SMLFORMAT(1)

SMLFORMAT(1) 💖

okay bestie, welcome to the General Commands Manual section, page 1, and today's main character is smlformat — the pretty printer generator for SML# ✨ (yes, that's literally what the NAME says, we're not skipping anything here 🫶)

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✨ NAME ✨

smlformat — the pretty printer generator for SML# 💅

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🎀 SYNOPSIS 🎀

smlformat [--stdout|--output=file] [--with-line-directive] filename ...

like. look at it. so clean. so iconic. 👑

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🌸 DESCRIPTION 🌸

okay so here's the tea, bestie 🍓 SMLFormat generates pretty printing functions for ML types and datatypes. That's the whole vibe.

The input file is an SML# program, and every type and datatype in it is annotated by formatting comments ✍️. The smlformat command interprets the definition of types and its formatting comments, and then inserts formatting functions into the input program. So it's giving "glow-up but for your source code" ✨. And the generated programs can be compiled by the SML# compiler, no cap 🔥.

When multiple input files are given, each input file is separately read and yields a separate program 📚. By default, the output file name is obtained by appending .sml suffix to the input file name. (so ex.ppg becomes ex.ppg.sml, cute right? 🎀)

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💅 OPTIONS 💅

• --stdout — Output the result to the standard output. straight to your terminal, no file, no drama 🌈
• --output=filename — Output the result to the specified file. you pick the name, you pick the destiny ✨
• --with-line-directive — Insert comments about the line number of the input file into the output. receipts, but for line numbers 🧾
• --separate=structureName — Output formatters in a separate structure. formatters get their own little apartment 🏠

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🦋 EXAMPLES 🦋

okay this is the part where it gets real. The following is a minimal example of an input file ex.ppg:

(*% *)
datatype intlist = NIL | CONS of int * intlist
fun pretty_intlist x =
    SMLFormat.prettyPrint nil (format_intlist x)

where (*% *) is the formatting comment of the intlist type. yes bestie, that tiny little comment is doing SO much work 😭

By invoking smlformat,

smlformat ex.ppg

it interprets the formatting comment and generates format_intlist function of type intlist -> SMLFormat.format. In the output file ex.ppg.sml, the definition of format_intlist is inserted just after the definition of the intlist type. it just slips in there. ate. 💅

heads up bestie!! 🚨 To compile the generated program, you need to write an interface file ex.ppg.smi by yourself. no autopilot for this one, sorry. In the interface file, the SMLFormat library smlformat-lib.smi must be required. The content of ex.ppg.smi must be as follows:

_require "basis.smi"
_require "smlformat-lib.smi"
datatype intlist = NIL | CONS of int * intlist
val format_intlist : intlist -> SMLFormat.format
val pretty_intlist : intlist -> string

like. gorgeous. no notes. 🌟

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🌈 SEE ALSO 🌈

• SML# Document, available at https://www.pllab.riec.tohoku.ac.jp/smlsharp/docs/

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and that's the whole page babes, from the SMLFORMAT(1) up top all the way down to that little SMLFORMAT(1) footer at the bottom — that's the man page name stamped on the last line, the version/source line of the General Commands Manual 💖 go forth and pretty-print, you absolute icon 👑✨🎀