
         {
            if (!defined($_[0])) {
                print("Hello, World\n");
            }
            else {
                print($_[0], "\n");
            }
         }

        This flag is negated with -nsbl. If -sbl is not specified, the value
        of -bl is used.

    -bli, --brace-left-and-indent
        The flag -bli is the same as -bl but in addition it causes one unit
        of continuation indentation ( see -ci ) to be placed before an
        opening and closing brace associated with the keywords if, elsif,
        else, unless, for, foreach, sub, while, until, and also with a
        preceding label.

        For example,

                if ( $input_file eq '-' )    # -bli
                  {
                    important_function();
                  }

    -bar, --opening-brace-always-on-right
        The default style, -nbl places the opening brace on a new line if it
        does not fit on the same line as the opening keyword, like this:

                if ( $bigwasteofspace1 && $bigwasteofspace2
                  || $bigwasteofspace3 && $bigwasteofspace4 )
                {
                    big_waste_of_time();
                }

        To force the opening brace to always be on the right, use the -bar
        flag. In this case, the above example becomes

                if ( $bigwasteofspace1 && $bigwasteofspace2
                  || $bigwasteofspace3 && $bigwasteofspace4 ) {
                    big_waste_of_time();
                }

        A conflict occurs if both -bl and -bar are specified.

    -dnl, --delete-old-newlines
        By default, perltidy first deletes all old line break locations, and
        then it looks for optimal break points to match the desired line
        length. Use -ndnl or --nodelete-old-newlines to force perltidy to
        retain all old line break points.

    -anl, --add-newlines
        By default, perltidy will add line breaks when necessary to create
        continuations of long lines and to improve the script appearance.
        Use -nanl or -noadd-newlines to prevent any new line breaks.

        This flag does not prevent perltidy from eliminating existing line
        breaks; see -freeze-newlines to completely prevent changes to line
        break points.

    Controlling whether perltidy breaks before or after operators
        Two command line parameters provide some control over whether a line
        break should be before or after specific token types.

        -wba=s or --want-break-after=s, and

        -wbb=s or --want-break-before=s.

        These parameters are each followed by a quoted string, s, containing
        a list of token types (separated only by spaces). No more than one
        of each of these parameters should be specified, because repeating a
        command-line parameter always overwrites the previous one before
        perltidy ever sees it.

        By default, perltidy breaks after these token types: % + - * / x !=
        == >= <= =~ !~ < > | & >= < = **= += *= &= <<= &&= -= /= |= >>= ||=
        .= %= ^= x=

        And perltidy breaks before these token types by default: . << >> ->
        && ||

        To illustrate, to cause a break after a concatenation operator,
        "'.'", rather than before it, the command line would be

          -wba="."

        As another example, the following command would cause a break before
        math operators "'+'", "'-'", "'/'", and "'*'":

          -wbb="+ - / *"

        These commands should work well for most of the token types that
        perltidy uses (use --dump-token-types for a list). However, for a
        few token types there may be conflicts with hardwired logic which
        cause unexpected results. An example is the comma, which is
        hardwired to go at the end of lines in certain cases. Hopefully,
        this restriction will be removed in the future. Another example is
        curly braces, which should be controlled with the parameter bl
        provided for that purpose.

  Styles

    -gnu, --gnu-style
        -gnu gives an approximation to the GNU Coding Standards (which do
        not apply to perl) as they are sometimes implemented. At present,
        this style overrides the default style with the following
        parameters:

            -lp -bl -noll -pt=2 -bt=2 -sbt=2 -icp

  Other Controls

    Writing selected text to a file
        When perltidy writes a formatted text file, it has the ability to
        also send selected text to a file with a .TEE extension. This text
        can include comments and pod documentation. The relevant commands
        are: -tac or --tee-all-comments, -tbc or --tee-block-comments, -tsc
        or --tee-side-comments, and -tp or --tee-pod. The negatives of these
        commands also work, and are the defaults.

    Deleting selected text
        Perltidy can selectively delete comments and pod documentation. The
        commands to do this are:

        -dac or --delete-all-comments, -dbc or --delete-block-comments, -dsc
        or --delete-side-comments, and -dp or --delete-pod. The negatives of
        these commands also work, and are the defaults. When block comments
        are deleted, any leading 'hash-bang' will be retained. Also, if the
        -x flag is used, any system commands before a leading hash-bang will
        be retained (even if they are in the form of comments).

    Using a .perltidyrc command file
        If you use perltidy frequently, you probably won't be happy until
        you create a .perltidyrc file to avoid typing commonly-used
        parameters. Perltidy will first look in your current directory for a
        command file named .perltidyrc, and if it does not find one, it will
        look in your home directory. If it does not find one there, it will
        look for a system-wide file /usr/local/etc/perltidyrc, and failing
        to find one there it will look for /etc/perltidyrc. Note that the
        system-wide files do not have a leading dot.

        This file is free format, and simply a list of parameters, just as
        they would be entered on a command line. Any number of lines may be
        used, with any number of parameters per line, although it may be
        easiest to read with one parameter per line. Blank lines are
        ignored, and text after a '#' is ignored to the end of a line.

        Here is an example of a .perltidyrc file:

          # This is a simple of a .perltidyrc configuration file
          # This implements a highly spaced style
          -se    # errors to standard error output
          -w     # show all warnings
          -bl    # braces on new lines
          -pt=0  # parens not tight at all
          -bt=0  # braces not tight
          -sbt=0 # square brackets not tight

        The parameters in the .perltidyrc file are installed first, so any
        parameters given on the command line will have priority over them.

        To avoid confusion, perltidy ignores any command in the .perltidyrc
        file which would cause some kind of dump and an exit. These are:

         -h -v -ddf -dln -dop -dsn -dtt -dwls -dwrs -ss

        There are several options may be helpful in debugging a .perltidyrc
        file. First, -log will force a .LOG file to be written, which
        contains the path to the .perltidyrc file, if any, and a listing of
        its parameter settings. Second, -opt will force a .LOG file to be
        written with a complete listing of all option flags in use for a
        run, taking into account the default settings, the .perltidyrc file,
        plus any command line options. Third, the parameters in the
        .perltidyrc file can be ignored with the -npro option. Finally, the
        commands -dump-options, -dump-defaults, -dump-long-names, and
        -dump-short-names, all described below, may all be helpful.

    Creating a new abbreviation
        A special notation is available for use in a .perltidyrc file for
        creating an abbreviation for a group of options. This can be used to
        create a shorthand for one or more styles which are frequently, but
        not always, used. The notation is to group the options within curly
        braces which are preceded by the name of the alias (without leading
        dashes), like this:

                newword {
                -opt1
                -opt2
                }

        where newword is the abbreviation, and opt1, etc, are existing
        parameters *or other abbreviations*. The main syntax requirement is
        that the new abbreviation must begin on a new line. Space before and
        after the curly braces is optional. For a specific example, the
        following line

                airy {-bl -pt=0 -bt=0 -sbt=0}

        could be placed in a .perltidyrc file, and then invoked at will with

                perltidy -airy somefile.pl

        (Either "-airy" or "--airy" may be used).

    -sil=n --starting-indentation-level=n
        By default, perltidy examines the input file and tries to determine
        the starting indentation level. While it is often zero, it may not
        be zero for a code snippet being sent from an editing session. If
        the default method does not work correctly, or you want to change
        the starting level, use -sil=n, to force the starting level to be n.

    Skipping leading non-perl commands with -x or --look-for-hash-bang
        If your script has leading lines of system commands or other text
        which are not valid perl code, and which are separated from the
        start of the perl code by a "hash-bang" line, ( a line of the form
        "#!...perl" ), you must use the -x flag to tell perltidy not to
        parse and format any lines before the "hash-bang" line. This option
        also invokes perl with a -x flag when checking the syntax. This
        option was originally added to allow perltidy to parse interactive
        VMS scripts, but it should be used for any script which is normally
        invoked with "perl -x".

    Controlling list formatting and vertical alignment
        Perltidy attempts to place comma-separated arrays of values in
        tables which can be vertically aligned. The number of fields is, by
        default, chosen to be the largest even number which fits in the
        current page width (defined by -l=n). Usually this works well.

        There are two ways to control this formatting. The first is with the
        use of comments or empty lines. If there are any comments or blank
        lines between the opening and closing structural brace, parenthesis,
        or bracket containing the list, then the original line breaks will
        be used for the entire list instead.

        The second is with the parameter --mft=n or
        --maximum-fields-per-table=n. The default value for n is a large
        number, 40. If the computed number of fields for any table exceeds
        n, then it will be reduced to n. While this value should probably be
        left unchanged as a general rule, it might be used on a small
        section of code to force a list to have a particular number of
        fields per line, and then a single comment could be introduced
        somewhere to freeze the formatting in future applications of
        perltidy, like this:

            @month_of_year = (    # -mft=2
                'Jan', 'Feb',
                'Mar', 'Apr',
                'May', 'Jun',
                'Jul', 'Aug',
                'Sep', 'Oct',
                'Nov', 'Dec'
            );

        Vertical alignment refers to lining up similar tokens vertically,
        like this:

         my $lines     = 0;    # checksum: #lines
         my $bytes     = 0;    # checksum: #bytes
         my $sum       = 0;    # checksum: system V sum

        Once the perltidy vertical aligner "locks on" to a pattern, such as
        defined by the "=" and "#" in the above example, it retains the
        pattern for as long as possible. However, a blank line or full-line
        comment will cause it to forget the pattern and start looking for
        another. Thus, a single blank line can be introduced to force the
        aligner to stop aligning when it is undesirable.

    Making a file unreadable
        The goal of perltidy is to improve the readability of files, but
        there are two commands which have the opposite effect, --mangle and
        --extrude. They are actually merely aliases for combinations of
        other parameters. Both of these strip all possible whitespace, but
        leave comments and pod documents, so that they are essentially
        reversible. The difference between these is that --mangle puts the
        fewest possible line breaks in a script while --extrude puts the
        maximum possible. Note that these options do not provided any
        meaningful obfuscation, because perltidy can be used to reformat the
        files. A useful application of --mangle is the following:

          perltidy -mangle myfile.pl -st | perltidy -o myfile.pl.new

        This will form the maximum possible number of one-line blocks (see
        next section), and can sometimes help clean up a badly formatted
        script.

    One-line blocks
        There are a few points to note regarding one-line blocks. A one-line
        block is something like this,

                if ($x > 0) { $y = 1 / $x }  

        where the contents within the curly braces is short enough to fit on
        a single line.

        With few exceptions, Perltidy retains existing one-line blocks, if
        it is possible within the line-length constraint, but it does not
        attempt to form new ones. In other words, Perltidy will try to
        follow the one-line block style of the input file.

        If an existing one-line block is longer than the maximum line
        length, however, it will be broken into multiple lines. When this
        happens, perltidy checks for and adds any optional terminating
        semicolon (unless the -nasc option is used) if the block is a code
        block.

        The main exception is that Perltidy will attempt to form new
        one-line blocks following the keywords "map", "eval", and "sort",
        because these code blocks are often small and most clearly displayed
        in a single line.

        Occasionally it is helpful to introduce line breaks in lists
        containing a '=>' symbol, which is sometimes called a "comma-arrow".
        To force perltidy to introduce breaks in a one-line block containing
        comma arrows, use the --break-after-comma-arrows, or -baa, flag. For
        example, given the following single line, Perltidy will not add any
        line breaks:

            bless { B => $B, Root => $Root } => $package;   -nbaa (default)

        To introduce breaks to show the structure, use -baa:

            bless {                                         -baa
                B    => $B,
                Root => $Root
            } => $package;

        One-line block rules can conflict with the cuddled-else option. When
        the cuddled-else option is used, perltidy retains existing one-line
        blocks, even if they do not obey cuddled-else formatting.

        Occasionally, when one-line blocks get broken because they exceed
        the available line length, the formatting will violate the requested
        brace style. If this happens, reformatting the script a second time
        should correct the problem.

    Debugging
        The following flags are available for debugging:

        --dump-defaults or -ddf will write the default option set to
        standard output and quit

        --dump-options or -dop will write current option set to standard
        output and quit.

        --dump-long-names or -dln will write all command line long names
        (passed to Get_options) to standard output and quit.

        --dump-short-names or -dsn will write all command line short names
        to standard output and quit.

        --dump-token-types or -dtt will write a list of all token types to
        standard output and quit.

        --dump-want-left-space or -dwls will write the hash %want_left_space
        to standard output and quit. See the section on controlling
        whitespace around tokens.

        --dump-want-right-space or -dwrs will write the hash
        %want_right_space to standard output and quit. See the section on
        controlling whitespace around tokens.

        -DEBUG will write a file with extension .DEBUG for each input file
        showing the tokenization of all lines of code.

    Working with MakeMaker, AutoLoader and SelfLoader
        The first $VERSION line of a file which might be eval'd by MakeMaker
        is passed through unchanged except for indentation. Use
        --nopass-version-line, or -npvl, to deactivate this feature.

        If the AutoLoader module is used, perltidy will continue formatting
        code after seeing an __END__ line. Use --nolook-for-autoloader, or
        -nlal, to deactivate this feature.

        Likewise, if the SelfLoader module is used, perltidy will continue
        formatting code after seeing a __DATA__ line. Use
        --nolook-for-selfloader, or -nlsl, to deactivate this feature.

    Writing an HTML file
        The flag -html causes perltidy to write an html file with extension
        .html. So, for example, the following command

                perltidy -html somefile.pl

        will produce a syntax-colored html file named somefile.pl.html which
        may be viewed with a browser.

        Documentation for this option has been moved to a separate man page,
        perl2web(1).

SWITCHES WHICH MAY BE NEGATED
    The following list shows all short parameter names which allow a prefix
    'n' to produce the negated form:

        D anl asc aws bbb bbc bbs bli baa syn ce dac dbc dnl
        dws dp dsm dsc ddf dln dop dsn dtt dwls dwrs f fll
        hsc html ibc icb icp lp log lal x lsl bl sbl oll pvl
        q opt sfs sts se st sob t tac tbc tp tsc tqw w

    Equivalently, the prefix 'no' on the corresponding long names may be
    used.

LIMITATIONS
    Parsing Limitations
        Perltidy should work properly on most Perl scripts. It does a lot of
        self-checking, but still, it is possible that an error could be
        introduced and go undetected. Therefore, it is essential to make
        careful backups and to test reformatted scripts.

        The main current limitation is that perltidy does not scan modules
        included with 'use' statements. This makes it necessary to guess the
        context of any bare words introduced by such modules. Perltidy has
        good guessing algorithms, but they are not infallible. When it must
        guess, it leaves a message in the log file.

        If you encounter a bug, please report it.

    What perltidy does not parse and format
        Perltidy indents but does not reformat comments and "qw" quotes.
        Perltidy does not in any way modify the contents of here documents
        or quoted text, even if they contain source code. (You could,
        however, reformat them separately). Perltidy does not format
        'format' sections in any way. And, of course, it does not modify pod
        documents.

FILES
    Special files when standard input or standard output are used
        When standard input is used, the log file, if saved, is
        perltidy.LOG, and any errors are written to perltidy.ERR unless the
        -se flag is set. These are saved in the current working directory.
        If syntax checking is used, a temporary copy of the input file will
        be created in the current working directory called perltidy.TMPI,
        but it will be removed when perltidy finishes.

        When standard output and syntax checking are used, a temporary copy
        of the output file will be created in the current working directory
        called perltidy.TMPO. It will be removed when perltidy finishes.

    Files overwritten
        The following file extensions are used by perltidy, and files with
        these extensions may be overwritten or deleted: .tdy, .ERR, .LOG,
        .TEE, .TMPI, .TMPO.

    Files extensions limitations
        Perltidy does not operate on files for which the run could produce a
        file with a duplicated file extension. These extensions are .tdy,
        .LOG, .ERR, .TEE, .TMPI, .TMPO. The purpose of this rule is to
        prevent generating confusing filenames such as somefile.tdy.tdy.tdy.

SEE ALSO
    perl2web(1), perlstyle(1)

VERSION
    This man page documents perltidy version 20011020.

AUTHOR
      Steven L. Hancock
      email: perltidy at users.sourceforge.net
      http://perltidy.sourceforge.net

COPYRIGHT
    Copyright (c) 2000, 2001 by Steven L. Hancock

LICENSE
    This package is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify it
    under the terms of the "GNU General Public License".

    Please refer to the file "COPYING" for details.

DISCLAIMER
    This package is distributed in the hope that it will be useful, but
    WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of
    MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE.

    See the "GNU General Public License" for more details.

