---
id: usage
title: Usage
---


## Install

```
yarn add prettier --dev
```

You can install it globally if you like:

```
yarn global add prettier
```

*We're using `yarn` but you can use `npm` if you like:*

```
npm install [--save-dev|--global] prettier
```

## CLI

Run Prettier through the CLI with this script. Run it without any
arguments to see the [options](#options).

To format a file in-place, use `--write`. You may want to consider
committing your code before doing that, just in case.

```bash
prettier [opts] [filename ...]
```

In practice, this may look something like:

```bash
prettier --single-quote --trailing-comma es5 --write "{app,__{tests,mocks}__}/**/*.js"
```

Don't forget the quotes around the globs! The quotes make sure that Prettier
expands the globs rather than your shell, for cross-platform usage.
The [glob syntax from the glob module](https://github.com/isaacs/node-glob/blob/master/README.md#glob-primer)
is used.

Prettier CLI will ignore files located in `node_modules` directory. To opt-out from this behavior use `--with-node-modules` flag.

If you're worried that Prettier will change the correctness of your code, add `--debug-check` to the command.
This will cause Prettier to print an error message if it detects that code correctness might have changed.
Note that `--write` cannot be used with `--debug-check`.

Another useful flag is `--list-different` (or `-l`) which prints the filenames of files that are different from Prettier formatting. If there are differences the script errors out, which is useful in a CI scenario.

```bash
prettier --single-quote --list-different "src/**/*.js"
```

## ESLint

If you are using ESLint, integrating Prettier to your workflow is straightforward:

Just add Prettier as an ESLint rule using [eslint-plugin-prettier](https://github.com/prettier/eslint-plugin-prettier).

```js
yarn add --dev prettier eslint-plugin-prettier

// .eslintrc.json
{
  "plugins": [
    "prettier"
  ],
  "rules": {
    "prettier/prettier": "error"
  }
}
```

We also recommend that you use [eslint-config-prettier](https://github.com/prettier/eslint-config-prettier) to disable all the existing formatting rules. It's a one liner that can be added on-top of any existing ESLint configuration.

```
$ yarn add --dev eslint-config-prettier
```

.eslintrc.json:

```json
{
  "extends": [
    "prettier"
  ]
}
```


## Pre-commit Hook

You can use Prettier with a pre-commit tool. This can re-format your files that are marked as "staged" via `git add` before you commit.

#### Option 1. [lint-staged](https://github.com/okonet/lint-staged)

Install it along with [husky](https://github.com/typicode/husky):

```bash
yarn add lint-staged husky --dev
```

and add this config to your `package.json`:

```json
{
  "scripts": {
    "precommit": "lint-staged"
  },
  "lint-staged": {
    "*.js": [
      "prettier --write",
      "git add"
    ]
  }
}
```

See https://github.com/okonet/lint-staged#configuration for more details about how you can configure lint-staged.


#### Option 2. [pre-commit](https://github.com/pre-commit/pre-commit)

Copy the following config into your `.pre-commit-config.yaml` file:

```yaml

    -   repo: https://github.com/prettier/prettier
        sha: ''  # Use the sha or tag you want to point at
        hooks:
        -   id: prettier
 ```

Find more info from [here](https://github.com/awebdeveloper/pre-commit-prettier).

#### Option 3. bash script

Alternately you can save this script as `.git/hooks/pre-commit` and give it execute permission:

```bash
#!/bin/sh
jsfiles=$(git diff --cached --name-only --diff-filter=ACM | grep '\.jsx\?$' | tr '\n' ' ')
[ -z "$jsfiles" ] && exit 0

# Prettify all staged .js files
echo "$jsfiles" | xargs ./node_modules/.bin/prettier --write

# Add back the modified/prettified files to staging
echo "$jsfiles" | xargs git add

exit 0
```

## API

The API has three functions:  `format`, `check`, and `formatWithCursor`.

```js
const prettier = require("prettier");
```

### `prettier.format(source [, options])`

`format` is used to format text using Prettier. [Options](#options) may be provided to override the defaults.

```js
prettier.format("foo ( );", { semi: false });
// -> "foo()"
```

### `prettier.check(source [, options])`

`check` checks to see if the file has been formatted with Prettier given those options and returns a `Boolean`.
This is similar to the `--list-different` parameter in the CLI and is useful for running Prettier in CI scenarios.

### `prettier.formatWithCursor(source [, options])`

`formatWithCursor` both formats the code, and translates a cursor position from unformatted code to formatted code.
This is useful for editor integrations, to prevent the cursor from moving when code is formatted.

The `cursorOffset` option should be provided, to specify where the cursor is. This option cannot be used with `rangeStart` and `rangeEnd`.

```js
prettier.formatWithCursor(" 1", { cursorOffset: 2 });
// -> { formatted: '1;\n', cursorOffset: 1 }
```

### Custom Parser API

If you need to make modifications to the AST (such as codemods), or you want to provide an alternate parser, you can do so by setting the `parser` option to a function. The function signature of the parser function is:
```js
(text: string, parsers: object, options: object) => AST;
```

Prettier's built-in parsers are exposed as properties on the `parsers` argument.

```js
prettier.format("lodash ( )", {
  parser(text, { babylon }) {
    const ast = babylon(text);
    ast.program.body[0].expression.callee.name = "_";
    return ast;
  }
});
// -> "_();\n"
```

The `--parser` CLI option may be a path to a node.js module exporting a parse function.

## Excluding code from formatting

A JavaScript comment of `// prettier-ignore` will exclude the next node in the abstract syntax tree from formatting.

For example:

```js
matrix(
  1, 0, 0,
  0, 1, 0,
  0, 0, 1
)

// prettier-ignore
matrix(
  1, 0, 0,
  0, 1, 0,
  0, 0, 1
)
```

will be transformed to:

```js
matrix(1, 0, 0, 0, 1, 0, 0, 0, 1);

// prettier-ignore
matrix(
  1, 0, 0,
  0, 1, 0,
  0, 0, 1
)
```