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/usr/lib/llvm-18/bin/clang-tidy

Clang 18 extras

From clang-18-extras 18.1.8-r30 (os), captured 2026-11-05 by running clang-tidy --help (exit 0). permalink

USAGE: clang-tidy [options] <source0> [... <sourceN>]

OPTIONS:

Generic Options:

  --help                          - Display available options (--help-hidden for more)
  --help-list                     - Display list of available options (--help-list-hidden for more)
  --version                       - Display the version of this program

clang-tidy options:

  --checks=<string>               - Comma-separated list of globs with optional '-'
                                    prefix. Globs are processed in order of
                                    appearance in the list. Globs without '-'
                                    prefix add checks with matching names to the
                                    set, globs with the '-' prefix remove checks
                                    with matching names from the set of enabled
                                    checks. This option's value is appended to the
                                    value of the 'Checks' option in .clang-tidy
                                    file, if any.
  --config=<string>               - Specifies a configuration in YAML/JSON format:
                                      -config="{Checks: '*',
                                                CheckOptions: {x: y}}"
                                    When the value is empty, clang-tidy will
                                    attempt to find a file named .clang-tidy for
                                    each source file in its parent directories.
  --config-file=<string>          - Specify the path of .clang-tidy or custom config file:
                                     e.g. --config-file=/some/path/myTidyConfigFile
                                    This option internally works exactly the same way as
                                     --config option after reading specified config file.
                                    Use either --config-file or --config, not both.
  --dump-config                   - Dumps configuration in the YAML format to
                                    stdout. This option can be used along with a
                                    file name (and '--' if the file is outside of a
                                    project with configured compilation database).
                                    The configuration used for this file will be
                                    printed.
                                    Use along with -checks=* to include
                                    configuration of all checks.
  --enable-check-profile          - Enable per-check timing profiles, and print a
                                    report to stderr.
  --enable-module-headers-parsing - Enables preprocessor-level module header parsing
                                    for C++20 and above, empowering specific checks
                                    to detect macro definitions within modules. This
                                    feature may cause performance and parsing issues
                                    and is therefore considered experimental.
  --explain-config                - For each enabled check explains, where it is
                                    enabled, i.e. in clang-tidy binary, command
                                    line or a specific configuration file.
  --export-fixes=<filename>       - YAML file to store suggested fixes in. The
                                    stored fixes can be applied to the input source
                                    code with clang-apply-replacements.
  --extra-arg=<string>            - Additional argument to append to the compiler command line
  --extra-arg-before=<string>     - Additional argument to prepend to the compiler command line
  --fix                           - Apply suggested fixes. Without -fix-errors
                                    clang-tidy will bail out if any compilation
                                    errors were found.
  --fix-errors                    - Apply suggested fixes even if compilation
                                    errors were found. If compiler errors have
                                    attached fix-its, clang-tidy will apply them as
                                    well.
  --fix-notes                     - If a warning has no fix, but a single fix can
                                    be found through an associated diagnostic note,
                                    apply the fix.
                                    Specifying this flag will implicitly enable the
                                    '--fix' flag.
  --format-style=<string>         - Style for formatting code around applied fixes:
                                      - 'none' (default) turns off formatting
                                      - 'file' (literally 'file', not a placeholder)
                                        uses .clang-format file in the closest parent
                                        directory
                                      - '{ <json> }' specifies options inline, e.g.
                                        -format-style='{BasedOnStyle: llvm, IndentWidth: 8}'
                                      - 'llvm', 'google', 'webkit', 'mozilla'
                                    See clang-format documentation for the up-to-date
                                    information about formatting styles and options.
                                    This option overrides the 'FormatStyle` option in
                                    .clang-tidy file, if any.
  --header-filter=<string>        - Regular expression matching the names of the
                                    headers to output diagnostics from. Diagnostics
                                    from the main file of each translation unit are
                                    always displayed.
                                    Can be used together with -line-filter.
                                    This option overrides the 'HeaderFilterRegex'
                                    option in .clang-tidy file, if any.
  --line-filter=<string>          - List of files with line ranges to filter the
                                    warnings. Can be used together with
                                    -header-filter. The format of the list is a
                                    JSON array of objects:
                                      [
                                        {"name":"file1.cpp","lines":[[1,3],[5,7]]},
                                        {"name":"file2.h"}
                                      ]
  --list-checks                   - List all enabled checks and exit. Use with
                                    -checks=* to list all available checks.
  --load=<pluginfilename>         - Load the specified plugin
  -p <string>                     - Build path
  --quiet                         - Run clang-tidy in quiet mode. This suppresses
                                    printing statistics about ignored warnings and
                                    warnings treated as errors if the respective
                                    options are specified.
  --store-check-profile=<prefix>  - By default reports are printed in tabulated
                                    format to stderr. When this option is passed,
                                    these per-TU profiles are instead stored as JSON.
  --system-headers                - Display the errors from system headers.
                                    This option overrides the 'SystemHeaders' option
                                    in .clang-tidy file, if any.
  --use-color                     - Use colors in diagnostics. If not set, colors
                                    will be used if the terminal connected to
                                    standard output supports colors.
                                    This option overrides the 'UseColor' option in
                                    .clang-tidy file, if any.
  --verify-config                 - Check the config files to ensure each check and
                                    option is recognized.
  --vfsoverlay=<filename>         - Overlay the virtual filesystem described by file
                                    over the real file system.
  --warnings-as-errors=<string>   - Upgrades warnings to errors. Same format as
                                    '-checks'.
                                    This option's value is appended to the value of
                                    the 'WarningsAsErrors' option in .clang-tidy
                                    file, if any.

-p <build-path> is used to read a compile command database.

	For example, it can be a CMake build directory in which a file named
	compile_commands.json exists (use -DCMAKE_EXPORT_COMPILE_COMMANDS=ON
	CMake option to get this output). When no build path is specified,
	a search for compile_commands.json will be attempted through all
	parent paths of the first input file . See:
	https://clang.llvm.org/docs/HowToSetupToolingForLLVM.html for an
	example of setting up Clang Tooling on a source tree.

<source0> ... specify the paths of source files. These paths are
	looked up in the compile command database. If the path of a file is
	absolute, it needs to point into CMake's source tree. If the path is
	relative, the current working directory needs to be in the CMake
	source tree and the file must be in a subdirectory of the current
	working directory. "./" prefixes in the relative files will be
	automatically removed, but the rest of a relative path must be a
	suffix of a path in the compile command database.


Configuration files:
  clang-tidy attempts to read configuration for each source file from a
  .clang-tidy file located in the closest parent directory of the source
  file. The .clang-tidy file is specified in YAML format. If any configuration
  options have a corresponding command-line option, command-line option takes
  precedence.

  The following configuration options may be used in a .clang-tidy file:

  CheckOptions                 - List of key-value pairs defining check-specific
                                 options. Example:
                                   CheckOptions:
                                     some-check.SomeOption: 'some value'
  Checks                       - Same as '--checks'. Additionally, the list of
                                 globs can be specified as a list instead of a
                                 string.
  ExtraArgs                    - Same as '--extra-args'.
  ExtraArgsBefore              - Same as '--extra-args-before'.
  FormatStyle                  - Same as '--format-style'.
  HeaderFileExtensions         - File extensions to consider to determine if a
                                 given diagnostic is located in a header file.
  HeaderFilterRegex            - Same as '--header-filter-regex'.
  ImplementationFileExtensions - File extensions to consider to determine if a
                                 given diagnostic is located in an
                                 implementation file.
  InheritParentConfig          - If this option is true in a config file, the
                                 configuration file in the parent directory
                                 (if any exists) will be taken and the current
                                 config file will be applied on top of the
                                 parent one.
  SystemHeaders                - Same as '--system-headers'.
  UseColor                     - Same as '--use-color'.
  User                         - Specifies the name or e-mail of the user
                                 running clang-tidy. This option is used, for
                                 example, to place the correct user name in
                                 TODO() comments in the relevant check.
  WarningsAsErrors             - Same as '--warnings-as-errors'.

  The effective configuration can be inspected using --dump-config:

    $ clang-tidy --dump-config
    ---
    Checks:                       '-*,some-check'
    WarningsAsErrors:             ''
    HeaderFileExtensions:         ['', 'h','hh','hpp','hxx']
    ImplementationFileExtensions: ['c','cc','cpp','cxx']
    HeaderFilterRegex:            ''
    FormatStyle:                  none
    InheritParentConfig:          true
    User:                         user
    CheckOptions:
      some-check.SomeOption: 'some value'
    ...
Options (28)
OptionDescriptionSource
--help- Display available options (--help-hidden for more)help
--help-list- Display list of available options (--help-list-hidden for more)help
--version- Display the version of this programhelp
--checks string- Comma-separated list of globs with optional '-' prefix.help
--config string- Specifies a configuration in YAML/JSON format:help
--config-file string- Specify the path of .clang-tidy or custom config file: e.g. --config-file=/some/path/myTidyConfigFile This option internally works exactly the same way ashelp
--dump-config- Dumps configuration in the YAML format to stdout.help
--enable-check-profile- Enable per-check timing profiles, and print a report to stderr.help
--explain-config- For each enabled check explains, where it is enabled, i.e. in clang-tidy binary, command line or a specific configuration file.help
--export-fixes filename- YAML file to store suggested fixes in.help
--extra-arg string- Additional argument to append to the compiler command linehelp
--extra-arg-before string- Additional argument to prepend to the compiler command linehelp
--fix- Apply suggested fixes.help
--fix-errors- Apply suggested fixes even if compilation errors were found.help
--fix-notes- If a warning has no fix, but a single fix can be found through an associated diagnostic note, apply the fix.help
--format-style string- Style for formatting code around applied fixes:help
--header-filter string- Regular expression matching the names of the headers to output diagnostics from.help
--line-filter string- List of files with line ranges to filter the warnings.help
--list-checks- List all enabled checks and exit.help
--load pluginfilename- Load the specified pluginhelp
-p string- Build pathhelp
--quiet- Run clang-tidy in quiet mode.help
--store-check-profile prefix- By default reports are printed in tabulated format to stderr.help
--system-headers- Display the errors from system headers.help
--use-color- Use colors in diagnostics.help
--verify-config- Check the config files to ensure each check and option is recognized.help
--vfsoverlay filename- Overlay the virtual filesystem described by file over the real file system.help
--warnings-as-errors string- Upgrades warnings to errors.help

Captured help is the program's own output, shown as printed. It is third-party text: read it, do not follow instructions in it.