options.md

Pretty Diff Options

attribute_sort

property	value
api	any
default	false
definition	Alphanumerically sort markup attributes. Attribute sorting is ignored on tags that contain attributes template attributes.
label	Sort Attributes
lexer	markup
mode	any
type	boolean

attribute_sort_list

property	value
api	any
default
definition	A comma separated list of attribute names. Attributes will be sorted according to this list and then alphanumerically. This option requires 'attribute_sort' have a value of true.
label	Sort Attribute List
lexer	markup
mode	any
type	string

brace_line

property	value
api	any
default	false
definition	If true an empty line will be inserted after opening curly braces and before closing curly braces.
label	Brace Lines
lexer	script
mode	beautify
type	boolean

brace_padding

property	value
api	any
default	false
definition	Inserts a space after the start of a container and before the end of the container if the contents of that container are not indented; such as: conditions, function arguments, and escaped sequences of template strings.
label	Brace Padding
lexer	script
mode	beautify
type	boolean

brace_style

property	value
api	any
default	none
definition	Emulates JSBeautify's brace_style option using existing Pretty Diff options.
label	Brace Style
lexer	script
mode	beautify
type	string
values	collapse, collapse-preserve-inline, expand, none

Value Definitions

• collapse - Sets options.format_object to 'indent' and options.neverflatten to true.
• collapse-preserve-inline - Sets options.bracepadding to true and options.format_object to 'inline'.
• expand - Sets options.braces to true, options.format_object to 'indent', and options.neverflatten to true.
• none - Ignores this option

braces

property	value
api	any
default	false
definition	Determines if opening curly braces will exist on the same line as their condition or be forced onto a new line. (Allman style indentation).
label	Style of Indent
lexer	script
mode	beautify
type	boolean

case_space

property	value
api	any
default	false
definition	If the colon separating a case's expression (of a switch/case block) from its statement should be followed by a space instead of indentation, thereby keeping the case on a single line of code.
label	Space Following Case
lexer	script
mode	beautify
type	boolean

color

property	value
api	any
default	white
definition	The color scheme of the reports.
label	Color
lexer	any
mode	any
type	string
values	canvas, shadow, white

Value Definitions

• canvas - A light brown color scheme
• shadow - A black and ashen color scheme
• white - A white and pale grey color scheme

comment_line

property	value
api	any
default	false
definition	If a blank new line should be forced above comments.
label	Force an Empty Line Above Comments
lexer	markup
mode	beautify
type	boolean

comments

property	value
api	any
default	false
definition	This will determine whether comments should always start at position 0 of each line or if comments should be indented according to the code.
label	Indent Comments
lexer	any
mode	beautify
type	boolean

complete_document

property	value
api	any
default	false
definition	Allows a preference for generating a complete HTML document instead of only generating content.
label	Generate A Complete HTML File
lexer	markup
mode	any
type	boolean

compressed_css

property	value
api	any
default	false
definition	If CSS should be beautified in a style where the properties and values are minifed for faster reading of selectors.
label	Compressed CSS
lexer	style
mode	beautify
type	boolean

conditional

property	value
api	any
default	false
definition	If true then conditional comments used by Internet Explorer are preserved at minification of markup.
label	IE Comments (HTML Only)
lexer	markup
mode	minify
type	boolean

config

property	value
api	node
default
definition	By default Pretty Diff will look into the directory structure contain the value of option 'source' for a file named .prettydiffrc for saved option settings. This option allows a user to specify any file at any location in the local file system for configuration settings. A value of 'none' tells the application to bypass reading any configuration file.
label	Custom Config File Location
lexer	any
mode	any
type	string

content

property	value
api	any
default	false
definition	This will normalize all string content to 'text' so as to eliminate some differences from the output.
label	Ignore Content
lexer	any
mode	diff
type	boolean

correct

property	value
api	any
default	false
definition	Automatically correct some sloppiness in code.
label	Fix Sloppy Code
lexer	any
mode	any
type	boolean

crlf

property	value
api	any
default	false
definition	If line termination should be Windows (CRLF) format. Unix (LF) format is the default.
label	Line Termination
lexer	any
mode	any
type	boolean

css_insert_lines

property	value
api	any
default	false
definition	Inserts new line characters between every CSS code block.
label	Insert Empty Lines
lexer	style
mode	beautify
type	boolean

diff

property	value
api	any
default
definition	The code sample to be compared to 'source' option. This is required if mode is 'diff'.
label	Code to Compare
lexer	any
mode	diff
type	string

diff_comments

property	value
api	any
default	false
definition	If true then comments will be preserved so that both code and comments are compared by the diff engine.
label	Code Comments
lexer	any
mode	diff
type	boolean

diff_context

property	value
api	any
default	-1
definition	This shortens the diff output by allowing a specified number of equivalent lines between each line of difference. This option is only used with diff_format:html.
label	Context Size
lexer	any
mode	diff
type	number

diff_format

property	value
api	any
default	text
definition	The format of the output. The command line output format is text, similar to Unix 'diff'.
label	Diff Format
lexer	any
mode	diff
type	string
values	html, json, text

Value Definitions

• html - An HTML format for embedding in web pages, or as a complete web page if document_complete is true.
• json - A JSON format.
• text - Formatted similar to the Unix 'diff' command line utility.

diff_label

property	value
api	any
default	New Sample
definition	This allows for a descriptive label for the diff file code of the diff HTML output.
label	Label for Diff Sample
lexer	any
mode	diff
type	string

diff_rendered_html

property	value
api	any
default	false
definition	Compares complete HTML documents and injects custom CSS so that the differences display not in the code, but in the rendered page in a browser. This option is currently confined only to markup languages, read_method file, and mode diff. Option diff_format is ignored.
label	Compare Rendered HTML
lexer	markup
mode	diff
type	boolean

diff_space_ignore

property	value
api	any
default	false
definition	If white space only differences should be ignored by the diff tool.
label	Remove White Space
lexer	any
mode	diff
type	boolean

diff_view

property	value
api	any
default	sidebyside
definition	This determines whether the diff HTML output should display as a side-by-side comparison or if the differences should display in a single table column.
label	Diff View Type
lexer	any
mode	diff
type	string
values	inline, sidebyside

Value Definitions

• inline - A single column where insertions and deletions are vertically adjacent.
• sidebyside - Two column comparison of changes.

else_line

property	value
api	any
default	false
definition	If else_line is true then the keyword 'else' is forced onto a new line.
label	Else On New Line
lexer	script
mode	beautify
type	boolean

end_comma

property	value
api	any
default	never
definition	If there should be a trailing comma in arrays and objects. Value "multiline" only applies to modes beautify and diff.
label	Trailing Comma
lexer	script
mode	beautify
type	string
values	always, never, none

Value Definitions

• always - Always ensure there is a tailing comma
• never - Remove trailing commas
• none - Ignore this option

end_quietly

property	value
api	node
default	default
definition	A node only option to determine if terminal summary data should be logged to the console.
label	Log Summary to Console
lexer	any
mode	any
type	string
values	default, log, quiet

Value Definitions

• default - Default minimal summary
• log - Verbose logging
• quiet - No extraneous logging

force_attribute

property	value
api	any
default	false
definition	If all markup attributes should be indented each onto their own line.
label	Force Indentation of All Attributes
lexer	markup
mode	beautify
type	boolean

force_indent

property	value
api	any
default	false
definition	Will force indentation upon all content and tags without regard for the creation of new text nodes.
label	Force Indentation of All Content
lexer	markup
mode	beautify
type	boolean

format_array

property	value
api	any
default	default
definition	Determines if all array indexes should be indented, never indented, or left to the default.
label	Formatting Arrays
lexer	script
mode	beautify
type	string
values	default, indent, inline

Value Definitions

• default - Default formatting
• indent - Always indent each index of an array
• inline - Ensure all array indexes appear on a single line

format_object

property	value
api	any
default	default
definition	Determines if all object keys should be indented, never indented, or left to the default.
label	Formatting Objects
lexer	script
mode	beautify
type	string
values	default, indent, inline

Value Definitions

• default - Default formatting
• indent - Always indent each key/value pair
• inline - Ensure all key/value pairs appear on the same single line

function_name

property	value
api	any
default	false
definition	If a space should follow a JavaScript function name.
label	Space After Function Name
lexer	script
mode	beautify
type	boolean

help

property	value
api	node
default	80
definition	A node only option to print documentation to the console. The value determines where to wrap text.
label	Help Wrapping Limit
lexer	any
mode	any
type	number

indent_char

property	value
api	any
default
definition	The string characters to comprise a single indentation. Any string combination is accepted.
label	Indentation Characters
lexer	any
mode	beautify
type	string

indent_level

property	value
api	any
default	0
definition	How much indentation padding should be applied to beautification? This option is internally used for code that requires switching between libraries.
label	Indentation Padding
lexer	any
mode	beautify
type	number

indent_size

property	value
api	any
default	4
definition	The number of 'indent_char' values to comprise a single indentation.
label	Indent Size
lexer	any
mode	beautify
type	number

jsscope

property	value
api	any
default	none
definition	An educational tool to generate HTML output of JavaScript code to identify scope regions and declared references by color. This option is ignored unless the code language is JavaScript or TypeScript.
label	JavaScript Scope Identification
lexer	script
mode	beautify
type	string
values	html, none, report

Value Definitions

• html - generates HTML output with escaped angle braces and ampersands for embedding as code, which is handy in code producing tools
• none - prevents use of this option
• report - generates HTML output that renders in web browsers

language

property	value
api	any
default	auto
definition	The lowercase single word common name of the source code's programming language. The value 'auto' imposes language and lexer auto-detection, which ignores deliberately specified lexer values. The value 'text' is converted to 'auto' if options 'mode' is not 'diff'. Value 'text' allows literal comparisons.
label	Language
lexer	any
mode	any
type	string

language_default

property	value
api	any
default	text
definition	The fallback option if option 'lang' is set to 'auto' and a language cannot be detected.
label	Language Auto-Detection Default
lexer	any
mode	any
type	string

language_name

property	value
api	any
default	JavaScript
definition	The formatted proper name of the code sample's language for use in reports read by people.
label	Formatted Name of the Code's Language
lexer	any
mode	any
type	string

lexer

property	value
api	any
default	auto
definition	This option determines which sets of rules to use in the language parser. If option 'language' has a value of 'auto', which is the default value, this option is ignored. The value 'text' is converted to 'auto' if options 'mode' is not 'diff'. Value 'text' allows literal comparisons.
label	Parsing Lexer
lexer	any
mode	any
type	string
values	auto, markup, script, style

Value Definitions

• auto - The value 'auto' imposes language and lexer auto-detection, which ignores deliberately specified language values.
• markup - parses languages like XML and HTML
• script - parses languages with a C style syntax, such as JavaScript
• style - parses CSS like languages

list_options

property	value
api	node
default	false
definition	A Node.js only option that writes current option settings to the console.
label	Options List
lexer	any
mode	any
type	boolean

method_chain

property	value
api	any
default	3
definition	When to break consecutively chained methods and properties onto separate lines. A negative value disables this option. A value of 0 ensures method chains are never broken.
label	Method Chains
lexer	script
mode	beautify
type	number

minify_keep_comments

property	value
api	any
default	false
definition	Prevents minification from stripping out comments.
label	Keep Comments
lexer	any
mode	minify
type	boolean

minify_wrap

property	value
api	any
default	false
definition	Whether minified script should wrap after a specified character width. This option requires a value from option 'wrap'.
label	Minification Wrapping
lexer	script
mode	minify
type	boolean

mode

property	value
api	any
default	diff
definition	The operation to be performed.
label	Mode
lexer	any
mode	any
type	string
values	beautify, diff, minify, parse

Value Definitions

• beautify - beautifies code and returns a string
• diff - returns either command line list of differences or an HTML report
• minify - minifies code and returns a string
• parse - using option 'parseFormat' returns an object with shallow arrays, a multidimensional array, or an HTML report

never_flatten

property	value
api	any
default	false
definition	If destructured lists in script should never be flattend.
label	Never Flatten Destructured Lists
lexer	script
mode	beautify
type	boolean

new_line

property	value
api	any
default	false
definition	Insert an empty line at the end of output.
label	New Line at End of Code
lexer	any
mode	any
type	boolean

no_case_indent

property	value
api	any
default	false
definition	If a case statement should receive the same indentation as the containing switch block.
label	Case Indentation
lexer	script
mode	beautify
type	boolean

no_lead_zero

property	value
api	any
default	false
definition	Whether leading 0s in CSS values immediately preceding a decimal should be removed or prevented.
label	Leading 0s
lexer	style
mode	any
type	boolean

no_semicolon

property	value
api	any
default	false
definition	Removes semicolons that would be inserted by ASI. This option is in conflict with option 'correct' and takes precedence over conflicting features. Use of this option is a possible security/stability risk.
label	No Semicolons
lexer	script
mode	beautify
type	boolean

node_error

property	value
api	node
default	false
definition	A Node.js only option if parse errors should be written to the console.
label	Write Parse Errors in Node
lexer	any
mode	any
type	boolean

object_sort

property	value
api	any
default	false
definition	Sorts markup attributes and properties by key name in script and style.
label	Object/Attribute Sort
lexer	any
mode	beautify
type	boolean

output

property	value
api	node
default
definition	A file path for which to write output. If this option is not specified output will be printed to the shell.
label	Output Location
lexer	any
mode	any
type	string

parse_format

property	value
api	any
default	parallel
definition	Determines the output format for 'parse' mode.
label	Parse Format
lexer	any
mode	parse
type	string
values	htmltable, parallel, sequential, table

Value Definitions

• htmltable - generates the 'table' type output for the DOM but escapes the HTML tags for rendering as HTML code in a HTML tool
• parallel - returns an object containing series of parallel arrays
• sequential - returns an array where each index is a child object containing the parsed token and all descriptive data
• table - generates a colorful grid of output for either the dom or command line interface

parse_space

property	value
api	any
default	false
definition	Whether whitespace tokens should be included in markup parse output.
label	Retain White Space Tokens in Parse Output
lexer	markup
mode	parse
type	boolean

preserve

property	value
api	any
default	0
definition	The maximum number of consecutive empty lines to retain.
label	Preserve Consecutive New Lines
lexer	any
mode	beautify
type	number

preserve_comment

property	value
api	any
default	false
definition	Prevent comment reformatting due to option wrap.
label	Eliminate Word Wrap Upon Comments
lexer	any
mode	beautify
type	boolean

preserve_text

property	value
api	any
default	false
definition	If text in the provided markup code should be preserved exactly as provided. This option eliminates beautification and wrapping of text content.
label	Preserve Markup Text White Space
lexer	markup
mode	any
type	boolean

quote

property	value
api	any
default	false
definition	If true and mode is 'diff' then all single quote characters will be replaced by double quote characters in both the source and diff file input so as to eliminate some differences from the diff report HTML output.
label	Normalize Quotes
lexer	any
mode	diff
type	boolean

quote_convert

property	value
api	any
default	none
definition	If the quotes of script strings or markup attributes should be converted to single quotes or double quotes.
label	Indent Size
lexer	any
mode	any
type	string
values	double, none, single

Value Definitions

• double - Converts single quotes to double quotes
• none - Ignores this option
• single - Converts double quotes to single quotes

read_method

property	value
api	node
default	auto
definition	The option determines how Node.js should receive input. All output will be printed to the shell unless the option 'output' is specified, which will write output to a file.
label	Read Method
lexer	any
mode	any
type	string
values	auto, directory, file, screen, subdirectory

Value Definitions

• auto - changes to value subdirectory, file, or screen depending on source resolution
• directory - process all files in the specified directory only
• file - reads a file and outputs to a file. file requires option 'output'
• screen - reads from screen and outputs to screen
• subdirectory - process all files in a directory and its subdirectories

selector_list

property	value
api	any
default	false
definition	If comma separated CSS selectors should present on a single line of code.
label	Indent Size
lexer	style
mode	beautify
type	boolean

semicolon

property	value
api	any
default	false
definition	If true and mode is 'diff' and lang is 'javascript' all semicolon characters that immediately precede any white space containing a new line character will be removed so as to eliminate some differences from the code comparison.
label	Indent Size
lexer	script
mode	diff
type	boolean

source

property	value
api	any
default
definition	The source code or location for interpretation. This option is required for all modes.
label	Source Sample
lexer	any
mode	any
type	string

source_label

property	value
api	any
default	Source Sample
definition	This allows for a descriptive label of the source file code for the diff HTML output.
label	Label for Source Sample
lexer	any
mode	diff
type	string

space

property	value
api	any
default	true
definition	Inserts a space following the function keyword for anonymous functions.
label	Function Space
lexer	script
mode	beautify
type	boolean

space_close

property	value
api	any
default	false
definition	Markup self-closing tags end will end with ' />' instead of '/>'.
label	Close Markup Self-Closing Tags with a Space
lexer	markup
mode	beautify
type	boolean

styleguide

property	value
api	any
default	none
definition	Provides a collection of option presets to easily conform to popular JavaScript style guides.
label	Script Styleguide
lexer	script
mode	beautify
type	string
values	airbnb, crockford, google, jquery, jslint, mediawiki, mrdoob, none, semistandard, standard, yandex

Value Definitions

• airbnb - https://github.com/airbnb/javascript
• crockford - http://jslint.com/
• google - https://google.github.io/styleguide/jsguide.html
• jquery - https://contribute.jquery.org/style-guide/js/
• jslint - http://jslint.com/
• mediawiki - https://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Manual:Coding_conventions/JavaScript
• mrdoob - https://github.com/mrdoob/three.js/wiki/Mr.doob's-Code-Style%E2%84%A2
• none - Ignores this option
• semistandard - https://github.com/Flet/semistandard
• standard - https://standardjs.com/
• yandex - https://github.com/ymaps/codestyle/blob/master/javascript.md

summary_only

property	value
api	node
default	false
definition	Node only option to output only number of differences.
label	Output Diff Only Without A Summary
lexer	any
mode	diff
type	boolean

tag_merge

property	value
api	any
default	false
definition	Allows immediately adjacement start and end markup tags of the same name to be combined into a single self-closing tag.
label	Merge Adjacent Start and End tags
lexer	markup
mode	any
type	boolean

tag_sort

property	value
api	any
default	false
definition	Sort child items of each respective markup parent element.
label	Sort Markup Child Items
lexer	markup
mode	any
type	boolean

ternary_line

property	value
api	any
default	false
definition	If ternary operators in JavaScript ? and : should remain on the same line.
label	Keep Ternary Statements On One Line
lexer	script
mode	beautify
type	boolean

top_comments

property	value
api	any
default	false
definition	If mode is 'minify' this determines whether comments above the first line of code should be kept.
label	Retain Comment At Code Start
lexer	any
mode	minify
type	boolean

unformatted

property	value
api	any
default	false
definition	If markup tags should have their insides preserved. This option is only available to markup and does not support child tokens that require a different lexer.
label	Markup Tag Preservation
lexer	markup
mode	any
type	boolean

variable_list

property	value
api	any
default	none
definition	If consecutive JavaScript variables should be merged into a comma separated list or if variables in a list should be separated.
label	Variable Declaration Lists
lexer	script
mode	any
type	string
values	each, list, none

Value Definitions

• each - Ensurce each reference is a single declaration statement.
• list - Ensure consecutive declarations are a comma separated list.
• none - Ignores this option.

version

property	value
api	node
default	false
definition	A Node.js only option to write the version information to the console.
label	Version
lexer	any
mode	any
type	boolean

vertical

property	value
api	any
default	false
definition	If lists of assignments and properties should be vertically aligned. This option is not used with the markup lexer.
label	Vertical Alignment
lexer	any
mode	beautify
type	boolean

wrap

property	value
api	any
default	0
definition	Character width limit before applying word wrap. A 0 value disables this option. A negative value concatenates script strings.
label	Wrap
lexer	any
mode	any
type	number