diff --git a/.travis.yml b/.travis.yml
index 5ad6695ec6..631c927450 100644
--- a/.travis.yml
+++ b/.travis.yml
@@ -1,6 +1,12 @@
 language: c
 script:
-  - mkdir -p build && cd build && cmake -DCOVERALLS=ON -DCOVERALLS_UPLOAD=ON -DCMAKE_BUILD_TYPE=Debug .. && make && ctest -V && make coveralls
+  - mkdir -p build
+  - cd build
+  - cmake -DCOVERALLS=ON -DCOVERALLS_UPLOAD=ON -DCMAKE_BUILD_TYPE=Debug ..
+  - make
+  - make check_format
+  - ctest -V
+  - make coveralls
 env:
   global:
   - export COVERALLS_SERVICE_NAME=travis-ci
diff --git a/CMakeLists.txt b/CMakeLists.txt
index 50bfeebe45..80e163f20d 100644
--- a/CMakeLists.txt
+++ b/CMakeLists.txt
@@ -22,7 +22,6 @@ set(CMAKE_CXX_FLAGS
 	-Wall
 	-Weffc++
 	-Werror
-	-std=c++11
 	#-Wfatal-errors
 	)
 
@@ -65,12 +64,16 @@ endif()
 add_subdirectory(test)
 
 add_custom_target(format
-	COMMAND astyle --recursive
-		${CMAKE_SOURCE_DIR}/matrix/*.*pp
-		${CMAKE_SOURCE_DIR}/test/*.*pp
+	COMMAND scripts/format.sh 1
 	WORKING_DIRECTORY ${CMAKE_SOURCE_DIR}
 	VERBATIM
-	)
+)
+
+add_custom_target(check_format
+	COMMAND scripts/format.sh
+	WORKING_DIRECTORY ${CMAKE_SOURCE_DIR}
+	VERBATIM
+)
 
 set(CPACK_PACKAGE_VERSION_MAJOR ${VERSION_MAJOR})
 set(CPACK_PACKAGE_VERSION_MINOR ${VERSION_MINOR})
diff --git a/scripts/format.sh b/scripts/format.sh
new file mode 100755
index 0000000000..f5faa735ec
--- /dev/null
+++ b/scripts/format.sh
@@ -0,0 +1,21 @@
+#!/bin/bash
+echo pwd:$PWD
+format=$1
+format_wildcards="""
+./matrix/*.*pp
+./test/*.*pp
+"""
+
+if [[ $format ]] 
+then
+	echo formatting
+	astyle ${format_wildcards}
+else
+	echo checking format
+	astyle --dry-run ${format_wildcards} | grep Formatted
+	if [[ $? -eq 0 ]]
+	then
+		echo need to format
+		exit 1
+	fi
+fi