PYDOCSTYLE(1)

📦
version 6.3.0 · 4 versions
, in debian trixie, ubuntu noble, ubuntu questing

💖 PYDOCSTYLE(1) 💖

okay bestie, welcome to the pydocstyle manual page, this is your girl explaining the whole thing top to bottom, no skips, no cuts 💅

✨ NAME ✨

pydocstyle — the pydocstyle Documentation, like, the whole thing 🌸

pydocstyle is a static analysis tool for checking compliance with Python docstring conventions. yes queen, it reads your code so you don't have to 🙈

pydocstyle supports most of PEP 257 out of the box, but it should not be considered a reference implementation. (like, it's giving "very good", not "the actual law" 🫶)

pydocstyle supports Python 3.7 through 3.11.

Although pydocstyle is tries to be compatible with Python 3.6, it is not tested. 😭

1. Install 🎀

pip install pydocstyle

2. Run 🏃‍♀️

$ pydocstyle test.py
test.py:18 in private nested class `meta`:
        D101: Docstring missing
test.py:27 in public function `get_user`:
    D300: Use """triple double quotes""" (found '''-quotes)
test:75 in public function `init_database`:
    D201: No blank lines allowed before function docstring (found 1)
...

3. Fix your code :) 💖

Contents:

🌈 USAGE 🌈

Installation 🧚

Use pip or easy_install:

pip install pydocstyle

Alternatively, you can use pydocstyle.py source file directly — it is self-contained. iconic honestly ✨

Command Line Interface 💻

Usage

Usage: pydocstyle [options] [<file|dir>...]

Options:
  --version             show program's version number and exit
  -h, --help            show this help message and exit
  -e, --explain         show explanation of each error
  -s, --source          show source for each error
  -d, --debug           print debug information
  -v, --verbose         print status information
  --count               print total number of errors to stdout
  --config=<path>       use given config file and disable config discovery
  --match=<pattern>     check only files that exactly match <pattern> regular
                        expression; default is --match='(?!test_).*\.py' which
                        matches files that don't start with 'test_' but end
                        with '.py'
  --match-dir=<pattern>
                        search only dirs that exactly match <pattern> regular
                        expression; default is --match-dir='[^\.].*', which
                        matches all dirs that don't start with a dot
  --ignore-decorators=<decorators>
                        ignore any functions or methods that are decorated by
                        a function with a name fitting the <decorators>
                        regular expression; default is --ignore-decorators=''
                        which does not ignore any decorated functions.

  Note:
    When using --match, --match-dir or --ignore-decorators consider
    whether you should use a single quote (') or a double quote ("),
    depending on your OS, Shell, etc.

  Error Check Options:
    Only one of --select, --ignore or --convention can be specified. If
    none is specified, defaults to `--convention=pep257`. These three
    options select the "basic list" of error codes to check. If you wish
    to change that list (for example, if you selected a known convention
    but wish to ignore a specific error from it or add a new one) you can
    use `--add-[ignore/select]` in order to do so.

    --select=<codes>    choose the basic list of checked errors by specifying
                        which errors to check for (with a list of comma-
                        separated error codes or prefixes). for example:
                        --select=D101,D2
    --ignore=<codes>    choose the basic list of checked errors by specifying
                        which errors to ignore out of all of the available
                        error codes (with a list of comma-separated error
                        codes or prefixes). for example: --ignore=D101,D2
    --convention=<name>
                        choose the basic list of checked errors by specifying
                        an existing convention. Possible conventions: pep257,
                        numpy, google.
    --add-select=<codes>
                        add extra error codes to check to the basic list of
                        errors previously set by --select, --ignore or
                        --convention.
    --add-ignore=<codes>
                        ignore extra error codes by removing them from the
                        basic list previously set by --select, --ignore or
                        --convention.
NOTE: When using any of the --select, --ignore, --add-select, or --add-ignore command line flags, it is possible to pass a prefix for an error code. It will be expanded so that any code beginning with that prefix will match. For example, running the command pydocstyle --ignore=D4 will ignore all docstring content issues as their error codes beginning with "D4" (i.e. D400, D401, D402, D403, and D404). 👑

Return Code 🔢

  • 0 — Success — no violations 🎉
  • 1 — Some code violations were found 😬
  • 2 — Illegal usage — see error message 💀

Configuration Files 📁

pydocstyle supports ini-like and toml configuration files. In order for pydocstyle to use a configuration file automatically, it must be named one of the following options.

  • setup.cfg
  • tox.ini
  • .pydocstyle
  • .pydocstyle.ini
  • .pydocstylerc
  • .pydocstylerc.ini
  • pyproject.toml

When searching for a configuration file, pydocstyle looks for one of the file specified above in that exact order. ini-like configuration files must have a [pydocstyle] section while toml configuration files must have a [tool.pydocstyle] section. If a configuration file was not found, pydocstyle keeps looking for one up the directory tree until one is found or uses the default configuration. it's literally climbing the tree bestie 🌳

NOTE: toml configuration file support is only enabled if the toml python package is installed. You can ensure that this is the case by installing the pydocstyle[toml] optional dependency.
NOTE: For backwards compatibility purposes, pydocstyle supports configuration files named .pep257, as well as section header [pep257]. However, these are considered deprecated and support will be removed in the next major version. so like, don't get attached 🙈

Available Options ⚙️

Not all configuration options are available in the configuration files. Available options are:

  • convention
  • select
  • ignore
  • add_select
  • add_ignore
  • match
  • match_dir
  • ignore_decorators
  • property_decorators
  • ignore_self_only_init

See the Usage section for more information.

Inheritance 👑

By default, when finding a configuration file, pydocstyle tries to inherit the parent directory's configuration and merge them to the local ones.

The merge process is as follows:

  • If one of select, ignore or convention was specified in the child configuration — Ignores the parent configuration and set the new error codes to check. Otherwise, simply copies the parent checked error codes.
  • If add-ignore or add-select were specified, adds or removes the specified error codes from the checked error codes list.
  • If match or match-dir were specified — use them. Otherwise, use the parent's.

In order to disable this (useful for configuration files located in your repo's root), simply add inherit=false to your configuration file.

NOTE: If any of select, ignore or convention were specified in the CLI, the configuration files will take no part in choosing which error codes will be checked. match and match-dir will still take effect. 💅

Example 🍓

[pydocstyle]
inherit = false
ignore = D100,D203,D405
match = .*\.py

In-file configuration 📝

pydocstyle supports inline commenting to skip specific checks on specific functions or methods. The supported comments that can be added are:

  1. "# noqa" skips all checks.
  2. "# noqa: D102,D203" can be used to skip specific checks. Note that this is compatible with skips from flake8, e.g. # noqa: D102,E501,D203.

For example, this will skip the check for a period at the end of a function docstring:

>>> def bad_function():  # noqa: D400
...     """Omit a period in the docstring as an exception"""
...     pass

Usage with the pre-commit git hooks framework 🪝

pydocstyle can be included as a hook for pre-commit. The easiest way to get started is to add this configuration to your .pre-commit-config.yaml:

-   repo: https://github.com/pycqa/pydocstyle
    rev: 0.0.0  # pick a git hash / tag to point to
    hooks:
    -   id: pydocstyle

See the pre-commit docs for how to customize this configuration.

Checked-in python files will be passed as positional arguments so no need to use --match=*.py. You can also use command line arguments instead of configuration files to achieve the same effect with less files.

- id: pydocstyle
  args:
  - --ignore=D100,D203,D405
  # or multiline
  - |-
        --select=
        D101,
        D2

💖 ERROR CODES 💖

okay bestie, this is the part where pydocstyle tells you exactly which vibe crime you committed. every message has a code, and every code lives in a little squad. no cap, the codes are grouped by what kind of mess you made 🫶

✨ Grouping ✨

the codes roll up into four families: docstrings that straight-up ghosted you, whitespace chaos, quote drama, and content glow-ups. let's go code by code, iykyk 🌸

🌈 Missing Docstrings 🌈

not a single docstring in sight. it's giving mystery but not the cute kind 😭

  • D100 — Missing docstring in public module
  • D101 — Missing docstring in public class
  • D102 — Missing docstring in public method
  • D103 — Missing docstring in public function
  • D104 — Missing docstring in public package
  • D105 — Missing docstring in magic method
  • D106 — Missing docstring in public nested class
  • D107 — Missing docstring in __init__

🎀 Whitespace Issues 🎀

the spacing is not spacing-ing. lowkey these are all about blank lines and indentation being just right 💅

  • D200 — One-line docstring should fit on one line with quotes
  • D201 — No blank lines allowed before function docstring
  • D202 — No blank lines allowed after function docstring
  • D203 — 1 blank line required before class docstring
  • D204 — 1 blank line required after class docstring
  • D205 — 1 blank line required between summary line and description
  • D206 — Docstring should be indented with spaces, not tabs
  • D207 — Docstring is under-indented
  • D208 — Docstring is over-indented
  • D209 — Multi-line docstring closing quotes should be on a separate line
  • D210 — No whitespaces allowed surrounding docstring text
  • D211 — No blank lines allowed before class docstring
  • D212 — Multi-line docstring summary should start at the first line
  • D213 — Multi-line docstring summary should start at the second line
  • D214 — Section is over-indented
  • D215 — Section underline is over-indented

🦋 Quotes Issues 🦋

the way your quotes are arranged is the whole personality of the docstring fr fr

  • D300 — Use """triple double quotes"""
  • D301 — Use r""" if any backslashes in a docstring
  • D302 — Deprecated: Use u""" for Unicode docstrings

👑 Docstring Content Issues 👑

the words themselves. the actual lore. this is where your first line has to carry 💜

  • D400 — First line should end with a period
  • D401 — First line should be in imperative mood
  • D401 — First line should be in imperative mood; try rephrasing
  • D402 — First line should not be the function's "signature"
  • D403 — First word of the first line should be properly capitalized
  • D404 — First word of the docstring should not be This
  • D405 — Section name should be properly capitalized
  • D406 — section name should end with a newline. like, the section header needs its own line break, bestie. ✨
  • D407 — missing dashed underline after section. you forgot the little ----- under your section name. 💅
  • D408 — section underline should be in the line following the section's name. the dashes gotta be on the very next line, no skipping. 🎀
  • D409 — section underline should match the length of its name. if your section is OPTIONS, your dashes should be that long too. periodt. 👑
  • D410 — missing blank line after section. need a lil breathing room after the section, okay? 🌸
  • D411 — missing blank line before section. and also before the section, bestie. 🦋
  • D412 — no blank lines allowed between a section header and its content. so no random empty lines right after the header. 💀
  • D413 — missing blank line after last section. even the final section needs a blank line after it. 😭
  • D414 — section has no content. a section with nothing in it? not the vibe. 🙈
  • D415 — first line should end with a period, question mark, or exclamation point. punctuation is mandatory, fr fr. ⭐
  • D416 — section name should end with a colon. add that : at the end of the section name. 💜
  • D417 — missing argument descriptions in the docstring. you gotta describe your arguments, no cap. 🔥
  • D418 — function/method decorated with @overload shouldn't contain a docstring. if it's @overload, no docstring allowed. 💅
  • D419 — docstring is empty. an empty docstring is giving nothing. 🎀

Default conventions ✨

not every single error code gets checked by default, bestie. there are three conventions pydocstyle can use: pep257, numpy, and google.

  • The pep257 convention (specified in PEP257) is the default one. It checks for all of the above errors except D203, D212, D213, D214, D215, D404, D405, D406, D407, D408, D409, D410, D411, D413, D415, D416 and D417. 💖
  • The numpy convention was added in v2.0.0 and supports the numpydoc docstring standard. It checks all of the errors except D107, D203, D212, D213, D402, D413, D415, D416, and D417. 🌈
  • The google convention was added in v4.0.0 and supports the Google Python Style Guide. It checks for all the errors except D203, D204, D213, D215, D400, D401, D404, D406, D407, D408, D409 and D413. 🦋

You can pick a convention with --convention=<name> when you run pydocstyle from the command line, or you can set it in a configuration file. See the Usage section for more details. 💅

NOTE: It makes no sense to check the same docstring for both numpy and google conventions. So if we successfully detect that a docstring is in the numpy style, we don't check it for google. The reason numpy style takes precedence over google is that the heuristics for detecting it are better, and we don't want to force users to provide external hints to pydocstyle just to let it know which style their docstrings are written in. 🫶

Publicity 👑

The D1xx group of errors is all about missing docstrings in public constructs: modules, classes, methods, etc. It's super important to know how publicity is determined and what its effects are. 💖

How publicity is determined 🔍

Publicity for all constructs is determined like this: a construct is considered public if —

  1. Its immediate parent is public and
  2. Its name does not start with a single or double underscore.
    • Note: names that start and end with a double underscore are public (e.g. __init__.py). ✨

A construct's immediate parent is the construct that contains it. For example, a method's parent is a class object. A class's parent is usually a module, but it might also be a function, method, etc. A module can either have no parent, or it can have a parent that is a package. 🌸

In order for a construct to be considered public, its immediate parent must also be public. Since this definition is recursive, it means all of its parents need to be public. The corollary: if a construct is considered private, then all of its descendants are also considered private. For example, a class called _Foo is considered private. A method bar in _Foo is also considered private since its parent is a private class, even though its name does not begin with a single underscore. 💀

Note: a module's parent is recursively checked upward until we reach a directory in sys.path to avoid considering the complete filepath of a module. For example, consider the module /_foo/bar/baz.py. If PYTHONPATH is set to /, then baz.py is private. If PYTHONPATH is set to /_foo/, then baz.py is public. 🎀

Modules are parsed to look if __all__ is defined. If so, only those top level constructs are considered public. The parser looks for __all__ defined as a literal list or tuple. As the parser doesn't execute the module, any mutation of __all__ will not be considered. 🔥

How publicity affects error reports 📝

The immediate effect of a construct being determined as private is that no D1xx errors will be reported for it (or its children, as the previous section explains). A private method, for instance, will not generate a D102 error, even if it has no docstring. 💅

However, it's important to note that while docstrings are optional for private constructs, they are still required to adhere to your style guide. So if a private module _foo.py does not have a docstring, it will not generate a D100 error, but if it does have a docstring, that docstring might generate other errors. 👑

pydocstyle is a rename and continuation of pep257, a project created by Vladimir Keleshev.

Maintained by Amir Rachum and Sambhav Kothari.

AUTHOR ✨

Amir Rachum

2024, Amir Rachum, Sambhav Kothari

that's a wrap on PYDOCSTYLE(1) — version 0.0.0, dated 2024-01-14. stay iconic, bestie. 💖✨

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