External Formatters

This extension lets you use an external command as formatter for your code. The command should take a document's content at stdin and return the formatted code at stdout.

Formatting trigger

When a formatter for a language or a glob pattern is configured, it will be used when the Format Document command is run from the command palette, or when the document is saved while the editor.formatOnSave setting is set to true.

Working directory

• When formatting an existing file, the command is run from the directory where the file resides.
• When the file is not saved yet, the command is run from the root directory of your workspace.
• When neither directory is available, the command will use the directory where Visual Studio Code is running.

Configuration

Formatting based on language ID

In your settings.json, add the following setting:

"externalFormatters.languages": {
    "<language id>": {
        "command": "<command to run>",
        "arguments": [
            "<first argument>",
            "<second argument>",
            ...
        ]
    },
    ...
}

The arguments key is optional. VS Code internal variables like ${file} are resolved. A complete list of resolvable variables can be found here.

So, for instance, for Terraform code, you can use these settings:

"externalFormatters.languages": {
    "terraform": {
        "command": "terraform",
        "arguments": [
            "fmt",
            "-"
        ]
    }
}

You can define formatters for multiple languages, just add multiple entries under the externalFormatters.languages configuration key:

"externalFormatters.languages": {
    "foolang": {
        "command": "foofmt",
        "arguments": [
            "arg1",
            "arg2",
            "arg3"
        ]
    },
    "barlang": {
        "command": "format-bar"
    }
}

Formatting based on glob patterns

In your settings.json, add the following setting:

"externalFormatters.globPatterns": {
    "<glob pattern>": {
        "command": "<command to run>",
        "arguments": [
            "<first argument>",
            "<second argument>",
            ...
        ]
    },
    ...
}

<glob pattern> should be a valid glob pattern, with the following syntax:

• * to match one or more characters in a path segment
• ? to match on one character in a path segment
• ** to match any number of path segments, including none
• {} to group conditions (e.g. **​/*.{ts,js} matches all TypeScript and JavaScript files)
• [] to declare a range of characters to match in a path segment (e.g., example.[0-9] to match on example.0, example.1, …)
• [!...] to negate a range of characters to match in a path segment (e.g., example.[!0-9] to match on example.a, example.b, but not example.0)

Note: a backslash (\) is not valid within a glob pattern, make sure to convert any backslash to slash when creating the glob pattern.

Here, The arguments key is optional as well, and multiple glob patterns are also supported.

TODO

• Formatter-specific working directory override