Visual Studio Code doesn't format C# code

Question

I created a new file, set the C# language, and wrote some code. Then I pressed Ctrl + Shift + F (or F1 → Format Document). And got I the error

Sorry, but there is no formatter for 'csharp'-files installed.

Also, I installed C# Extension, but it didn't help. The Visual Studio Code version is 1.18.0.

Check out this extension: https://github.com/OmniSharp/omnisharp-vscode — Laslos, Nov 17 '17 at 14:20
The canonical is *[How do you format code in Visual Studio Code?](https://stackoverflow.com/questions/29973357)*, but unfortunately none of the answers address this question. — Peter Mortensen, Jun 13 '20 at 10:39
just select current project by command palette: Omnisharp > select project — ilyas varol, Apr 05 '21 at 07:19

score 79 · Answer 1 · answered Feb 11 '21 at 14:25

79

If you have prettier as the default formatter as I do, you should do this:

Open your vscode settings with these shortcut: ctrl + ,, or
Then click to "open settings (JSON)":
This is where you should paste the below snippet.

This is my config:

{
  "editor.defaultFormatter": "esbenp.prettier-vscode",
  "[csharp]": {
    "editor.defaultFormatter": "ms-dotnettools.csharp"
  }
}

For you to apply this configuration you need c# extension.

answered Feb 11 '21 at 14:25

ezhupa99

1,838
13
18

1

Just curious, how did you find out the information regarding ms-dotnettools.csharp – Orson May 16 '21 at 09:43
1

Basically just scrolling through vscode-intellisense (suggestions), and just tried it out and worked. – ezhupa99 May 16 '21 at 11:49
1

Basically you tell the formatter to use `ms-dotnettools.csharp` for C# and `esbenp.prettier-vscode` for any other language. I guess prettier has no C# formatter currently. There might be plugins around... – knnhcn May 18 '21 at 07:55
1

Thank you, i was facing the same issue, prettier was trying to format it by default – jvbs Aug 07 '21 at 19:36
If you still have an issue with indent, check the @Samuel Ridings answer bellow – Maxim Zhukov Dec 01 '21 at 04:48
you should also add the "editor.formatOnSave": true that it formats the code onsave – Tobias Koller Oct 11 '22 at 03:51
I was pasting some c# code from another system into a new file (without saving) and formatting wasn't working. I eventually got it working by saving the code into a file called CSharpFileForFormatting.cs and saving that in a folder. Open that folder in VS code and the formatting worked. – Brett Manners Jun 08 '23 at 03:37

score 37 · Answer 2 · edited Jun 13 '20 at 10:55

37

This works for me.

Note: If it is true then clear the checkbox and set it to true again. After that, you must restart Visual Studio Code.

Menu File → Preferences → Settings →

edited Jun 13 '20 at 10:55

Peter Mortensen

30,738
21
105
131

answered Oct 29 '18 at 21:24

Sampath

63,341
64
307
441

26

It is Shift+Alt+F on windows, Ctrl + Shift + I on ubuntu – James L. Mar 14 '19 at 15:23
Thank you - I use the Visual Studio extension that makes the `Format` hotkeys the same as the big brother IDE. I recommend it. The C# FixFormat extension is _only_ for C# ~3/4/5 unity engine projects on mac – Chazt3n Jul 10 '19 at 05:24
3

Thanks for pointing out `(requires restart)`. I totally missed it. – software_writer Apr 05 '21 at 17:51
2

does not work for me, after the restart still asks me for the formatter for csharp files – serge Jun 03 '22 at 10:28

score 26 · Answer 3 · edited Jun 13 '20 at 10:48

26

Visual Studio Code with OmniSharp doesn't format C# code without a .csproj file.

You can create a new project with dotnet new console with the .NET Core SDK.

edited Jun 13 '20 at 10:48

Peter Mortensen

30,738
21
105
131

answered Jul 31 '18 at 11:48

Pavel Levchuk

757
8
11

2

File names also have to be TitleCased as well. – Chase Dec 24 '20 at 07:20
1

what do you mean "without", what if a open a folder, not a sln or csproj file, but the edited cs file does belong finally to a csproj – serge Jun 03 '22 at 10:35

score 10 · Answer 4 · answered Mar 19 '22 at 17:48

10

Try to create an OmniSharp config for your project that will allow you to customize the formatting of C# code.
Create the omnisharp.json in the project root (near the .sln file)

{
  "FormattingOptions": {
    "newLine": "\n",
    "useTabs": false,
    "tabSize": 4,
    "indentationSize": 4
  }
}

NOTE: to confirm updates in omnisharp.json you should reload vscode (ctrl+shift+p -> Developer: Reload Window)

More info about OmniSharp config: https://www.strathweb.com/2017/01/c-code-formatting-settings-in-vs-code-and-omnisharp/

answered Mar 19 '22 at 17:48

Yurii Brusentsov

539
4
12

[Here](https://www.strathweb.com/2017/01/c-code-formatting-settings-in-vs-code-and-omnisharp/) is a good full `omnisharp.json`, example and other info. – not2qubit Nov 04 '22 at 19:21
This is by far the best and easiest solution. Just one thought though, I edit the `omnisharp.json` file in my `%USERPROFILE%/.omnisharp/` directory so the settings are available to all my sessions, not just the current one. You can find the official documentation [here](https://github.com/OmniSharp/omnisharp-roslyn/wiki/Configuration-Options). – Trasd Feb 13 '23 at 18:53

score 8 · Answer 5 · edited Jun 13 '20 at 15:10

Browse the Visual Studio Code extension library, and make sure you've got the C# extension installed ms-dotnettools.csharp
Press Ctrl + , to open the Settings panel. Change the editor.formatOnType setting to be enabled. This wasn't enabled by default in my Visual Studio Code.
Restart Visual Studio Code. It should now make code auto-format when you complete the line with a semicolon, or when you close the outer brace of a scope.

Note: this is a global setting for the editor, so it may enable auto-formatting for other languages and not just C#.

This was tested on Visual Studio Code version 1.43.1.

that was not asked by OP, to enable the format on type – serge Jun 03 '22 at 10:43 — serge, Jun 03 '22 at 10:43

score 6 · Answer 6 · edited Jun 13 '20 at 10:37

6

The C# extension powered by Omnisharp doesn't have a formatter included (as far as I know).

You can install C# FixFormat. That does the trick for me, but the formatting is not as good as in Visual Studio IDE.

edited Jun 13 '20 at 10:37

Peter Mortensen

30,738
21
105
131

answered Nov 17 '17 at 14:25

Peter

1,361
15
19

i just found it too. turns out, that this is the only option. – andoral Nov 17 '17 at 14:32
3

Omnisharp does include a C# formatter. Just make sure to open the file from withing a folder - please see my answer: https://stackoverflow.com/a/59154222/565985 – Yaniv Dec 03 '19 at 09:48
@Yaniv how do you prevent formatters like prettier from interfering with OmniSharp's formatter? – Jacques Apr 14 '20 at 10:49
1

It's 2020 and FixFormat is as bad as it was. I hoped I could really use VS Code to develop Blazor projects, but not really. One of the main issues is really bad formatting provided. No good plugins, Blazor and Razor files treated as they was invented yesterday. But the worst thing in FixFormat is really bad english used to describe the options. A lots of "Spaces or tabs: yes or no" kind of nonsenses. So VS Community. Still many, many bugs, but at least formatting is almost fully configurable. – Harry Jun 03 '20 at 09:55
2

This extension is now unpublished from Marketplace. – Aizzat Suhardi Jan 06 '21 at 17:44
1

This extension is now unpublished from Marketplace. You can choose to uninstall it. Yeah, same message for future readers. I'm sad I missed this one. – granadaCoder Mar 03 '21 at 21:43

score 5 · Answer 7 · edited Jun 23 '20 at 14:42

5

I found there was another setting interfering with formatting C#.

"omnisharp.useEditorFormattingSettings": true

Setting this to false fixed indenting for me.

edited Jun 23 '20 at 14:42

Peter Mortensen

30,738
21
105
131

answered Feb 22 '20 at 16:20

Samuel Ridings

89
1
2

4

I couldn't find this particular setting, however I discovered that if chose the "Omnisharp: Select Project" followed by selecting my project then my formatting was sorted – Tim Newton Nov 19 '20 at 17:22
1

worked for me! after trying every other solution, turned out when I switched to another project from the cmd, vscode didn't actually change the current project – tintin Mar 30 '21 at 01:10
This also worked for me, thank you – Maxim Zhukov Dec 01 '21 at 04:46

score 4 · Answer 8 · edited Jun 13 '20 at 10:46

4

It is resolved after updating to Visual Studio Code 1.20.1 and re-enabling OmniSharp.

And just set "csharp.format.enable" to "true" in Workspace Settings (if it was true and not working yet, change it to false and then to true).

edited Jun 13 '20 at 10:46

Peter Mortensen

30,738
21
105
131

answered Feb 16 '18 at 02:47

Ali Dehqan

461
1
8
18

1

`"csharp.format.enable": true` didn't work for me, and I have to install **c# FixFormat**, but then it asked me to turn off `csharp.format.enable`, which has no effect anyway, weird. – rraallvv Mar 29 '18 at 22:01
In my case changing `tab size` params caused losing formatter and only setting `"csharp.format.enable": true` fixed it. I have only `C# (by Omnisharp)` installed. – Serg Apr 21 '19 at 08:46

score 3 · Answer 9 · edited Jun 13 '20 at 15:13

3

If you are still hitting this issue, please note that the OmniSharp extension will not behave nicely on .cs files that was not opened from inside a folder (from here).

In order to workaround this - make sure you open the desired file from within a folder (Ctrl + K, Ctrl + O):

Then the formatting will work (as well as other OmniSharp features).

edited Jun 13 '20 at 15:13

Peter Mortensen

30,738
21
105
131

answered Dec 03 '19 at 09:47

Yaniv

966
12
20

6

This doesn't work for me. I have the OmniSharp extension installed and up to date, and I have opened a folder in VSCode. I then open a .cs file by clicking on it in the left panel, but when I try to format it tells me there is no formatter installed. – Micah Zoltu Feb 17 '20 at 11:28
What about when there's no file at all? I just open a new editor, paste some source code and I want to format it. That's what I often do with JSON data, for example, and it works without any issue. But with a C# code, it doesn't for some reason. I have the `ms-dotnettools.csharp` extension. – David Ferenczy Rogožan Mar 23 '21 at 21:19
what do you mean "behave nicely"?? – serge Jun 03 '22 at 10:46

score 2 · Answer 10 · answered May 27 '22 at 05:07

2

This issue happened to me when the visual studio released new update for 2022, I resolved this by downloading the new .Net 6.0 which you will find https://dotnet.microsoft.com/en-us/download/dotnet/6.0 in this link.

answered May 27 '22 at 05:07

Sen

21
1

score 2 · Answer 11 · answered Jun 03 '22 at 05:33

2

I solved that issue by simply pressing F1, writing "format", and hitting enter. In my case, there was no default formatter set in my environment so it prompted me options for formatters. I believe there was only one for C#.

answered Jun 03 '22 at 05:33

YanMax

75
4

score 2 · Answer 12 · edited Jun 12 '22 at 22:43

2

Open vscode go to output > the output of vs code

As you can see, the output is set to task. Change it to OmniSharp log and check if it says the dotnet version is not supported. If yes then update your dotnet version. Hope it helps.

edited Jun 12 '22 at 22:43

Lee Taylor

7,761
16
33
49

answered Jun 10 '22 at 12:44

SSD

21
2

It had an error saying that I was using an old version of .Net (~3.0.1), installed .Net SDK 6.0 and the error disappeared! – Redar Aug 07 '22 at 16:56

score 1 · Answer 13 · answered Feb 28 '21 at 12:09

In my case, I previously installed both dotnet and dotnet-sdk via Homebrew and those seemed to cause a conflict of OmniSharp. So I removed dotnet by:

brew uninstall dotnet

Also, just in case, I re-installed dotnet-sdk by:

brew reinstall dotnet-sdk

Plus, I restarted my Mac, then it finally worked fine.

score 1 · Answer 14 · answered Dec 17 '21 at 14:05

1

FOR MAC USERS

I solved the issue by setting

"omnisharp.useGlobalMono": "never"

in the VS code settings, it will also prompt you to restart Omnisharp and after that it should work with the shift + option + f key combination

answered Dec 17 '21 at 14:05

Mr. YANO

11
1

score 1 · Answer 15 · answered May 28 '22 at 06:42

1

Check the Omnisharp log to see if its giving a reason for the lack of formatting. In my case it was dotnet sdk needed updating.

answered May 28 '22 at 06:42

Trevor Daniels

1,119
8
5

score 1 · Answer 16 · answered Sep 05 '22 at 14:31

1

windows : Shift+Alt+F ubuntu: : Ctrl + Shift + I

answered Sep 05 '22 at 14:31

poloC

537
2
6
16

score 0 · Answer 17 · answered Feb 13 '21 at 14:07

0

Even after setting tab/space size in VSCode Omnisharp still uses its own rules you can change them by having an "omnisharp.json" with custom rules. for more information on these rules and where you can add the file check this article.

answered Feb 13 '21 at 14:07

Anas Einea

61
1
3

score 0 · Answer 18 · answered Apr 15 '22 at 15:31

0

Working fine in Windows:

--> Shift + Alt + F

answered Apr 15 '22 at 15:31

R M Shahidul Islam Shahed

1,178
13
13

score 0 · Answer 19 · answered Nov 22 '22 at 18:11

I kept pressing Shift + Alt + F (Format Document), thinking my formatter is not working because it was not chaning something I though was misformatted:


namespace MyApp // Note: actual namespace depends on the project name.
{
    internal class Program
    {

        public static async Task Main(string[] args)
        {
            Console.WriteLine("Hello World!");

            var app = PublicClientApplicationBuilder
    .Create(_clientId)
    .WithAuthority(AzureCloudInstance.AzurePublic, _tenantId)
    .WithRedirectUri("http://localhost")
    .Build();

            Console.WriteLine("Hello World!");
        }
    }
}

it turns out that with the default settings, the microsoft c# extension is ok with this formatting, it doesn't think there is something to fix. If I change the indentation of the first line it fixes it.

So: Your code might already be formatted!

score -1 · Answer 20 · edited Jun 13 '20 at 10:35

-1

Use the Synaptic package manager and mark the code package for 'Full Removal' and click apply.

Like here:

Delete ~/.vscode
Delete ~/.config
Reinstall

It worked for me.

edited Jun 13 '20 at 10:35

Peter Mortensen

30,738
21
105
131

answered Nov 17 '17 at 14:21

napi15

2,354
2
31
55

@andoral Do what peter suggested with C# FixFormat , this will work if you're using ubuntu , sorry I didn't pay attention that you're using windows OS – napi15 Nov 17 '17 at 14:34

Visual Studio Code doesn't format C# code

20 Answers20

Linked