diff --git a/R/style-guides.R b/R/style-guides.R
index d6d4c9b6b..5e28997cb 100644
--- a/R/style-guides.R
+++ b/R/style-guides.R
@@ -175,35 +175,49 @@ tidyverse_style <- function(scope = "tokens",
   }
 
   subset_transformers <- list(
-    force_assignment_op = "EQ_ASSIGN",
-    add_line_break_after_pipe = "SPECIAL-PIPE",
-    wrap_if_else_while_for_fun_multi_line_in_curly = c("IF", "WHILE", "FOR", "FUNCTION"),
-    remove_line_breaks_in_fun_dec = "FUNCTION",
-    set_space_in_curly_curly = c("'{'", "'}'"),
-    set_space_between_eq_sub_and_comma = "EQ_SUB",
-    remove_space_around_colons = c("':'", "NS_GET_INT", "NS_GET"),
-    remove_space_after_fun_dec = "FUNCTION",
-    remove_space_before_dollar = "'$'",
-    set_space_after_bang_bang = "'!'",
-    remove_space_after_excl = "'!'",
-    style_space_around_tilde = "'~'",
-    add_space_after_for_if_while = c("IF", "WHILE", "FOR"),
-    set_line_break_around_curly_curly = "'{'",
-    indent_braces = c("'('", "'['", "'{'", "')'", "']'", "'}'"),
-    unindent_fun_dec = "FUNCTION",
-    indent_eq_sub = c("EQ_SUB", "EQ_FORMALS"), # TODO rename
-    update_indention_ref_fun_dec = "FUNCTION",
-    remove_space_before_closing_paren = c("')'", "']'"),
-    remove_space_before_opening_paren = c("'('", "'['", "LBB"),
-    remove_space_before_comma = "','",
-    style_space_around_math_token = c(
-      math_token_spacing$zero,
-      math_token_spacing$one
+    token = list(
+      resolve_semicolon = "';'",
+      add_brackets_in_pipe = "SPECIAL-PIPE",
+      force_assignment_op = c("token" = "EQ_ASSIGN"),
+      wrap_if_else_while_for_fun_multi_line_in_curly = c("IF", "WHILE", "FOR", "FUNCTION")
     ),
-    remove_space_after_opening_paren = c("'('", "'['", "LBB"),
-    start_comments_with_space = "COMMENT",
-    remove_line_break_before_round_closing_after_curly = "'}'",
-    style_line_break_around_curly = "'{'"
+    line_break = list(
+      set_line_break_before_curly_opening = "'{'",
+      remove_line_break_before_round_closing_after_curly = "'}'",
+      remove_line_breaks_in_fun_dec = "FUNCTION",
+      set_line_break_around_curly_curly = "'{'",
+      style_line_break_around_curly = "'{'",
+      add_line_break_after_pipe = "SPECIAL-PIPE"
+    ),
+    space = list(
+      remove_space_before_closing_paren = c("')'", "']'"),
+      remove_space_before_opening_paren = c("'('", "'['", "LBB"),
+      add_space_after_for_if_while = c("IF", "WHILE", "FOR"),
+      add_space_before_brace = "'{'",
+      remove_space_before_comma = "','",
+      set_space_between_eq_sub_and_comma = "EQ_SUB",
+      style_space_around_math_token = c(
+        math_token_spacing$zero,
+        math_token_spacing$one
+      ),
+      style_space_around_tilde = "'~'",
+      remove_space_after_opening_paren = c("'('", "'['", "LBB"),
+      remove_space_after_excl = "'!'",
+      set_space_after_bang_bang = "'!'",
+      remove_space_before_dollar = "'$'",
+      remove_space_after_fun_dec = "FUNCTION",
+      remove_space_around_colons = c("':'", "NS_GET_INT", "NS_GET"),
+      start_comments_with_space = "COMMENT",
+      remove_space_after_unary_pm_nested = c("'+'", "'-'"),
+      spacing_before_comments = "COMMENT",
+      set_space_in_curly_curly = c("'{'", "'}'")
+    ),
+    indent = list(
+      indent_braces = c("'('", "'['", "'{'", "')'", "']'", "'}'"),
+      unindent_fun_dec = "FUNCTION",
+      indent_eq_sub = c("EQ_SUB", "EQ_FORMALS"), # TODO rename
+      update_indention_ref_fun_dec = "FUNCTION"
+    )
   )
 
   style_guide_name <- "styler::tidyverse_style@https://github.com/r-lib"
diff --git a/R/transform-files.R b/R/transform-files.R
index 0bc84ad0e..4ee7bd883 100644
--- a/R/transform-files.R
+++ b/R/transform-files.R
@@ -250,15 +250,34 @@ parse_transform_serialize_r <- function(text,
   text_out
 }
 
-transformers_subset_impl <- function(x, token) {
-  if (!any(x %in% token)) {
-    x
+#' Removes the transformers if tokens in x
+#' @param transformers The style full style guide, i.e. the result of
+#'   [create_style_guide()].
+#' @param token Named character vector: Names are rules and values are the token
+#'   that trigger are required to be absent to trigger a removal.
+#' @param scope The low-level scope, e.g. 'token'.
+#' @param code tokenized code for which we check if `token` is in them.
+transformers_subset_impl <- function(transformers, token, scope, code) {
+  transformer_names <- names(token)
+  for (i in seq_along(token)) {
+    if (!any(token[i] %in% code)) {
+      transformers[[scope]][[transformer_names[i]]] <- NULL
+    }
   }
+  transformers
 }
 
 #' Remove transformers that are not needed
+#'
 #' For every transformer, at least one token must be given to make subsetting.
 #' active.
+#' @param text Text to parse. Can also be the column `text` of the output of
+#'   [compute_parse_data_nested()], where each element is a token (instead of a
+#'   line).
+#' @return
+#' Returns `transformers`, but stripped away those rules that are not used when
+#' styling `text`.
+#' @keywords internal
 transformers_subset <- function(text, transformers) {
   is_colon <- text == ";"
   if (any(is_colon)) {
@@ -266,20 +285,12 @@ transformers_subset <- function(text, transformers) {
     # here since text is output of compute_parse_data_nested.
     text <- c(text[!is_colon], "1;")
   }
-  token <- unique(tokenize(text)$token)
-  to_remove <- purrr::map(
+  purrr::reduce2(
     transformers$subset_transformers,
-    transformers_subset_impl, token
-  ) %>%
-    compact() %>% # ise imap, return names directly, save compact()
-    names()
-  if (length(to_remove) > 0) {
-    for (scope in c("initialize", "line_break", "space", "token", "indention")) {
-      transformers[[scope]][to_remove] <- NULL
-      transformers[[scope]] <- purrr::compact(transformers[[scope]])
-    }
-  }
-  transformers
+    names(transformers$subset_transformers),
+    transformers_subset_impl,  unique(tokenize(text)$token),
+    .init = transformers
+  )
 }
 
 #' Apply transformers to a parse table
diff --git a/inst/WORDLIST b/inst/WORDLIST
index 23cda16a8..ea1adc5fe 100644
--- a/inst/WORDLIST
+++ b/inst/WORDLIST
@@ -68,6 +68,7 @@ href
 http
 https
 icloud
+impl
 infinitively
 initializer
 innode
@@ -190,6 +191,7 @@ tidyeval
 tidyr
 tidyverse
 Tidyverse
+tokenized
 travis
 tryCatch
 tryGugus
diff --git a/man/transformers_subset.Rd b/man/transformers_subset.Rd
index 07e2a3767..064718815 100644
--- a/man/transformers_subset.Rd
+++ b/man/transformers_subset.Rd
@@ -2,14 +2,21 @@
 % Please edit documentation in R/transform-files.R
 \name{transformers_subset}
 \alias{transformers_subset}
-\title{Remove transformers that are not needed
-For every transformer, at least one token must be given to make subsetting.
-active.}
+\title{Remove transformers that are not needed}
 \usage{
 transformers_subset(text, transformers)
 }
+\arguments{
+\item{text}{Text to parse. Can also be the column \code{text} of the output of
+\code{\link[=compute_parse_data_nested]{compute_parse_data_nested()}}, where each element is a token (instead of a
+line).}
+}
+\value{
+Returns \code{transformers}, but stripped away those rules that are not used when
+styling \code{text}.
+}
 \description{
-Remove transformers that are not needed
 For every transformer, at least one token must be given to make subsetting.
 active.
 }
+\keyword{internal}
diff --git a/man/transformers_subset_impl.Rd b/man/transformers_subset_impl.Rd
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..e43a2bc41
--- /dev/null
+++ b/man/transformers_subset_impl.Rd
@@ -0,0 +1,22 @@
+% Generated by roxygen2: do not edit by hand
+% Please edit documentation in R/transform-files.R
+\name{transformers_subset_impl}
+\alias{transformers_subset_impl}
+\title{Removes the transformers if tokens in x}
+\usage{
+transformers_subset_impl(transformers, token, scope, code)
+}
+\arguments{
+\item{transformers}{The style full style guide, i.e. the result of
+\code{\link[=create_style_guide]{create_style_guide()}}.}
+
+\item{token}{Named character vector: Names are rules and values are the token
+that trigger are required to be absent to trigger a removal.}
+
+\item{scope}{The low-level scope, e.g. 'token'.}
+
+\item{code}{tokenized code for which we check if \code{token} is in them.}
+}
+\description{
+Removes the transformers if tokens in x
+}
diff --git a/tests/testthat/test-transformers-subset.R b/tests/testthat/test-transformers-subset.R
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..c78044fd1
--- /dev/null
+++ b/tests/testthat/test-transformers-subset.R
@@ -0,0 +1,69 @@
+# c/cp from remove_space_after_excl but for self-containement repeated
+remove_space_after_excl_ <- function(pd_flat) {
+  excl <- (pd_flat$token == "'!'") &
+    (pd_flat$token_after != "'!'") &
+    (pd_flat$newlines == 0L)
+  pd_flat$spaces[excl] <- 0L
+  pd_flat
+}
+
+t <- create_style_guide(
+  space = lst(remove_space_after_excl_),
+  subset_transformers = list(space = list(remove_space_after_excl_ = c("'!'"))),
+)
+
+t_no_subset <- create_style_guide(
+  space = lst(remove_space_after_excl_),
+  subset_transformers = NULL,
+)
+
+t_empty_subset1 <- create_style_guide(
+  space = lst(remove_space_after_excl_),
+  subset_transformers = list(space = list()),
+)
+
+t_empty_subset2 <- create_style_guide(
+  space = lst(remove_space_after_excl_),
+  subset_transformers = list(),
+)
+
+test_that("transformers are not removed if they are used", {
+  t_new <- transformers_subset(
+    "!x", t
+  )
+  expect_equal(t_new, t)
+})
+
+test_that("transformers are removed if they are unused", {
+  t_fun <- transformers_subset(
+    "x", t
+  )
+  t_manual <- t
+  t_manual$space$remove_space_after_excl_ <- NULL
+  expect_equal(t_fun, t_manual)
+})
+
+
+test_that("if no subset_transformers is specified, no transformer is removed and no error issued", {
+  t_fun <- transformers_subset(
+    "x", t_no_subset
+  )
+  expect_equal(t_fun, t_no_subset)
+
+  t_fun <- transformers_subset(
+    "x", t_empty_subset1
+  )
+  expect_equal(t_fun, t_empty_subset1)
+
+  t_fun <- transformers_subset(
+    "x", t_empty_subset2
+  )
+  expect_equal(t_fun, t_empty_subset2)
+})
+
+test_that('semi-colon is parsed without error', {
+  expect_equal(
+    transformers_subset(c("a", ";", "b"), t_fun),
+    t_fun
+  )
+})