# Prettier

• Prettier (opens new window) is a code formatter for e.g. HTML, CSS, Sass, JavaScript, ...
• If you never want to worry about code formatting again, install Prettier in PhpStorm and it will take care of all the (re)formatting for you!
• Prettier is a "must-have" in team projects to keep your codebase consistent and clean on your Git(Hub) repo
  • Everyone uses the same formatting rules which results in fewer merge conflicts

# Install Prettier

• Add a package.json file to your project
  • npm init -y (in a terminal)
    OR
  • right click on the root of your project and add a new package.json file (you can leave the default settings for now)
    
• Open a terminal (inside PhpStorm) and install prettier as a devDependency: npm i -D prettier
  • npm i -D ... is a shorthand for npm install --save-dev ...
• Install the Prettier plugin for PhpStorm (opens new window)

# Enable Prettier in your project

• Open File > Settings > Languages & Frameworks > JavaScript > Prettier
  • Select the locally installed Prettier package
  • Replace the default Run for files pattern with this one: {**/*,*}.{html,css,scss,js,json}
  • Check On code reformat and On save

• Reformat all files with CRTL + ALT + L or save all files and compare the optimized code with the previous versions
  • all lines end with a semicolon
  • strings with single quotes have double quotes now

body {
  font-family: Arial, "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, sans-serif
}

h1, p {
  color: #2d2d2d
}
 
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body {
  font-family: Arial, "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, sans-serif;
}

h1,
p {
  color: #2d2d2d;
}
 
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var a = 10;
var b = 20
let c = 8;
let name = 'John';
let sur_name = "Doe"
let sum = function (num1, num2) {
    console.log(`Sum of ${num1} + ${num2} = ${num1 + num2}`)
}
sum(a, b);
console.log('My name is ' + name + ' ' + sur_name)
 
        Copied!
    

var a = 10;
var b = 20;
let c = 8;
let name = "John";
let sur_name = "Doe";
let sum = function (num1, num2) {
    console.log(`Sum of ${num1} + ${num2} = ${num1 + num2}`);
};
sum(a, b);
console.log("My name is " + name + " " + sur_name);
 
        Copied!
    

# Override default formatting rules

• By enabling Prettier inside your project, you follow the default formatting rules (opens new window)
• Each of these rules can be fully customized with a configuration file
• Add a .prettierrc file to the (root of the) project
• Answer 'Yes' when PhpStorm asks you to apply the Prettier rules to its Code Style settings:

• Add some custom rules to .prettierrc:

{
    "tabWidth": 4,
    "singleQuote": true
}
 
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• After reformatting, the double quotes are replaced with single quotes

var a = 10;
var b = 20;
let c = 8;
let name = "John";
let sur_name = "Doe";
let sum = function (num1, num2) {
    console.log(`Sum of ${num1} + ${num2} = ${num1 + num2}`);
};
sum(a, b);
console.log("My name is " + name + " " + sur_name);
 
        Copied!
    

var a = 10;
var b = 20;
let c = 8;
let name = 'John';
let sur_name = 'Doe';
let sum = function (num1, num2) {
    console.log(`Sum of ${num1} + ${num2} = ${num1 + num2}`);
};
sum(a, b);
console.log('My name is ' + name + ' ' + sur_name);
 
        Copied!
    

# EditorConfig vs Prettier

• EditorConfig and Prettier (almost) do the same: do I have to use them both? YES!
  • EditorConfig also formats your code (e.g. using the correct indentation) when you are typing new code (and when you copy/paste code) and that's very handy
  • Prettier on the other hand, only formats your code when asked for (CTRL + ALT + L or on save), but it can do things that (the default properties of) EditorConfig can't like changing double quotes to single quotes and add trailing semicolons at the end of statements