Below are all the different command line options available for TcBlack. In order to run these commands: open a windows command prompt and navigate to the folder where TcBlack.exe is located. Then enter one of the commands, or combine some options.
--help
Shows the different commands and options which can be used with TcBlack.
TcBlack --help
-f {filename1} {filename2} ... or --file {filename1} {filename2} ...
Select one or more .TcPOU or .TcIO files to format. Before any formatting is done, a .bak back-up copy of each file is generated. This is an extra safety measure in case unintended changes are made and/or the code is not under source control.
The options --file and --project are mutually exclusive, i.e. you can only use one of them!
Note: Currently TcBlack only formats the declaration part of programs, function blocks, functions, methods, properties and interfaces. Formatting of the implementation is planned for a future release.
Format a single file with the short command option.
> TcBlack -f C:\Path\To\File1.TcPOU
Format multiple files with the long command option.
> TcBlack --file C:\Path\To\File1.TcPOU C:\Path\To\File1.TcIO
-p {project} or --project {project}
Select a .plcproj file to format. TcBlack tries to find all the .TcPOU and .TcIO files in the subdirectories of the .plcproj file. Then it will format all the found files.
Before any formatting is done, a .bak back-up copy of each file is generated. This is an extra safety measure in case unintended changes are made and/or the code is not under source control.
The options --file and --project are mutually exclusive, i.e. you can only use one of them!
Note: Currently TcBlack only formats the declaration part of function blocks, functions, methods, properties and interfaces. Formatting of the implementation is planned for a future release.
Format a project with the short command option.
> TcBlack -p C:\Path\To\PlcProject.plcproj
Format multiple files with the long command option.
> TcBlack --project C:\Path\To\PlcProject.plcproj
You can also use a single .TcPOU or .TcIO file from a project as an argument. It will then find all the .TcPOU and .TcIO. For example if FB_FunctionBlock.TcPOU is part of PlcProject.plcproj from the previous example, then the following command will have the same effect as the previous example.
> TcBlack -p C:\Path\To\Plc\FB_FunctionBlock.TcPOU
--safe
This will build the .plcproj file before and after formatting, in order to check if unintended changes were made. Unintended changes are changes in the behavior of the code. Changes are detected by comparing the generated hash of the compilation before and after formatting. The hashes are the filenames of the .COMPILEINFO files in the _CompileInfo folder of a plc project. If any changes are detected, it will revert all the files to their previous state.
Format a whole plc project in safe mode.
> TcBlack --safe -p C:\Path\To\PlcProject.plcproj
--indentation {indentation}
This option overrides the standard behavior for the indentation of TcBlack. By default it will look if there is a tab present for each inidvidual file which it is going to format. If a tab is found, this is used as indentation. If no tab is found, four spaces are used as the indentation. This option allows you to for example equalize the indentation type across a project.
Change the indentation to two spaces for a whole project.
> TcBlack --indentation " " -p C:\Path\To\PlcProject.plcproj
--windowslineending or --unixlineending
This option overrides the standard behavior for the line ending of TcBlack. By default it will look if there is a Windows line ending (\r\n) present for each inidvidual file which it is going to format. If a \r\n is found, this is used as line ending. If no \r\n is found, the unix line ending \n is used. This option allows you to for example equalize the line ending type across a project.
Note: it will only change the line ending of the implementation part, not for the other code in the .TcPOU or .TcIO files!
Use a windows line ending for all the files in a plc project.
TcBlack --windowslineending --project C:\Path\To\PlcProject.plcproj
Use a unix line ending for all the given files.
TcBlack --unixlineending --files C:\Path\To\File1.TcPOU C:\Path\To\File1.TcIO
--verbose
Shows the commands which are used to build the project. Currently only has an effect when --safe option is used.
TcBlack --verbose --safe -f C:\Path\To\Plc\FB_FunctionBlock.TcPOU
--version
Shows the version of TcBlack.
TcBlack --version