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Code Syntax Style: Braces for Single Nested Statements

C# specification allows you to safely omit braces around single nested statements under some parent statements, e.g. if-else, foreach, etc. However, code style guidelines may differ in this regard. Some consider the braces here as a requirement, some consider them redundant. Whatever style you prefer, the important thing is to have consistent use of braces throughout your codebase.
With Rider, you can define your preference for using braces after each type of code block and enforce this style.

Rider also provides multiple formatting rules for braces layout (whitespaces, tabs, and new lines). You can configure these rules in Rider settings (Ctrl+Alt+S), for example, go to the Editor | Code Style | C# page and check the preferences on the Braces layout tab.

Rider helps you apply braces style in the existing code and takes your preferences into account when it produces new code with code completion and code generation features, applies code templates and performs refactorings.

Applying style preferences for braces

By default, Rider does nothing with braces for single nested statements because all related code inspections are disabled. So, if you want Rider to control style preferences for single nested statements and notify you about violations of your preferences, you need to configure your preferences first.

Rider highlights code that do not comply with your preferences and suggests the corresponding quick-fix or fix in scope. For example, you can opt to use braces for using:

Rider helps add braces around single nested statement

Another option to enforce preferences for braces around single statements in a bulk mode is code cleanup. You can either run code cleanup with the default profile Default: Full Cleanup or run the cleanup with a custom profile solely targeted at your specific task as described below.

To apply preferences for braces with custom Code Cleanup profile

  1. Press Ctrl+Alt+S, or alternatively choose File | Settings on Windows and Linux or Rider | Preferences on macOS.
  2. Go to the Code Cleanup settings page: Editor | Code Cleanup.
  3. Create a new profile as described in the Code Cleanup section. In the Selected profile settings section for the new profile, tick the Add/Remove braces for single statements... check box. Optionally, you can enable other code cleanup tasks in this profile.
  4. Click Save to apply the modifications and let Rider choose where to save them, or save the modifications to a specific settings layer using the Save To drop-down list. For more information, see layer-based settings.
  5. Select the scope where you want to enforce your preferences:
    • Set the caret anywhere in the file to enforce your preferences to the file.
    • Select one or more items in the Solution Explorer to enforce your preferences in the files under these nodes and their child items.
  6. Choose Code | Code Cleanup in the main menu.
  7. In the Code Cleanup dialog that opens, select the newly created profile.
  8. Click OK. Rider will enforce your preferences in the selected scope.

Configuring preferences for braces under single statements

Your braces style preferences are saved using the mechanism of layer-based settings. Among other things, this mechanism allows you to maintain different preferences for different solutions as well as to keep these preferences under a VCS and automatically share them with your team members.

To configure preferences for braces

  1. Go to the Editor | Code Style | C# page of Rider settings (Ctrl+Alt+S), and then select the Code Style tab.
  2. Modify settings in the Braces category according to your coding practices/standards.
  3. The selectors in the right column allow you to set severity levels of code inspections detecting code that differs from your preferences.
  4. Click Save to apply the modifications and let Rider choose where to save them, or save the modifications to a specific settings layer using the Save To drop-down list. For more information, see layer-based settings.
Last modified: 11 October 2017

See Also