Improve spacing in HelpText

src/CommandLine/Infrastructure/StringBuilderExtensions.cs

@@ -113,5 +113,39 @@ public static int TrailingSpaces(this StringBuilder builder)
             }
             return c;
         }
+
+        /// <summary>
+        /// Indicates whether the string value of a <see cref="System.Text.StringBuilder"/>
+        /// starts with the input <see cref="System.String"/> parameter. Returns false if either 
+        /// the StringBuilder or input string is null or empty.
+        /// </summary>
+        /// <param name="builder">The <see cref="System.Text.StringBuilder"/> to test.</param>
+        /// <param name="s">The <see cref="System.String"/> to look for.</param>
+        /// <returns></returns>
+        public static bool SafeStartsWith(this StringBuilder builder, string s)
+        {
+            if (string.IsNullOrEmpty(s))
+                return false;
+
+            return builder?.Length >= s.Length
+                && builder.ToString(0, s.Length) == s;
+        }
+
+        /// <summary>
+        /// Indicates whether the string value of a <see cref="System.Text.StringBuilder"/>
+        /// ends with the input <see cref="System.String"/> parameter. Returns false if either 
+        /// the StringBuilder or input string is null or empty.
+        /// </summary>
+        /// <param name="builder">The <see cref="System.Text.StringBuilder"/> to test.</param>
+        /// <param name="s">The <see cref="System.String"/> to look for.</param>
+        /// <returns></returns>
+        public static bool SafeEndsWith(this StringBuilder builder, string s)
+        {
+            if (string.IsNullOrEmpty(s))
+                return false;
+
+            return builder?.Length >= s.Length
+                && builder.ToString(builder.Length - s.Length, s.Length) == s;
+        }
     }
-}
+}

src/CommandLine/Text/HelpText.cs

@@ -109,6 +109,7 @@ ComparableOption ToComparableOption(Specification spec, int index)
         private bool addEnumValuesToHelpText;
         private bool autoHelp;
         private bool autoVersion;
+        private bool addNewLineBetweenHelpSections;
 
         /// <summary>
         /// Initializes a new instance of the <see cref="CommandLine.Text.HelpText"/> class.
@@ -258,6 +259,15 @@ public bool AdditionalNewLineAfterOption
             set { additionalNewLineAfterOption = value; }
         }
 
+        /// <summary>
+        /// Gets or sets a value indicating whether to add newlines between help sections.
+        /// </summary>
+        public bool AddNewLineBetweenHelpSections
+        {
+            get {  return addNewLineBetweenHelpSections; }
+            set { addNewLineBetweenHelpSections = value; }
+        }
+
         /// <summary>
         /// Gets or sets a value indicating whether to add the values of an enum after the description of the specification.
         /// </summary>
@@ -352,7 +362,11 @@ public static HelpText AutoBuild<T>(
             {
                 var heading = auto.SentenceBuilder.UsageHeadingText();
                 if (heading.Length > 0)
+                {
+                    if (auto.AddNewLineBetweenHelpSections)
+                        heading = Environment.NewLine + heading;
                     auto.AddPreOptionsLine(heading);
+                }
             }
 
             usageAttr.Do(
@@ -707,19 +721,40 @@ public static IEnumerable<string> RenderUsageTextAsLines<T>(ParserResult<T> pars
         public override string ToString()
         {
             const int ExtraLength = 10;
-            return
-                new StringBuilder(
-                    heading.SafeLength() + copyright.SafeLength() + preOptionsHelp.SafeLength() +
-                        optionsHelp.SafeLength() + ExtraLength).Append(heading)
-                    .AppendWhen(!string.IsNullOrEmpty(copyright), Environment.NewLine, copyright)
-                    .AppendWhen(preOptionsHelp.Length > 0, Environment.NewLine, preOptionsHelp.ToString())
-                    .AppendWhen(
-                        optionsHelp != null && optionsHelp.Length > 0,
+
+            var sbLength = heading.SafeLength() + copyright.SafeLength() + preOptionsHelp.SafeLength()
+                    + optionsHelp.SafeLength() + postOptionsHelp.SafeLength() + ExtraLength;
+            var result = new StringBuilder(sbLength);
+
+            result.Append(heading)
+                    .AppendWhen(!string.IsNullOrEmpty(copyright), 
+                        Environment.NewLine, 
+                        copyright)
+                    .AppendWhen(preOptionsHelp.SafeLength() > 0,
+                        NewLineIfNeededBefore(preOptionsHelp),
+                        Environment.NewLine,
+                        preOptionsHelp.ToString())
+                    .AppendWhen(optionsHelp.SafeLength() > 0,
                         Environment.NewLine,
                         Environment.NewLine,
                         optionsHelp.SafeToString())
-                    .AppendWhen(postOptionsHelp.Length > 0, Environment.NewLine, postOptionsHelp.ToString())
-                .ToString();
+                    .AppendWhen(postOptionsHelp.SafeLength() > 0, 
+                        NewLineIfNeededBefore(postOptionsHelp),
+                        Environment.NewLine,
+                        postOptionsHelp.ToString());
+
+            string NewLineIfNeededBefore(StringBuilder sb)
+            {
+                if (AddNewLineBetweenHelpSections 
+                        && result.Length > 0 
+                        && !result.SafeEndsWith(Environment.NewLine)
+                        && !sb.SafeStartsWith(Environment.NewLine))
+                    return Environment.NewLine;
+                else
+                    return null;
+            }
+
+            return result.ToString();
         }
 
         internal static void AddLine(StringBuilder builder, string value, int maximumLength)

tests/CommandLine.Tests/Unit/StringBuilderExtensionsTests.cs

@@ -0,0 +1,104 @@
+using System;
+using System.Collections.Generic;
+using System.Linq;
+using System.Text;
+using System.Threading.Tasks;
+using Xunit;
+using FluentAssertions;
+using CommandLine.Infrastructure;
+
+namespace CommandLine.Tests.Unit
+{
+    public class StringBuilderExtensionsTests
+    {
+        private static StringBuilder _sb = new StringBuilder("test string");
+        private static StringBuilder _emptySb = new StringBuilder();
+        private static StringBuilder _nullSb = null;
+
+        public static IEnumerable<object[]> GoodStartsWithData => new []
+        {
+            new object[] { "t" },
+            new object[] { "te" },
+            new object[] { "test " },
+            new object[] { "test string" }
+        };
+
+        public static IEnumerable<object[]> BadTestData => new []
+        {
+            new object[] { null },
+            new object[] { "" },
+            new object[] { "xyz" },
+            new object[] { "some long test string" }
+        };
+
+        public static IEnumerable<object[]> GoodEndsWithData => new[]
+        {
+            new object[] { "g" },
+            new object[] { "ng" },
+            new object[] { " string" },
+            new object[] { "test string" }
+        };
+
+
+
+        [Theory]
+        [MemberData(nameof(GoodStartsWithData))]
+        [MemberData(nameof(BadTestData))]
+        public void StartsWith_null_builder_returns_false(string input)
+        {
+            _nullSb.SafeStartsWith(input).Should().BeFalse();
+        }
+
+        [Theory]
+        [MemberData(nameof(GoodStartsWithData))]
+        [MemberData(nameof(BadTestData))]
+        public void StartsWith_empty_builder_returns_false(string input)
+        {
+            _emptySb.SafeStartsWith(input).Should().BeFalse();
+        }
+
+        [Theory]
+        [MemberData(nameof(GoodStartsWithData))]
+        public void StartsWith_good_data_returns_true(string input)
+        {
+            _sb.SafeStartsWith(input).Should().BeTrue();
+        }
+
+        [Theory]
+        [MemberData(nameof(BadTestData))]
+        public void StartsWith_bad_data_returns_false(string input)
+        {
+            _sb.SafeStartsWith(input).Should().BeFalse();
+        }
+
+        [Theory]
+        [MemberData(nameof(GoodEndsWithData))]
+        [MemberData(nameof(BadTestData))]
+        public void EndsWith_null_builder_returns_false(string input)
+        {
+            _nullSb.SafeEndsWith(input).Should().BeFalse();
+        }
+
+        [Theory]
+        [MemberData(nameof(GoodEndsWithData))]
+        [MemberData(nameof(BadTestData))]
+        public void EndsWith_empty_builder_returns_false(string input)
+        {
+            _emptySb.SafeEndsWith(input).Should().BeFalse();
+        }
+
+        [Theory]
+        [MemberData(nameof(GoodEndsWithData))]
+        public void EndsWith_good_data_returns_true(string input)
+        {
+            _sb.SafeEndsWith(input).Should().BeTrue();
+        }
+
+        [Theory]
+        [MemberData(nameof(BadTestData))]
+        public void EndsWith_bad_data_returns_false(string input)
+        {
+            _sb.SafeEndsWith(input).Should().BeFalse();
+        }
+    }
+}