Need suggestion on program structure

[Linette]

Hi,
I need suggestions on how to make a C++ indenter..
The program will read a C++ file, first unindent it (a function will get rid of the leading spaces/tabs of each line that's read), then according to the following specifications, indent it:

every line inside a function (including main): 1 tab
line after if (also else if, else) statement: +3 spaces
statements inside a for/while/do loop: +1 tab
...

(and then deducting the same number of spaces/tabs once the loop/if statement, etc is done)..

So there will be one function that will unindent. And there will be one that will take the number of spaces/tabs (and which one of the two) it should add, and add it.
But any suggestions on how to determine that number?


Any help will be much appreciated..

Linette

[Prelude]

The most common amounts of indention are 2 spaces, 4 spaces, and 8 spaces. It would be nice to let the user decide. You also have to account for different coding formats such as K&R or Allman, then consider indented brace formats. For example:

#include <iostream>
using namespace std;

int main ( void )
{ // Function opening brace, print and add 2 spaces
  int i = 0, j = 4;
  if ( i == 0 ) { // Conditional/loop beginning, add 2 spaces
    cout<<"Fooby";
    if ( j < 5 ) // Conditional/loop beginning, add 2 spaces
      cout<<" is the best!";
    // No opening brace, subtract 2 spaces after printing 1 line
  } // Closing brace, subtract 2 spaces and print
  cout<<endl;
  return EXIT_SUCCESS;
} // Closing brace, subtract 2 spaces and print

Using both keywords and tokens to determine when to add or subtract spaces, and if a conditional or loop doesn't contain an opening brace then subtract the spaces after the next line. Opening braces you can set a flag after printing, but closing braces the flag would have to be set before printing or the closing brace would be indented incorrectly. How you set the flags is up to you though.

-Prelude