What is the best indentation style in C?

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Feb 3, 2023

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5 Options Considered

Best indentation style in C	Price	Last Updated
89 Allman Style	-	Jan 12, 2023
-- K&R (UNIX Kernel) Style	-	Oct 4, 2022
-- Whitesmiths style	-	Feb 3, 2023
-- (Linux) Kernel Style	-	Sep 22, 2022
-- GNU style	-	Sep 20, 2020

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score 59 · Answer 1

Allman Style

Top Pro

The block of code is disconnected from the control statement

The block of code itself is disconnected from the control statement which allows developers to comment out or remove entirely a control statement without having a large risk of encountering syntax errors because of extra or missing braces. See More

Top Con

Uses more vertical space than other styles

Since each bracket is its own line, the Allman style takes more vertical space than other indent styles. This is one of the reasons that a lot of book authors do not prefer to use Allman style in their texts. See More

ImmaculateNintinugga's Experience

Using the Allman style increases the code legibility, it makes it easier to separated the nested block of code, specially if the statement that starts the block has multiple lines; using this style also makes it easier to find matching braces. See More

Top Pro

Easy to find matching braces

The code is clearly set apart from the statement by lines that are almost completely whitespace and the fact that the opening braces line up in the same column as the closing braces makes it easier to match them. See More

EnergeticJuturna's Experience

Easy to find open/close braces. See More

EarnestMneme's Experience

I am an academic teacher who programs a lot in C. See More

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score 18 · Answer 2

K&R (UNIX Kernel) Style

Top Pro

No space is wasted with the opening brace

With this style, one of the advantages is that the opening brace does not take a whole line for itself, wasting a lot of space. The closing brace though is indented on the same level as the control statement it belongs to, making it easier to understand which block of code it's closing. See More

Top Con

Hard to read when the opening statement has multiple lines

If the opening block statement has multiple lines, it really decreases the code legibility because now you have your code block mixed with the opening statement. See More

ImmaculateNintinugga's Experience

This style decreases code legibility compare to the Allman style. The nested code gets "glued" to the statement and if the statement has multiple lines the legibility is decreased further. See More

Top Con

May be hard to insert new lines inside statements if there are no braces

The K&R style uses braces only when necessary. So for example: if(condition) doSomething(); But this can be annoying if you need to put something inside that if statement, because you have to go and add braces to make sure that will be grouped correctly with the statement that was before. See More

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score 15 · Answer 3

Whitesmiths style

Top Pro

Blocks are set apart from control statements

Like the Allman style, with the Witesmiths style the blocks are clearly set apart from the control statements. See More

Top Con

May be confusing to the eye

The braces confuse the focus of the reader's eye and this causes the reader to look longer at the line right after the opening brace and at the line right before the closing brace. See More

ResponsiveScamander's Experience

Hard to see end of blocks, if closing brace is 'hidden' in code. See More

Top Pro

Indenting the braces makes them feel that they are subordinate to the control statement

Indenting the braces makes them feel that they are subordinate to the control statements. Which helps the reader understand which block belongs to which control statement. See More

Top Con

The closing brace does not line up with the corresponding statement

The closing brace does not line up with the statement it belongs to. See More

Top Pro

Easy to see how blocks of code belong together.

The fact that the code lines up up with the braces makes this by far and away the easiest style to read. The code flows much more naturally, there is zero doubt about which block the codes belongs to, your eyes are quickly drawn to what belongs where. See More

Top Pro

Indenting Braces removes noise from the vertical line

When scanning vertically through large sections of code to review the code execution flow, having the braces indented means less noise to filter out. The execution flow statements stand alone on the vertical line and are thus far more quickly picked out by the eye. See More

Top Pro

Makes a clear divider on multi line control statements

Sometimes a control statement can take a lot of arguments and go over many lines. It frees your mind from doing the work to separate arguments and code block. See More

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score 5 · Answer 4

(Linux) Kernel Style

Top Con

Hard to read in small monitors

Since the Kernel style uses 8 characters for indentation, the lines of code are pushed too much to the right. This may make it harder to read for small monitors (for example terminal monitors which are 80 characters wide). See More

Top Pro

Easier to define where a block starts and ends

The large indentation suggested by this style makes it easier to define where a block of code starts and where it ends. Especially after looking at a screen for a prolonged amount of time. See More

score 4 · Answer 5

GNU style

Top Con

Harder to understand which statement the ending brace belongs to

Since braces are in a newline and indented by two spaces, it may be hard to understand what statement the ending brace belongs to. See More

Top Pro

Comments are written in English

The GNU coding standard requires that programmers write their comments in English because English is the most widely known language by programmers all over the world. This makes programs written in GNU style easy to understand internationally. See More

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What is the best indentation style in C?

5 Options Considered

Allman Style

My Recommendation for Allman Style

My Recommendation for Allman Style

The block of code is disconnected from the control statement

Uses more vertical space than other styles

Easy to find matching braces

K&R (UNIX Kernel) Style

My Recommendation for K&R (UNIX Kernel) Style

My Recommendation for K&R (UNIX Kernel) Style

No space is wasted with the opening brace

Hard to read when the opening statement has multiple lines

May be hard to insert new lines inside statements if there are no braces

Whitesmiths style

My Recommendation for Whitesmiths style

My Recommendation for Whitesmiths style

Blocks are set apart from control statements

May be confusing to the eye

Indenting the braces makes them feel that they are subordinate to the control statement

The closing brace does not line up with the corresponding statement

Easy to see how blocks of code belong together.

Indenting Braces removes noise from the vertical line

Makes a clear divider on multi line control statements

(Linux) Kernel Style

My Recommendation for (Linux) Kernel Style

My Recommendation for (Linux) Kernel Style

Hard to read in small monitors

Easier to define where a block starts and ends

GNU style

My Recommendation for GNU style

My Recommendation for GNU style

Harder to understand which statement the ending brace belongs to

Comments are written in English

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