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dart / dart_style / a1b49dd0c82280ca0bcf57a4bcc1687b5c118dd9
commita1b49dd0c82280ca0bcf57a4bcc1687b5c118dd9[log] [tgz]
authorBob Nystrom <rnystrom@google.com>Fri Mar 08 18:02:51 2024 -0800
committerGitHub <noreply@github.com>Fri Mar 08 18:02:51 2024 -0800
tree12d3535678cceb373bf470605188c6d8887311df
parent5a47c541f064da127d6426163be86ab39c8ac2e1 [diff]
Tweak the block formatting rules to disallow `=>` function expressions. (#1422)

Tweak the block formatting rules to disallow `=>` function expressions.

When I first added support for block formatting arguments in the new
style, I allowed function expressions with `=>` bodies if they had
parameters with the idea that the parameter list itself would get the
block-like formatting, as in:

```dart
function((
  parameter1,
  parameter2,
) => body);
```

I'm honestly not sure why I thought that was a good idea. The old
formatter doesn't allow that. I don't think it looks particularly good.
And, worst of all, the formatter doesn't actually *require* the
parameter list to be the place where the split occurs, so the current
implementation allows unwanted output like:

```dart
function((parameter) => operand +
    anotherOperand));
```

This is definitely not intended.

I've started migrating regressions tests and in the examples I've seen
where this rule comes into play, I think it looks worse to allow block
formatting here. So this PR changes it to not allow block formatting
any `=>` body function expression.
3 files changed
tree: 12d3535678cceb373bf470605188c6d8887311df
  1. .github/
  2. benchmark/
  3. bin/
  4. dist/
  5. example/
  6. lib/
  7. test/
  8. tool/
  9. .gitignore
  10. analysis_options.yaml
  11. AUTHORS
  12. CHANGELOG.md
  13. LICENSE
  14. pubspec.yaml
  15. README.md
README.md

The dart_style package defines an automatic, opinionated formatter for Dart code. It replaces the whitespace in your program with what it deems to be the best formatting for it. Resulting code should follow the Dart style guide but, moreso, should look nice to most human readers, most of the time.

The formatter handles indentation, inline whitespace, and (by far the most difficult) intelligent line wrapping. It has no problems with nested collections, function expressions, long argument lists, or otherwise tricky code.

The formatter turns code like this:

// BEFORE formatting
if (tag=='style'||tag=='script'&&(type==null||type == TYPE_JS
      ||type==TYPE_DART)||
  tag=='link'&&(rel=='stylesheet'||rel=='import')) {}

into:

// AFTER formatting
if (tag == 'style' ||
  tag == 'script' &&
      (type == null || type == TYPE_JS || type == TYPE_DART) ||
  tag == 'link' && (rel == 'stylesheet' || rel == 'import')) {}

The formatter will never break your code—you can safely invoke it automatically from build and presubmit scripts.

Style fixes

The formatter can also apply non-whitespace changes to make your code consistently idiomatic. You must opt into these by passing either --fix which applies all style fixes, or any of the --fix--prefixed flags to apply specific fixes.

For example, running with --fix-named-default-separator changes this:

greet(String name, {String title: "Captain"}) {
  print("Greetings, $title $name!");
}

into:

greet(String name, {String title = "Captain"}) {
  print("Greetings, $title $name!");
}

Using the formatter

The formatter is part of the unified dart developer tool included in the Dart SDK, so most users get it directly from there. That has the latest version of the formatter that was available when the SDK was released.

IDEs and editors that support Dart usually provide easy ways to run the formatter. For example, in WebStorm you can right-click a .dart file and then choose Reformat with Dart Style.

Here's a simple example of using the formatter on the command line:

$ dart format test.dart

This command formats the test.dart file and writes the result to the file.

dart format takes a list of paths, which can point to directories or files. If the path is a directory, it processes every .dart file in that directory or any of its subdirectories.

By default, it formats each file and write the formatting changes to the files. If you pass --output show, it prints the formatted code to stdout.

You may pass a -l option to control the width of the page that it wraps lines to fit within, but you're strongly encouraged to keep the default line length of 80 columns.

Validating files

If you want to use the formatter in something like a presubmit script or commit hook, you can pass flags to omit writing formatting changes to disk and to update the exit code to indicate success/failure:

$ dart format --output=none --set-exit-if-changed .

Running other versions of the formatter CLI command

If you need to run a different version of the formatter, you can globally activate the package from the dart_style package on pub.dev:

$ pub global activate dart_style
$ pub global run dart_style:format ...

Using the dart_style API

The package also exposes a single dart_style library containing a programmatic API for formatting code. Simple usage looks like this:

import 'package:dart_style/dart_style.dart';

main() {
  final formatter = DartFormatter();

  try {
    print(formatter.format("""
    library an_entire_compilation_unit;

    class SomeClass {}
    """));

    print(formatter.formatStatement("aSingle(statement);"));
  } on FormatterException catch (ex) {
    print(ex);
  }
}

Other resources

  • Before sending an email, see if you are asking a frequently asked question.

  • Before filing a bug, or if you want to understand how work on the formatter is managed, see how we track issues.