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.