How to disable auto-spacing of * after a type in Visual Studio 2017?

Question

When I want to type something like

Type* name;

at some point during typing the line (as soon as I type the semicolon), VS2017 decides to auto-space to

Type * name;

After I removed the space the first time, the IDE didn't try that again for some time. The behaviour started again for some reason when I typed a type-pointer variable, but immediately typing another line like that didn't repeat the auto spacing...

After some more testing, the auto-spacing only seems to happen in a class where the first line of code after an access specifier becomes the victim if it matches Type* name;.

class Foo {
private:
    Type* name; //Becomes Type * name; after typing the ';'
public:
    Type2* name2; //Here as well
};

I don't like it. How do I end this blasphemy?

Not to mention it is dangerous! `int* i, j` is really a pointer and an int, whereas `int *i, *j` is two pointers. — PeterT, Jun 14 '20 at 18:36

score 6 · Accepted Answer · answered Dec 25 '17 at 06:53

6

Go to Tools->Options, then Text Editor-C>/C++->Formatting->Spacing and look through the options, however I do not believe that particular item is configurable.

answered Dec 25 '17 at 06:53

SoronelHaetir

14,104
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2

As a last resort there is an option "Automatically format statement when I type a ;" that can be turned off. – Bo Persson Dec 25 '17 at 07:10
It is configurable... at least the answer I got works. – rebusB May 06 '20 at 19:28

score 5 · Answer 2 · answered Jun 04 '20 at 18:36

5

On Visual Studio 2019:
Tools > Options > Text Editor > C/C++ > Formatting > Spacing

Here change the "Pointer/reference alignment"
Select the option of your choice.

answered Jun 04 '20 at 18:36

ani627

5,578
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score 0 · Answer 3 · answered Jan 31 '19 at 01:31

0

In Tools>Options...>TextEditor>C++>Formatting>Spacing>Spacing for operators>Binary operators change ticked radio button from Insert spaces before and after binary operators to Don't change spaces around binary operators.

answered Jan 31 '19 at 01:31

rebusB

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How to disable auto-spacing of * after a type in Visual Studio 2017?

3 Answers3