Python docstring reStructuredText (RST) validator for flake8
.. image:: https://img.shields.io/pypi/v/flake8-rst-docstrings.svg :alt: Released on the Python Package Index (PyPI) :target: https://pypi.org/project/flake8-rst-docstrings/ .. image:: https://img.shields.io/conda/vn/conda-forge/flake8-rst-docstrings.svg :alt: Released on Conda :target: https://anaconda.org/conda-forge/flake8-rst-docstrings .. image:: https://results.pre-commit.ci/badge/github/peterjc/flake8-rst-docstrings/master.svg :target: https://results.pre-commit.ci/latest/github/peterjc/flake8-rst-docstrings/master :alt: pre-commit.ci status .. image:: https://img.shields.io/github/workflow/status/peterjc/flake8-rst-docstrings/test?logo=github-actions :alt: GitHub workflow status :target: https://github.com/peterjc/flake8-rst-docstrings/actions .. image:: https://img.shields.io/pypi/dm/flake8-rst-docstrings.svg :alt: PyPI downloads :target: https://pypistats.org/packages/flake8-rst-docstrings .. image:: https://img.shields.io/badge/code%20style-black-000000.svg :alt: Code style: black :target: https://github.com/python/black
This is an MIT licensed flake8 plugin for validating Python docstrings markup
as reStructuredText (RST) using the Python library docutils
. It is
available to install from the Python Package Index (PyPI) <https://pypi.org/project/flake8-rst-docstrings/>
_.
This is based heavily off pydocstyle
(which is also MIT licensed), which
has a flake8 plugin called flake8-docstrings
, see:
The reStructuredText (RST) validation is done by calling docutils
via
Todd Wolfson's restructuredtext-lint
code:
I recommend you also install the related flake8-docstrings <https://gitlab.com/pycqa/flake8-docstrings>
_ plugin, which brings
the pydocstyle <https://github.com/pycqa/pydocstyle>
_ checks into flake8.
This checks things like missing docstrings, and other recommendations from
PEP 257 Docstring Conventions <https://www.python.org/dev/peps/pep-0257/>
_.
You may also wish to install the related flake8 plugin flake8-rst <https://github.com/kataev/flake8-rst>
_ which can check the Python style
of doctest formatted snippets of Python code within your *.rst
files
or the docstrings within your *.py
files.
Early versions of flake8 assumed a single character prefix for the validation
codes, which became problematic with collisions in the plugin ecosystem. Since
v3.0, flake8 has supported longer prefixes therefore this plugin uses RST
as its prefix.
Internally we use docutils
for RST validation, which has this to say in
PEP258 <https://www.python.org/dev/peps/pep-0258/#error-handling>
_:
The docutils
"DEBUG" level messages are not reported, and the plugin
currently ignores the "INFO" level messages.
Within each category, the individual messages are mapped to flake8
codes
using one hundred times the level. i.e. Validation codes RST4##
are
severe or critical errors in RST validation, RST3##
are major errors,
RST2##
are warnings, and while currently not yet used, RST1##
would
be information only.
Warning codes:
====== ======================================================================= Code Description
RST201 Block quote ends without a blank line; unexpected unindent. RST202 Bullet list ends without a blank line; unexpected unindent. RST203 Definition list ends without a blank line; unexpected unindent. RST204 Enumerated list ends without a blank line; unexpected unindent. RST205 Explicit markup ends without a blank line; unexpected unindent. RST206 Field list ends without a blank line; unexpected unindent. RST207 Literal block ends without a blank line; unexpected unindent. RST208 Option list ends without a blank line; unexpected unindent. RST210 Inline strong start-string without end-string. RST211 Blank line required after table. RST212 Title underline too short. RST213 Inline emphasis start-string without end-string. RST214 Inline literal start-string without end-string. RST215 Inline interpreted text or phrase reference start-string without end-string. RST216 Multiple roles in interpreted text (both prefix and suffix present; only one allowed). RST217 Mismatch: both interpreted text role suffix and reference suffix. RST218 Literal block expected; none found. RST219 Inline substitution_reference start-string without end-string. RST299 Previously unseen warning, not yet assigned a unique code. ====== =======================================================================
Major error codes:
====== ======================================================================= Code Description
RST301 Unexpected indentation. RST302 Malformed table. RST303 Unknown directive type "XXX". RST304 Unknown interpreted text role "XXX". RST305 Undefined substitution referenced: "XXX". RST306 Unknown target name: "XXX". RST307 Error in "XXX" directive: RST399 Previously unseen major error, not yet assigned a unique code. ====== =======================================================================
Severe or critial error codes:
====== ======================================================================= Code Description
RST401 Unexpected section title. RST499 Previously unseen severe error, not yet assigned a unique code. ====== =======================================================================
Codes ending 99
, for example RST499
, indicate a previously unseen
validation error for which we have yet to assign a unique validation code
in the associated range, which would be RST4##
in this example. If you see
one of these codes, please report it on our GitHub issue tracker, ideally with
an example we can use for testing.
Codes starting RST9##
indicate there was a problem parsing the Python
file in order to extract the docstrings, or in processing the contents.
====== ======================================================================= Code Description (and notes)
RST900 Failed to load file RST901 Failed to parse file (No longer used) RST902 Failed to parse all entry (No longer used) RST903 Failed to lint docstring ====== =======================================================================
Python 3.7 or later now required. Earlier versions did support Python 2.7, use v0.0.14 if required.
We recommend installing the plugin using pip, which handles the dependencies::
$ pip install flake8-rst-docstrings
Alternatively, if you are using the Anaconda packaging system, the following command will install the plugin with its dependencies::
$ conda install -c conda-forge flake8-rst-docstrings
Developers may install the plugin from the git repository with optional dependencies::
$ pip install -e .[develop]
The new validator should be automatically included when using flake8
which
may now report additional validation codes starting with RST
(as defined
above). For example::
$ flake8 example.py
You can request only the RST
codes be shown using::
$ flake8 --select RST example.py
Similarly you might add particular RST validation codes to your flake8 configuration file's select or ignore list.
Note in addition to the RST
prefix alone you can use partial codes
like RST2
meaning RST200
, RST201
, ... and so on.
Normally flake8 violations are to a specific line and column. Unfortuntatley, docutils only gives us a line number, and occasionally this only points to the start of a paragraph - not the exact line with an issue.
We assume you are familiar with flake8 configuration <http://flake8.pycqa.org/en/latest/user/configuration.html>
_.
If you are using Sphinx or other extensions to reStructuredText, you will
want to define any additional directives or roles you are using to avoid
false positive RST303
, RST304
and RST305
violations. You may also
need to ignore RST307
if using Sphinx directives with arguments.
You can set these at the command line if you wish::
$ flake8 --rst-roles class,func,ref --rst-directives envvar,exception ...
We recommend recording these settings in your flake8
configuration,
for example in your .flake8
, setup.cfg
, or tox.ini
file, e.g.::
[flake8]
rst-roles =
class,
func,
ref,
rst-directives =
envvar,
exception,
rst-substitutions =
version,
extend-ignore =
RST307,
# ...
Note that flake8 allows splitting the comma separated lists over multiple lines, and allows including of hash comment lines.
If you are using the Google Python Style <https://google.github.io/styleguide/pyguide.html#s3.8-comments-and-docstrings>
_
you will sometimes get unwanted warnings from this plugin - particularly in the
argument descriptions - as it does not use strict RST. We therefore currently
suggest ignoring some of the violation codes::
[flake8]
extend-ignore =
# Google Python style is not RST until after processed by Napoleon
# See https://github.com/peterjc/flake8-rst-docstrings/issues/17
RST201,RST203,RST301,
======= ========== =========================================================== Version Released Changes
v0.3.0 2022-11-16 - Replaced setup.py
with pyproject.toml
.
v0.2.7 2022-07-15 - Fix where function signature occurred in docstring body.
v0.2.6 2022-06-07 - Configuration option to define additional substitutions
(e.g. from Sphinx) for RST305
(contribution from
Andreas Thum <https://github.com/andthum>
).
- Requires Python 3.7 or later.
v0.2.5 2021-12-10 - Ignore function signature lines at start of docstrings.
v0.2.4 2021-12-09 - Fixed rare line number problem under Python 3.7 or older.
- Updated test framework to use pytest
.
- Requires Python 3.6 or later.
v0.2.3 2021-05-03 - Fixed line number assert in one-line docstring-only file.
v0.2.2 2021-04-30 - Fixed line number problem under Python 3.8 or later.
- Corrected off-by-one line number in module docstrings.
v0.2.1 2021-04-23 - Minor internal style change.
v0.2.0 2021-04-23 - Use AST from flake8, not re-parsing with pydocstyle.
- Drops RST901
(internal problem with parser).
- Drops RST902
(checking any __all__
entry).
v0.1.2 2021-04-16 - Dropped unused logging module import.
- Extended test coverage.
v0.1.1 2021-04-15 - Explicit pygments
dependency for any code blocks.
v0.1.0 2021-04-15 - Import the parser from pydocstyle
directly.
- Requires Python 3 (drops support for Python 2).
v0.0.14 2020-09-22 - Adds RST307
for error in directive (eg invalid args).
v0.0.13 2019-12-26 - Adds RST218
and RST219
.
v0.0.12 2019-11-18 - Adds RST213
to RST217
.
v0.0.11 2019-08-07 - Configuration options to define additional directives and
roles (e.g. from Sphinx) for RST303
and RST304
.
v0.0.10 2019-06-17 - Fixed flake8 "builtins" parameter warning (contribution
from Ruben Opdebeeck <https://github.com/ROpdebee>
).
v0.0.9 2019-04-22 - Checks positive and negative examples in test framework.
- Adds RST212
, RST305
and RST306
(contribution
from Brian Skinn <https://github.com/bskinn>
_).
v0.0.8 2017-10-09 - Adds RST303
and RST304
for unknown directives and
interpreted text role as used in Sphinx-Needs extension.
v0.0.7 2017-08-25 - Remove triple-quotes before linting, was causing false
positives reporting RST entries ending without a blank
line at end of docstrings (bug fix for issue #1).
v0.0.6 2017-08-18 - Support PEP263 style encodings following a hashbang line
(bug fix for issue #2).
v0.0.5 2017-06-19 - Support PEP263 style encoding declaration under Python 2.
- Introduced RST900
when fail to open the file.
v0.0.4 2017-06-19 - Catch docstring linting failures, report as RST903
.
v0.0.3 2017-06-16 - Ensure plugin code and RST files themselves validate.
- Removed unused import of six
module.
- Basic continuous integration checks with TravisCI.
v0.0.2 2017-06-16 - Explicitly depend on flake8 v3.0.0 or later.
- Improved documentation.
v0.0.1 2017-06-16 - Initial public release.
======= ========== ===========================================================
This plugin is on GitHub at https://github.com/peterjc/flake8-rst-docstrings
To make a new release once tested locally and on TravisCI::
$ git tag vX.Y.Z
$ python -m build
$ git push origin master --tags
$ twine upload dist/flake8?rst?docstrings-X.Y.Z*
The PyPI upload should trigger an automated pull request updating the
flake8-rst-docstrings conda-forge recipe <https://github.com/conda-forge/flake8-rst-docstrings-feedstock/blob/master/recipe/meta.yaml>
_.