Alignify

License

This software is dual-licensed to the public domain and under the following license: you are granted a perpetual, irrevocable license to copy, modify, publish, and distribute this file as you see fit.

What

Alignify is a python script designed to take a piece of code and align 'blocks' in that code. An example input is

int one = 1; // Duh
float pi = 3;   // Close enough.
string h2g2 = 42; // ...

And output:

int    one  =  1; // Duh
float  pi   =  3; // Close enough.
string h2g2 = 42; // ...

For more examples, see test.py

Why

Code readability matters. Alignify makes it easier to produce clean and readable code.

Key points

Alignify is language agnostic. It works just as well with C++ as with JSON.
Alignify aligns code blocks using spaces
Alignify leaves indentation intact (tabs as well as spaces)
The output can be re-alignified (eg. to re-align after a change)
Alignify recognizes quoted strings ("double" and 'single')
Alignify recognizes // C++, # Bash/Python and -- Lua comments
Alignify may shorten the spacing in you code, but will always keep at least one space.

Aligning numbers

Alignify will align numbers on their decimal place:

Smart align

Alignify will intelligently insert space in the middle of a line to align similar tokens:

AST alignment

Alignify will group curly braces {...} and brackets [...] and recurse:

Limitations

ASCII only.

How to use it

From a terminal

cat code.txt | python alignify.py
python alignify.py code.txt

As a Sublime Text 3 plugin

Copy alignify.py to Packages/User and add the following to your user keymap:

{ "keys": ["super+shift+a"], "command": "alignify" }

From Vim

Copy alignify.py to ~/.vim/alignify.py and add the following to your .vimrc:

map <C-A> :!~/.vim/alignify.py<CR>

Open Vim and mark the text you want to align with V (shift+v) and then ctrl+shift+a

As a service (Mac OS X)

Create a new script in Automator
Drag-drop a "Run Shell Script" (under Library->Utilities)
Pick /usr/bin/python
Make sure "Output replaces selected text" is checked
Save it as "Alignify"
Open System Preferences -> Keyboard
Under "Services", bind cmd-shift-A to Alignify
Select any text in any application and press cmd-shift-A to align it

In Qt Creator (Windows)

Choose Tools->External->Configure... from the main menu.
Select 'Text' in the tree-view and click the Add-button and choose 'Add Tool'.
Name the tool 'Alignify'
Write a short description in the 'Description'-field.
Enter the path to your python.exe in the 'Executable'-field.
Enter the path too the alignify.py script in the 'Argunments'-filed
Change the 'Output'-dropdown menu to 'Replace Selection'.
Put %{CurrentDocument:Selection} in the 'Input'-field.
select OK or Apply.

You can now use Alignify from Tools->External->Text->Alignify on the main menu.

To bind the tool to a keyboard shortcut:

Select Tools->Options... on the main menu. Select the Keyboard tab.
SelectTools->External.Alignify on the list.
Enter a shortcut in the 'Key sequence'-field, e.g. Ctrl+Shift+A.

Click OK and you're good to go.

TODO

Group <...> for C++ templates.
Figure out how to group (...) without adding spaced to empty () groups.

emilk/alignify