# Summary
This PR contains the code for the autoformatter proof-of-concept.
## Crate structure
The primary formatting hook is the `fmt` function in `crates/ruff_python_formatter/src/lib.rs`.
The current formatter approach is outlined in `crates/ruff_python_formatter/src/lib.rs`, and is structured as follows:
- Tokenize the code using the RustPython lexer.
- In `crates/ruff_python_formatter/src/trivia.rs`, extract a variety of trivia tokens from the token stream. These include comments, trailing commas, and empty lines.
- Generate the AST via the RustPython parser.
- In `crates/ruff_python_formatter/src/cst.rs`, convert the AST to a CST structure. As of now, the CST is nearly identical to the AST, except that every node gets a `trivia` vector. But we might want to modify it further.
- In `crates/ruff_python_formatter/src/attachment.rs`, attach each trivia token to the corresponding CST node. The logic for this is mostly in `decorate_trivia` and is ported almost directly from Prettier (given each token, find its preceding, following, and enclosing nodes, then attach the token to the appropriate node in a second pass).
- In `crates/ruff_python_formatter/src/newlines.rs`, normalize newlines to match Black’s preferences. This involves traversing the CST and inserting or removing `TriviaToken` values as we go.
- Call `format!` on the CST, which delegates to type-specific formatter implementations (e.g., `crates/ruff_python_formatter/src/format/stmt.rs` for `Stmt` nodes, and similar for `Expr` nodes; the others are trivial). Those type-specific implementations delegate to kind-specific functions (e.g., `format_func_def`).
## Testing and iteration
The formatter is being developed against the Black test suite, which was copied over in-full to `crates/ruff_python_formatter/resources/test/fixtures/black`.
The Black fixtures had to be modified to create `[insta](https://github.com/mitsuhiko/insta)`-compatible snapshots, which now exist in the repo.
My approach thus far has been to try and improve coverage by tackling fixtures one-by-one.
## What works, and what doesn’t
- *Most* nodes are supported at a basic level (though there are a few stragglers at time of writing, like `StmtKind::Try`).
- Newlines are properly preserved in most cases.
- Magic trailing commas are properly preserved in some (but not all) cases.
- Trivial leading and trailing standalone comments mostly work (although maybe not at the end of a file).
- Inline comments, and comments within expressions, often don’t work -- they work in a few cases, but it’s one-off right now. (We’re probably associating them with the “right” nodes more often than we are actually rendering them in the right place.)
- We don’t properly normalize string quotes. (At present, we just repeat any constants verbatim.)
- We’re mishandling a bunch of wrapping cases (if we treat Black as the reference implementation). Here are a few examples (demonstrating Black's stable behavior):
```py
# In some cases, if the end expression is "self-closing" (functions,
# lists, dictionaries, sets, subscript accesses, and any length-two
# boolean operations that end in these elments), Black
# will wrap like this...
if some_expression and f(
b,
c,
d,
):
pass
# ...whereas we do this:
if (
some_expression
and f(
b,
c,
d,
)
):
pass
# If function arguments can fit on a single line, then Black will
# format them like this, rather than exploding them vertically.
if f(
a, b, c, d, e, f, g, ...
):
pass
```
- We don’t properly preserve parentheses in all cases. Black preserves parentheses in some but not all cases.
