# GNAT Coding Style

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GNAT Coding Style
A Guide for GNAT Developers

GNAT, The GNU Ada Compiler

Copyright © 1992-2012, AdaCore

Permission is granted to copy, distribute and/or modify this document under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License, Version 1.3 or any later version published by the Free Software Foundation; with no Invariant Sections, with no Front-Cover Texts and with no Back-Cover Texts. A copy of the license is included in the section entitled “GNU Free Documentation License”.

Next: Lexical Elements, Previous: Top, Up: Top

## 1 General

Most of GNAT is written in Ada using a consistent style to ensure readability of the code. This document has been written to help maintain this consistent style, while having a large group of developers work on the compiler.

For the coding style in the C parts of the compiler and run time, see the GNU Coding Guidelines.

This document is structured after the Ada Reference Manual. Those familiar with that document should be able to quickly lookup style rules for particular constructs.

Next: Declarations and Types, Previous: General, Up: Top

## 2 Lexical Elements

### 2.1 Character Set and Separators

- The character set used should be plain 7-bit ASCII. The only separators allowed are space and the end-of-line sequence. No other control character or format effector (such as `HT`, `VT`, `FF`) should be used. The normal end-of-line sequence is used, which may be `LF`, `CR/LF` or `CR`, depending on the host system. An optional `SUB` (`16#1A#`) may be present as the last character in the file on hosts using that character as file terminator.
- Files that are checked in or distributed should be in host format.
- A line should never be longer than 79 characters, not counting the line separator.
- Lines must not have trailing blanks.
- Indentation is 3 characters per level for `if` statements, loops, and `case` statements. For exact information on required spacing between lexical elements, see file `style.adb`.

### 2.2 Identifiers

- Identifiers will start with an upper case letter, and each letter following an underscore will be upper case. Short acronyms may be all upper case. All other letters are lower case. An exception is for identifiers matching a foreign language. In particular, we use all lower case where appropriate for C.
- Use underscores to separate words in an identifier.
- Try to limit your use of abbreviations in identifiers. It is ok to make a few abbreviations, explain what they mean, and then use them frequently, but don't use lots of obscure abbreviations. An example is the `ALI` word which stands for Ada Library Information and is by convention always written in upper-case when used in entity names.

                       procedure Find_ALI_Files;

- Don't use the variable name `I`, use `J` instead; `I` is too easily confused with `1` in some fonts. Similarly don't use the variable `O`, which is too easily mistaken for the number `0`.

### 2.3 Numeric Literals

- Numeric literals should include underscores where helpful for readability.

                      1_000_000
                      16#8000_0000#
                      3.14159_26535_89793_23846

### 2.4 Reserved Words

- Reserved words use all lower case.

                       return else

- The words `Access`, `Delta` and `Digits` are capitalized when used as `attribute_designator`.

### 2.5 Comments

- A comment starts with `--` followed by two spaces. The only exception to this rule (i.e. one space is tolerated) is when the comment ends with a single space followed by `--`. It is also acceptable to have only one space between `--` and the start of the comment when the comment is at the end of a line, after some Ada code.
- Every sentence in a comment should start with an upper-case letter (including the first letter of the comment).
- When declarations are commented with “hanging” comments, i.e. comments after the declaration, there is no blank line before the comment, and if it is absolutely necessary to have blank lines within the comments, e.g. to make paragraph separations within a single comment, these blank lines do have a `--` (unlike the normal rule, which is to use entirely blank lines for separating comment paragraphs). The comment starts at same level of indentation as code it is commenting.

                       z : Integer;
                       --  Integer value for storing value of z
                       --
                       --  The previous line was a blank line.

- Comments that are dubious or incomplete, or that comment on possibly wrong or incomplete code, should be preceded or followed by `???`.
- Comments in a subprogram body must generally be surrounded by blank lines. An exception is a comment that follows a line containing a single keyword (`begin`, `else`, `loop`):

                       begin
                          --  Comment for the next statement

                          A := 5;

                          --  Comment for the B statement

                          B := 6;
                       end;

- In sequences of statements, comments at the end of the lines should be aligned.

                        My_Identifier := 5;      --  First comment
                        Other_Id := 6;           --  Second comment

- Short comments that fit on a single line are not ended with a period. Comments taking more than a line are punctuated in the normal manner.
- Comments should focus on why instead of what. Descriptions of what subprograms do go with the specification.
- Comments describing a subprogram spec should specifically mention the formal argument names. General rule: write a comment that does not depend on the names of things. The names are supplementary, not sufficient, as comments.
- Do not put two spaces after periods in comments.

Next: Expressions and Names, Previous: Lexical Elements, Up: Top

## 3 Declarations and Types

- In entity declarations, colons must be surrounded by spaces. Colons should be aligned.

                        Entity1   : Integer;
                        My_Entity : Integer;

- Declarations should be grouped in a logical order. Related groups of declarations may be preceded by a header comment.
- All local subprograms in a subprogram or package body should be declared before the first local subprogram body.
- Do not declare local entities that hide global entities.
- Do not declare multiple variables in one declaration that spans lines. Start a new declaration on each line, instead.
- The `defining_identifier`s of global declarations serve as comments of a sort. So don't choose terse names, but look for names that give useful information instead.
- Local names can be shorter, because they are used only within one context, where comments explain their purpose.
- When starting an initialization or default expression on the line that follows the declaration line, use 2 characters for indentation.

                        Entity1 : Integer :=
                          Function_Name (Parameters, For_Call);

- If an initialization or default expression needs to be continued on subsequent lines, the continuations should be indented from the start of the expression.

                        Entity1 : Integer := Long_Function_Name
                                               (parameters for call);

Next: Statements, Previous: Declarations and Types, Up: Top

## 4 Expressions and Names

- Every operator must be surrounded by spaces. An exception is that this rule does not apply to the exponentiation operator, for which there are no specific layout rules. The reason for this exception is that sometimes it makes clearer reading to leave out the spaces around exponentiation.

                       E := A * B**2 + 3 * (C - D);

- Use parentheses where they clarify the intended association of operands with operators:

                       (A / B) * C

Next: Subprograms, Previous: Expressions and Names, Up: Top

## 5 Statements

### 5.1 Simple and Compound Statements

- Use only one statement or label per line.
- A longer `sequence_of_statements` may be divided in logical groups or separated from surrounding code using a blank line.

### 5.2 If Statements

- When the `if`, `elsif` or `else` keywords fit on the same line with the condition and the `then` keyword, then the statement is formatted as follows:

                        if condition then
                           ...
                        elsif condition then
                           ...
                        else
                           ...
                        end if;

  When the above layout is not possible, `then` should be aligned with `if`, and conditions should preferably be split before an `and` or `or` keyword a follows:

                        if long_condition_that_has_to_be_split
                          and then continued_on_the_next_line
                        then
                           ...
                        end if;

  The `elsif`, `else` and `end if` always line up with the `if` keyword. The preferred location for splitting the line is before `and` or `or`. The continuation of a condition is indented with two spaces or as many as needed to make nesting clear. As an exception, if conditions are closely related either of the following is allowed:

                     if x = lakdsjfhlkashfdlkflkdsalkhfsalkdhflkjdsahf
                          or else
                        x = asldkjhalkdsjfhhfd
                          or else
                        x = asdfadsfadsf
                     then
                       ...
                     end if;

                     if x = lakdsjfhlkashfdlkflkdsalkhfsalkdhflkjdsahf or else
                        x = asldkjhalkdsjfhhfd                         or else
                        x = asdfadsfadsf
                     then
                       ...
                     end if;

- Conditions should use short-circuit forms (`and then`, `or else`), except when the operands are boolean variables or boolean constants.
- Complex conditions in `if` statements are indented two characters:

                      if this_complex_condition
                        and then that_other_one
                        and then one_last_one
                      then
                         ...
                      end if;

  There are some cases where complex conditionals can be laid out in manners that do not follow these rules to preserve better parallelism between branches, e.g.

                      if xyz.abc (gef) = 'c'
                           or else
                         xyz.abc (gef) = 'x'
                      then
                         ...
                      end if;

- Every `if` block is preceded and followed by a blank line, except where it begins or ends a `sequence_of_statements`.

                        A := 5;

                        if A = 5 then
                           null;
                        end if;

                        A := 6;

### 5.3 Case Statements

- Layout is as below. For long `case` statements, the extra indentation can be saved by aligning the `when` clauses with the opening `case`.

                       case expression is
                          when condition =>
                             ...
                          when condition =>
                             ...
                       end case;

### 5.4 Loop Statements

When possible, have `for` or `while` on one line with the condition and the `loop` keyword.

                     for J in S'Range loop
                        ...
                     end loop;

If the condition is too long, split the condition (see “If statements” above) and align `loop` with the `for` or `while` keyword.

                    while long_condition_that_has_to_be_split
                      and then continued_on_the_next_line
                    loop
                       ...
                    end loop;

If the `loop_statement` has an identifier, it is laid out as follows:

                    Outer : while not condition loop
                       ...
                    end Outer;

### 5.5 Block Statements

- The `declare` (optional), `begin` and `end` words are aligned, except when the `block_statement` is named. There is a blank line before the `begin` keyword:

                      Some_Block : declare
                         ...

                      begin
                         ...
                      end Some_Block;

Next: Packages, Previous: Statements, Up: Top

## 6 Subprograms

### 6.1 Subprogram Declarations

- Do not write the `in` for parameters.

                      function Length (S : String) return Integer;

- When the declaration line for a procedure or a function is too long to fit the entire declaration (including the keyword procedure or function) on a single line, then fold it, putting a single parameter on a line, aligning the colons, as in:

                     procedure Set_Heading
                       (Source : String;
                        Count  : Natural;
                        Pad    : Character := Space;
                        Fill   : Boolean   := True);

  In the case of a function, if the entire spec does not fit on one line, then the return may appear after the last parameter, as in:

                      function Head
                        (Source : String;
                         Count  : Natural;
                         Pad    : Character := Space) return String;

  Or it may appear on its own as a separate line. This form is preferred when putting the return on the same line as the last parameter would result in an overlong line. The return type may optionally be aligned with the types of the parameters (usually we do this aligning if it results only in a small number of extra spaces, and otherwise we don't attempt to align). So two alternative forms for the above spec are:

                      function Head
                        (Source : String;
                         Count  : Natural;
                         Pad    : Character := Space)
                         return   String;

                      function Head
                        (Source : String;
                         Count  : Natural;
                         Pad    : Character := Space)
                         return String;

### 6.2 Subprogram Bodies

- Function and procedure bodies should usually be sorted alphabetically. Do not attempt to sort them in some logical order by functionality. For a sequence of subprogram specs, a general alphabetical sorting is also usually appropriate, but occasionally it makes sense to group by major function, with appropriate headers.
- All subprograms have a header giving the function name, with the following format:

                      -----------------
                      -- My_Function --
                      -----------------

                      procedure My_Function is
                      begin
                        ...
                      end My_Function;

  Note that the name in the header is preceded by a single space, not two spaces as for other comments. These headers are used on nested subprograms as well as outer level subprograms. They may also be used as headers for sections of comments, or collections of declarations that are related.

- Every subprogram body must have a preceding `subprogram_declaration`, which includes proper client documentation so that you do not need to read the subprogram body in order to understand what the subprogram does and how to call it. All subprograms should be documented, without exceptions.
- A sequence of declarations may optionally be separated from the following begin by a blank line. Just as we optionally allow blank lines in general between declarations, this blank line should be present only if it improves readability. Generally we avoid this blank line if the declarative part is small (one or two lines) and the body has no blank lines, and we include it if the declarative part is long or if the body has blank lines.
- If the declarations in a subprogram contain at least one nested subprogram body, then just before the `begin` of the enclosing subprogram, there is a comment line and a blank line:

                    --  Start of processing for Enclosing_Subprogram

                    begin
                      ...
                    end Enclosing_Subprogram;

- When nested subprograms are present, variables that are referenced by any nested subprogram should precede the nested subprogram specs. For variables that are not referenced by nested procedures, the declarations can either also be before any of the nested subprogram specs (this is the old style, more generally used). Or then can come just before the begin, with a header. The following example shows the two possible styles:

                    procedure Style1 is
                       Var_Referenced_In_Nested      : Integer;
                       Var_Referenced_Only_In_Style1 : Integer;

                       proc Nested;
                       --  Comments ...

                       ------------
                       -- Nested --
                       ------------

                       procedure Nested is
                       begin
                          ...
                       end Nested;

                    --  Start of processing for Style1

                    begin
                       ...
                    end Style1;

                    procedure Style2 is
                       Var_Referenced_In_Nested : Integer;

                       proc Nested;
                       --  Comments ...

                       ------------
                       -- Nested --
                       ------------

                       procedure Nested is
                       begin
                          ...
                       end Nested;

                       --  Local variables

                       Var_Referenced_Only_In_Style2 : Integer;

                    --  Start of processing for Style2

                    begin
                       ...
                    end Style2;

  For new code, we generally prefer Style2, but we do not insist on modifying all legacy occurrences of Style1, which is still much more common in the sources.

Next: Program Structure, Previous: Subprograms, Up: Top

## 7 Packages and Visibility Rules

- All program units and subprograms have their name at the end:

                      package P is
                         ...
                      end P;

- We will use the style of `use`-ing `with`-ed packages, with the context clauses looking like:

                      with A; use A;
                      with B; use B;

- Names declared in the visible part of packages should be unique, to prevent name clashes when the packages are `use`d.

                      package Entity is
                         type Entity_Kind is ...;
                         ...
                      end Entity;

- After the file header comment, the context clause and unit specification should be the first thing in a `program_unit`.
- Preelaborate, Pure and Elaborate_Body pragmas should be added right after the package name, indented an extra level and using the parameterless form:

                      package Preelaborate_Package is
                         pragma Preelaborate;
                         ...
                      end Preelaborate_Package;

Next: GNU Free Documentation License, Previous: Packages, Up: Top

## 8 Program Structure and Compilation Issues

- Every GNAT source file must be compiled with the `-gnatg` switch to check the coding style. (Note that you should look at `style.adb` to see the lexical rules enforced by `-gnatg`).
- Each source file should contain only one compilation unit.
- Filenames should be 8 or fewer characters, followed by the `.adb` extension for a body or `.ads` for a spec.
- Unit names should be distinct when “krunch”ed to 8 characters (see `krunch.ads`) and the filenames should match the unit name, except that they are all lower case.

Next: Index, Previous: Program Structure, Up: Top

## GNU Free Documentation License

Version 1.3, 3 November 2008

         Copyright © 2000, 2001, 2002, 2007, 2008 Free Software Foundation, Inc.
         http://fsf.org/

         Everyone is permitted to copy and distribute verbatim copies
         of this license document, but changing it is not allowed.

0. PREAMBLE

   The purpose of this License is to make a manual, textbook, or other functional and useful document free in the sense of freedom: to assure everyone the effective freedom to copy and redistribute it, with or without modifying it, either commercially or noncommercially. Secondarily, this License preserves for the author and publisher a way to get credit for their work, while not being considered responsible for modifications made by others.

   This License is a kind of “copyleft”, which means that derivative works of the document must themselves be free in the same sense. It complements the GNU General Public License, which is a copyleft license designed for free software.

   We have designed this License in order to use it for manuals for free software, because free software needs free documentation: a free program should come with manuals providing the same freedoms that the software does. But this License is not limited to software manuals; it can be used for any textual work, regardless of subject matter or whether it is published as a printed book. We recommend this License principally for works whose purpose is instruction or reference.

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5. COMBINING DOCUMENTS

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6. COLLECTIONS OF DOCUMENTS

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   You may extract a single document from such a collection, and distribute it individually under this License, provided you insert a copy of this License into the extracted document, and follow this License in all other respects regarding verbatim copying of that document.

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   If the Cover Text requirement of section 3 is applicable to these copies of the Document, then if the Document is less than one half of the entire aggregate, the Document's Cover Texts may be placed on covers that bracket the Document within the aggregate, or the electronic equivalent of covers if the Document is in electronic form. Otherwise they must appear on printed covers that bracket the whole aggregate.

8. TRANSLATION

   Translation is considered a kind of modification, so you may distribute translations of the Document under the terms of section 4. Replacing Invariant Sections with translations requires special permission from their copyright holders, but you may include translations of some or all Invariant Sections in addition to the original versions of these Invariant Sections. You may include a translation of this License, and all the license notices in the Document, and any Warranty Disclaimers, provided that you also include the original English version of this License and the original versions of those notices and disclaimers. In case of a disagreement between the translation and the original version of this License or a notice or disclaimer, the original version will prevail.

   If a section in the Document is Entitled “Acknowledgements”, “Dedications”, or “History”, the requirement (section 4) to Preserve its Title (section 1) will typically require changing the actual title.

9. TERMINATION

   You may not copy, modify, sublicense, or distribute the Document except as expressly provided under this License. Any attempt otherwise to copy, modify, sublicense, or distribute it is void, and will automatically terminate your rights under this License.

   However, if you cease all violation of this License, then your license from a particular copyright holder is reinstated (a) provisionally, unless and until the copyright holder explicitly and finally terminates your license, and (b) permanently, if the copyright holder fails to notify you of the violation by some reasonable means prior to 60 days after the cessation.

   Moreover, your license from a particular copyright holder is reinstated permanently if the copyright holder notifies you of the violation by some reasonable means, this is the first time you have received notice of violation of this License (for any work) from that copyright holder, and you cure the violation prior to 30 days after your receipt of the notice.

   Termination of your rights under this section does not terminate the licenses of parties who have received copies or rights from you under this License. If your rights have been terminated and not permanently reinstated, receipt of a copy of some or all of the same material does not give you any rights to use it.

10. FUTURE REVISIONS OF THIS LICENSE

    The Free Software Foundation may publish new, revised versions of the GNU Free Documentation License from time to time. Such new versions will be similar in spirit to the present version, but may differ in detail to address new problems or concerns. See http://www.gnu.org/copyleft/.

    Each version of the License is given a distinguishing version number. If the Document specifies that a particular numbered version of this License “or any later version” applies to it, you have the option of following the terms and conditions either of that specified version or of any later version that has been published (not as a draft) by the Free Software Foundation. If the Document does not specify a version number of this License, you may choose any version ever published (not as a draft) by the Free Software Foundation. If the Document specifies that a proxy can decide which future versions of this License can be used, that proxy's public statement of acceptance of a version permanently authorizes you to choose that version for the Document.

11. RELICENSING

    “Massive Multiauthor Collaboration Site” (or “MMC Site”) means any World Wide Web server that publishes copyrightable works and also provides prominent facilities for anybody to edit those works. A public wiki that anybody can edit is an example of such a server. A “Massive Multiauthor Collaboration” (or “MMC”) contained in the site means any set of copyrightable works thus published on the MMC site.

    “CC-BY-SA” means the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 license published by Creative Commons Corporation, a not-for-profit corporation with a principal place of business in San Francisco, California, as well as future copyleft versions of that license published by that same organization.

    “Incorporate” means to publish or republish a Document, in whole or in part, as part of another Document.

    An MMC is “eligible for relicensing” if it is licensed under this License, and if all works that were first published under this License somewhere other than this MMC, and subsequently incorporated in whole or in part into the MMC, (1) had no cover texts or invariant sections, and (2) were thus incorporated prior to November 1, 2008.

    The operator of an MMC Site may republish an MMC contained in the site under CC-BY-SA on the same site at any time before August 1, 2009, provided the MMC is eligible for relicensing.

## ADDENDUM: How to use this License for your documents

To use this License in a document you have written, include a copy of the License in the document and put the following copyright and license notices just after the title page:

           Copyright (C)  year  your name.
           Permission is granted to copy, distribute and/or modify this document
           under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License, Version 1.3
           or any later version published by the Free Software Foundation;
           with no Invariant Sections, no Front-Cover Texts, and no Back-Cover
           Texts.  A copy of the license is included in the section entitled ``GNU
           Free Documentation License''.

If you have Invariant Sections, Front-Cover Texts and Back-Cover Texts, replace the “with...Texts.” line with this:

             with the Invariant Sections being list their titles, with
             the Front-Cover Texts being list, and with the Back-Cover Texts
             being list.

If you have Invariant Sections without Cover Texts, or some other combination of the three, merge those two alternatives to suit the situation.

If your document contains nontrivial examples of program code, we recommend releasing these examples in parallel under your choice of free software license, such as the GNU General Public License, to permit their use in free software.

Previous: GNU Free Documentation License, Up: Top

## Index

- `-gnatg` option (to gcc): Program Structure
- Alignment (in a block statement): Statements
- Alignment (in a loop statement): Statements
- Alignment (in an `if` statement): Statements
- Alignment (in comments): Lexical Elements
- Alignment (in declarations): Declarations and Types
- ASCII: Lexical Elements
- Blank lines (in an `if` statement): Statements
- Blank lines (in comments): Lexical Elements
- Blank lines (in subprogram bodies): Subprograms
- Block statement: Statements
- `case` statements: Statements
- Casing (for identifiers): Lexical Elements
- Casing (for reserved words): Lexical Elements
- Casing (in comments): Lexical Elements
- Character set: Lexical Elements
- Comments: Lexical Elements
- Declarations and Types: Declarations and Types
- End-of-line: Lexical Elements
- Expressions and names: Expressions and Names
- FDL, GNU Free Documentation License: GNU Free Documentation License
- File name length: Program Structure
- GNU Free Documentation License: GNU Free Documentation License
- Hiding of outer entities: Declarations and Types
- Identifiers: Lexical Elements
- `if` statement: Statements
- Indentation: Lexical Elements
- Indentation (in `if` statements): Statements
- `krunch.ads` file: Program Structure
- Lexical elements: Lexical Elements
- Line length: Lexical Elements
- Loop statements: Statements
- Name clash avoidance: Packages
- Numeric literals: Lexical Elements
- Operators: Expressions and Names
- Packages: Packages
- Parenthesization of expressions: Expressions and Names
- Program structure: Program Structure
- Reserved words: Lexical Elements
- Separators: Lexical Elements
- Short-circuit forms: Statements
- Simple and compound statements: Statements
- Statements: Statements
- `style.adb` file: Program Structure
- `style.adb` file: Lexical Elements
- Subprogram bodies: Subprograms
- Subprograms: Subprograms
- Underscores: Lexical Elements
- `use` clauses: Packages

## Table of Contents

- 1 General
- 2 Lexical Elements
  - 2.1 Character Set and Separators
  - 2.2 Identifiers
  - 2.3 Numeric Literals
  - 2.4 Reserved Words
  - 2.5 Comments
- 3 Declarations and Types
- 4 Expressions and Names
- 5 Statements
  - 5.1 Simple and Compound Statements
  - 5.2 If Statements
  - 5.3 Case Statements
  - 5.4 Loop Statements
  - 5.5 Block Statements
- 6 Subprograms
  - 6.1 Subprogram Declarations
  - 6.2 Subprogram Bodies
- 7 Packages and Visibility Rules
- 8 Program Structure and Compilation Issues
- GNU Free Documentation License
- ADDENDUM: How to use this License for your documents
- Index