Select your programming language — Choose the language of your code from the dropdown menu at the top. The formatter supports JSON, HTML, CSS, JavaScript, XML, SQL, Python, and several other popular languages. Selecting the correct language is important because each language has its own syntax rules for indentation, spacing, line breaks, and code structure. The formatter applies language-specific rules to ensure your code follows the conventions and best practices of that particular language.
Paste your messy code — Copy your unformatted, minified, or messy code and paste it into the large input text area on the left side. You can paste directly from your code editor, a web page source view, a minified JavaScript file, a compressed JSON response from an API, or any other source. The tool accepts code of any size, though very large files (over 5MB) may take a few seconds to process depending on your browser performance and the complexity of the formatting rules being applied.
Configure formatting options — Use the options panel to customize how your code is formatted. You can set the indentation style (spaces or tabs), the indentation size (typically 2 or 4 spaces), whether to add trailing semicolons in JavaScript, whether to wrap lines at a certain column width, and whether to sort JSON keys alphabetically. These options let you match your team coding style guide or your personal preferences exactly, ensuring the formatted output integrates seamlessly into your existing codebase.
Copy the formatted result — The formatted code appears in the output area on the right side with syntax highlighting for easy reading. Review the result to make sure it looks correct, then click the copy button to copy the formatted code to your clipboard. You can also download it as a file by clicking the download button. The formatted code is clean, properly indented, and ready to paste back into your project, commit to version control, or share with your team.
Frequently Asked Questions
Q: Can I format minified code like compressed JSON or JavaScript?
Absolutely — formatting minified code is one of the most popular use cases for this tool. Minified code has all unnecessary whitespace, comments, and line breaks removed to reduce file size for faster loading. While great for production, minified code is nearly impossible for humans to read or debug. Simply paste the minified code into the input area, select the correct language, and the formatter will restore proper indentation, line breaks, and structure. This is especially useful for debugging API responses, examining bundled JavaScript, or recovering readable versions of compressed files.
Q: Is my code sent to a server for processing?
No, all code formatting is performed entirely in your web browser using JavaScript libraries that run locally on your device. Your code never leaves your browser, is never transmitted over the network, and is never stored on any server. This is critically important for developers who need to format code containing proprietary business logic, API keys, database credentials, or other sensitive information. You can safely format confidential code without worrying about data leaks or security breaches.
Q: What is the difference between formatting and linting?
Formatting (also called pretty-printing) adjusts the visual presentation of your code — indentation, spacing, line breaks, and bracket placement — without changing the code logic or behavior. Linting goes further by analyzing your code for potential bugs, unused variables, syntax errors, and violations of best practices. This tool focuses on formatting: it makes your code look clean and consistent but does not check for errors or suggest code improvements. For linting, you would use tools like ESLint for JavaScript, Pylint for Python, or HTML Tidy for HTML, which can be used alongside this formatter as part of your development workflow.