radFormatter / docs / profiles

Profiles

A profile is a named starting point for configuration. radFormatter ships four built-in profiles. Whatever you pass with -config is overlaid on top of the profile, so you only specify the keys you want to change.

> radFormatter -profile Embarcadero -config team.json -w source/MyUnit.pas

Omitting -profile uses Default. Every option and its values are described in the configuration options reference; this page summarizes how the four profiles differ and shows each one on the same input.

At a glance

Setting	Default	FormatterExe	Embarcadero	NoOp
Keep user line breaks	yes	no	no	yes
Keyword casing	as-is	as-is	lower	as-is
Directive casing	as-is	upper	lower	as-is
Number casing	as-is	upper	as-is	as-is
Identifier casing	as-is	first-occurrence	as-is	as-is
Operator / punctuation spacing	as-is	active	active	as-is
`begin` on its own line + break after	no	yes	yes	no
Break single-instruction control body	as-is	yes	yes	as-is
One statement per line (break after `;`)	no	no	yes	no
`uses` layout	preserve	preserve	one per line	preserve
Right margin	off	80	160	off
Line ending	auto	crlf	auto	auto
Max empty lines	unlimited	1	1	unlimited
Blank lines around sections	as-is	1	1	as-is
Indent size	2	2	2	0 (off)
`case`-arm indentation	on	on	on	off
Alignment	off	off	off	off
Strict mode	on	on	on	off

All four leave alignment off and never reshape calls, enums, arrays, or inheritance lists onto separate lines.

The same code under each profile

Given this input:

unit Demo;
interface
uses System.SysUtils, System.Classes;
implementation
procedure Test(A, B: Integer);
begin
  IF A>0 THEN DoIt(A);
  B:=A*2+1;
end;
end.

`Default`

Conservative. It reindents to a 2-space structure and applies case-arm layout, but preserves your spacing, casing, and line breaks. For the input above — already 2-space indented — the output is unchanged:

unit Demo;
interface
uses System.SysUtils, System.Classes;
implementation
procedure Test(A, B: Integer);
begin
  IF A>0 THEN DoIt(A);
  B:=A*2+1;
end;
end.

Note that IF A>0 keeps its casing and tight spacing, and the single-line if ... then DoIt(A) is left intact. Use Default when you want structural indentation without opinionated reflow.

`FormatterExe`

Approximates RAD Studio's built-in Formatter.exe: active spacing, blank lines around sections, begin-style control bodies, uppercase directives/numbers, and an 80-column right margin. Keyword casing is left as-is (note IF / THEN stay uppercase):

unit Demo;

interface

uses System.SysUtils, System.Classes;

implementation

procedure Test(A, B: Integer);
begin
  IF A > 0 THEN
    DoIt(A);
  B := A * 2 + 1;
end;
end.

`Embarcadero`

The Embarcadero Delphi style guide. Everything FormatterExe does, plus lowercase keywords and directives (if / then), one uses entry per line, one statement per line (a break after every statement-terminating semicolon), and a 160-column right margin:

unit Demo;

interface

uses System.SysUtils,
  System.Classes;

implementation

procedure Test(A, B: Integer);
begin
  if A > 0 then
    DoIt(A);
  B := A * 2 + 1;
end;
end.

See the Embarcadero style guide for the full style-guide mapping.

`NoOp`

Pass-through. Output matches input byte-for-byte (modulo line-ending normalization). Indentation, case-arm structure, and strict mode are all disabled:

unit Demo;
interface
uses System.SysUtils, System.Classes;
implementation
procedure Test(A, B: Integer);
begin
  IF A>0 THEN DoIt(A);
  B:=A*2+1;
end;
end.

Default vs NoOp

For the sample above the two look identical, but they are not the same profile. Default still reindents (indent size 2) and applies case-arm structure, so mis-indented input is corrected. NoOp disables indentation entirely (indent size 0) and turns strict mode off, so it never moves a character.

Two good reasons to reach for NoOp:

A guaranteed no-change pass — for example, to verify radFormatter's round-trip safety on a file.

A minimal, opt-in team config — start from a profile that changes nothing, then enable only the handful of rules your team agrees to enforce (via a small -config overlay) and leave everything else exactly as written. This is the least invasive way to adopt the formatter incrementally.

Choosing a profile

Profile	Reach for it when…
Default	You want structural reindent with no opinionated reflow. The safest starting point.
FormatterExe	You want to match RAD Studio's built-in formatter output.
Embarcadero	You want to follow the official Embarcadero style guide.
NoOp	You want a guaranteed no-op — a baseline for overriding a few keys yourself.

Whichever you pick, overlay a -config file to adjust individual options; see the configuration options reference.