nginx config file formatter/beautifier

nginx config file formatter/beautifier written in Python with no additional dependencies. It can be used as a library or a standalone script. It formats nginx configuration files in a consistent way, described below:

• All lines are indented uniformly, with four spaces per level. The number of spaces is customizable.
• Neighboring empty lines are collapsed to at most two. The number is customizable (see options below).
• Curly brace placement follows the Java convention.
• Whitespace is collapsed, except in comments and within quotation marks.
• Newline characters are normalized to the operating system default (LF or CRLF), but this can be overridden.

Installation

Python 3.4 or later is needed to run this program. The easiest way is to download the package from PyPI:

pip install nginxfmt

Manual installation

The simplest form of installation is copying nginxfmt.py to your scripts' directory. It has no third-party dependencies.

You can also clone the repository and symlink the executable:

cd
git clone https://github.com/slomkowski/nginx-config-formatter.git
ln -s ~/nginx-config-formatter/nginxfmt.py ~/bin/nginxfmt.py

Usage as standalone script

It can format one or several files. By default, the result is saved to the original file, but it can be redirected to stdout. It can also function in piping mode, using the --pipe or - switch.

usage: nginxfmt.py [-h] [-v] [-] [-p | -b] [-i INDENT] [--max-empty-lines MAX_EMPTY_LINES] [--line-endings {auto,unix,windows,crlf,lf}] [config_files ...]

Formats nginx configuration files in consistent way.

positional arguments:
config_filesconfiguration files to format

options:
-h, --helpshow this help message and exit
-v, --verbose show formatted file names
-, --pipe reads content from standard input, prints result to stdout
-p, --print-resultprints result to stdout, original file is not changed
-b, --backup-original
backup original config file as filename.conf~

formatting options:
-i, --indent INDENT specify number of spaces for indentation
--max-empty-lines MAX_EMPTY_LINES
maximum number of consecutive empty lines to keep (default: 2)
--line-endings {auto,unix,windows,crlf,lf}
specify line ending style: 'unix' or 'lf' for \n, 'windows' or 'crlf' for \r\n. When not provided, system-default is used

Using as a library

The main logic is within the Formatter class, which can be used in third-party code.

import nginxfmt

# initializing with standard FormatterOptions
f = nginxfmt.Formatter()

# format from string
formatted_text = f.format_string(unformatted_text)

# format file and save result to the same file
f.format_file(unformatted_file_path)

# format file and save result to the same file, original unformatted content is backed up
f.format_file(unformatted_file_path, backup_path)

Customizing formatting options:

import nginxfmt

fo = nginxfmt.FormatterOptions()
fo.indentation = 2  # 2 spaces instead of default 4
fo.line_endings = '\n'  # force Unix line endings
fo.max_empty_lines = 1  # allow at most 1 consecutive empty line (default: 2)

# initialize with standard FormatterOptions
f = nginxfmt.Formatter(fo)

Reporting bugs

Please create an issue at https://github.com/slomkowski/nginx-config-formatter/issues. Be sure to include config snippets to reproduce the issue, preferably:

• Snippet to be formatted
• Actual result with the invalid formatting
• Desired result

Credits

Copyright 2021 Michał Słomkowski. License: Apache 2.0. Previously published under https://github.com/1connect/nginx-config-formatter.