cb

C source code beautifier

TLDR

Beautify C code from a file

$ cb < [path/to/source.c] > [path/to/output.c]

Format using Kernighan & Ritchie style

$ cb -s < [path/to/source.c]

Set maximum line length

$ cb -l [80] < [path/to/source.c]

Join case labels onto single lines

$ cb -j < [path/to/source.c]

Display version information

$ cb -V

SYNOPSIS

cb [-s] [-j] [-l length] [-V] [file ...]

cb (C Beautifier) is a classic Unix utility that reformats C source code for improved readability. It reads from its arguments or standard input and writes beautified code to standard output, making it suitable for use in pipelines.The tool performs lexical formatting without full syntactic analysis, adjusting indentation, spacing, and line breaks to display the structure of the code.

PARAMETERS

-s

Write code in Kernighan & Ritchie style from The C Programming Language

-j

Put split lines back together

-l length

Split lines that are longer than length

-V

Print version information to standard error

CAVEATS

The cb command performs only lexical analysis and may produce incorrect formatting with complex preprocessor macros that alter code structure. It supports only C code, not C++ or other languages.On modern Linux distributions, cb is often not installed by default and is considered largely obsolete.

HISTORY

The cb command originated in early Unix systems at Bell Labs as a simple tool for standardizing C code formatting. It has since been superseded by more sophisticated formatters like indent, astyle, and clang-format that provide fuller syntactic understanding and greater configurability.

cb