Include Sweeper is a Python script developed to identify and list redundant include statements in C/C++ projects. Redundant includes not only clutter the codebase but also increase compilation times, leading to inefficiencies. By identifying and removing these unnecessary include statements, Include Sweeper helps maintain a cleaner, more efficient codebase. This experimental project aims to address a common challenge faced by developers, enhancing code quality and compilation performance.

• Automatically scans and processes C/C++ files in the specified project directory.
• Identifies redundant include statements by compiling the project with each include statement removed.
• Reports redundant includes along with their file paths and line numbers.

• Python 3.x
• tabulate package (install using pip install tabulate)

To use Include Sweeper, follow these steps:

1. Clone the repository to your local machine:

git clone https://github.com/diffstorm/includeSweeper.git

2. Navigate to the includeSweeper directory:

cd includeSweeper

3. Install the required Python packages using pip:

pip install -r requirements.txt

To run the script, use the following command:

python includeSweeper.py --path [project_path] --cmd [compile_command]

Replace [project_path] with the path to your C/C++ project directory, and [compile_command] with the command used to compile your project. For example:

python src/includeSweeper.py --path "my-project" --cmd "gcc src/main.c"

python src/includeSweeper.py --path "test/" --cmd "make"

Include Sweeper will then analyze your project, identify redundant includes, and provide a report of the findings.

Redundant Includes:
+----+-----------+------------+--------+
|    | Include   | File       |   Line |
+====+===========+============+========+
|  0 | stdint.h  | src\main.c |     13 |
+----+-----------+------------+--------+
|  1 | stddef.h  | src\main.c |     15 |
+----+-----------+------------+--------+
|  2 | stdlib.h  | src\main.c |     16 |
+----+-----------+------------+--------+

Manually remove the includes found by Include Sweeper.

For a visual representation of the logic in Include Sweeper, refer to the flowchart provided in the repository.

graph TD;
    Start --> Parse_Command_line_Arguments;
    Parse_Command_line_Arguments --> Verify_Project_Path_Exists;
    Verify_Project_Path_Exists --> Change_to_Project_Directory;
    Change_to_Project_Directory --> Check_Initial_Compilation;
    Check_Initial_Compilation --> Get_List_of_Files;
    Get_List_of_Files --> Process_Each_File;
    Process_Each_File --> Test_Each_Include;
    Test_Each_Include --> Report_Redundant_Includes;
    Report_Redundant_Includes --> End;

    subgraph Check_Initial_Compilation;
        Compile_Project;
        Count_Errors_and_Warnings;
    end;

    subgraph Get_List_of_Files;
        Scan_Directory;
        Filter_C_CPP_Files;
    end;

    subgraph Process_Each_File;
        Remove_Comments;
        Identify_Include_Statements;
    end;

    subgraph Test_Each_Include;
        Remove_Include;
        Compile_Project_Again;
        Compare_Error_Counts;
    end;

• Implement detection of includes hidden behind define switches
• Add --remove option to remove the redundant includes
• If the same include comes in another include file, both files can be seen as redundant includes. A different approach is needed instead of removing the includes one by one.

Eray Öztürk (@diffstorm)

This project is licensed under the MIT License - see the LICENSE file for details.