Linter that checks docstrings of functions, methods and classes. It should be
used in conjunction with pydocstyle
(or flake8-docstrings
) as the linter
assumes that the docstrings already pass pydocstyle
checks. This
blog post
discusses how to write great docstrings and the motivation for this linter!
Following PEP-8,
Docstrings are not necessary for non-public methods, but you should have a
comment that describes what the method does. The definition taken for private
functions/methods is that they start with a single underscore (_
).
python -m venv venv
source ./venv/bin/activate
pip install flake8 flake8-docstrings flake8-docstrings-complete
flake8 source.py
On the following code where the foo
function has the bar
and baz
arguments where the baz
argument is missing from the Args
section in the
docstring:
# source.py
def foo(bar, baz):
"""Perform foo action on bar.
Args:
bar: The value to perform the foo action on.
"""
This will produce warnings such as:
flake8 test_source.py
source.py:2:14: DCO023 "baz" argument should be described in the docstring, more information: https://github.com/jdkandersson/flake8-docstrings-complete#fix-dco023
This can be resolved by adding the baz
argument to the Args
section:
# source.py
def foo(bar, baz):
"""Perform foo action on bar.
Args:
bar: The value to perform the foo action on.
baz: The modifier to the foo action.
"""
flake8-docstrings-complete
adds the following checks to complement
pydocstyle
:
- If a function/ method has arguments, that the arguments section is included.
- If a function/ method has arguments, that all function/ method arguments are in the argument section.
- If an arguments section is in the function/ method docstring, the argument section contains no arguments the function/ method doesn't have.
- Function/ method arguments are only documented once.
- If a function/ method has a return statement with a value, the return value section is included.
- If a function/ method has a yield statement with a value, the yield value section is included.
- If a function/ method raises an exception, the raises section is included with a description for each exception that is raised.
- Each raised exception is only described once.
- If a class has public attributes, that the attributes section is included.
- If a class has public attributes, that all public attributes are in the attributes section.
- If an attributes section is in the class docstring, the attributes section contains no attributes the class doesn't have.
- Class attributes are only documented once.
- Any of the sections being checked are not present multiple times.
Note:
self
andcls
are not counted as arguments.test_.*
methods are skipped intest_.*\.py
files (function and file names are configurable).- functions with a
@fixture
et al dectorator inconftest.py
andtest_.*\.py
files are skipped (function and fixture file names are configurable)
The plugin adds the following configurations to flake8
:
--docstrings-complete-test-filename-pattern
: The filename pattern for test files. Defaults totest_.*\.py
.--docstrings-complete-test-function-pattern
: The function name pattern for test functions. Defaults totest_.*
.--docstrings-complete-fixture-filename-pattern
: The filename pattern for fixture files. Defaults toconftest\.py
.--docstrings-complete-fixture-decorator-pattern
: The decorator name pattern for fixture functions. Defaults to(^|\.)fixture$
.
A few rules have been defined to allow for selective suppression:
DCO010
: docstring missing on a function/ method/ class.DCO020
: function/ method has one or more arguments and the docstring does not have an arguments section.DCO021
: function/ method with no arguments and the docstring has an arguments section.DCO022
: function/ method with one or more arguments and the docstring has multiple arguments sections.DCO023
: function/ method has one or more arguments not described in the docstring.DCO024
: function/ method has one or more arguments described in the docstring which are not arguments of the function/ method.DCO025
: function/ method has one or more arguments described in the docstring multiple times.DCO030
: function/ method that returns a value does not have the returns section in the docstring.DCO031
: function/ method that does not return a value has the returns section in the docstring.DCO032
: function/ method that returns a value and the docstring has multiple returns sections.DCO040
: function/ method that yields a value does not have the yields section in the docstring.DCO041
: function/ method that does not yield a value has the yields section in the docstring.DCO042
: function/ method that yields a value and the docstring has multiple yields sections.DCO050
: function/ method raises one or more exceptions and the docstring does not have a raises section.DCO051
: function/ method that raises no exceptions and the docstring has a raises section.DCO052
: function/ method that raises one or more exceptions and the docstring has multiple raises sections.DCO053
: function/ method that raises one or more exceptions where one or more of the exceptions is not described in the docstring.DCO054
: function/ method has one or more exceptions described in the docstring which are not raised in the function/ method.DCO055
: function/ method that has a raise without an exception has an empty raises section in the docstring.DCO056
: function/ method has one or more exceptions described in the docstring multiple times.DCO060
: class has one or more public attributes and the docstring does not have an attributes section.DCO061
: class with no attributes and the docstring has an attributes section.DCO062
: class with one or more attributes and the docstring has multiple attributes sections.DCO063
: class has one or more public attributes not described in the docstring.DCO064
: class has one or more attributes described in the docstring which are not attributes of the class.DCO065
: class has one or more attributes described in the docstring multiple times.
This linting rule is triggered by a function/ method/ class without a docstring. For example:
def foo():
pass
class FooClass:
def foo(self):
"""Perform foo action."""
pass
class FooClass:
"""Perform foo action."""
def foo(self):
pass
This example can be fixed by adding a docstring:
def foo():
"""Perform foo action."""
class FooClass:
"""Perform foo action."""
def foo(self):
"""Perform foo action."""
This linting rule is triggered by a function/ method that has one or more arguments with a docstring that does not have an arguments section. For example:
def foo(bar):
"""Perform foo action."""
class FooClass:
def foo(self, bar):
"""Perform foo action."""
These examples can be fixed by adding the arguments section and describing all arguments in the arguments section:
def foo(bar):
"""Perform foo action.
Args:
bar: the value to perform the foo action on.
"""
def foo(bar):
"""Perform foo action.
Arguments:
bar: the value to perform the foo action on.
"""
def foo(bar):
"""Perform foo action.
Parameters:
bar: the value to perform the foo action on.
"""
class FooClass:
def foo(self, bar):
"""Perform foo action.
Args:
bar: the value to perform the foo action on.
"""
This linting rule is triggered by a function/ method that has no arguments with a docstring that has an arguments section. For example:
def foo():
"""Perform foo action.
Args:
bar: the value to perform the foo action on.
"""
def foo():
"""Perform foo action.
Arguments:
bar: the value to perform the foo action on.
"""
def foo():
"""Perform foo action.
Parameters:
bar: the value to perform the foo action on.
"""
class FooClass:
def foo(self):
"""Perform foo action.
Args:
bar: the value to perform the foo action on.
"""
These examples can be fixed by removing the arguments section:
def foo():
"""Perform foo action."""
class FooClass:
def foo(self):
"""Perform foo action."""
This linting rule is triggered by a function/ method that has one or more arguments and a docstring that has multiple arguments sections. For example:
def foo(bar):
"""Perform foo action.
Args:
bar: the value to perform the foo action on.
Args:
bar: the value to perform the foo action on.
"""
def foo(bar):
"""Perform foo action.
Args:
bar: the value to perform the foo action on.
Arguments:
bar: the value to perform the foo action on.
Parameters:
bar: the value to perform the foo action on.
"""
class FooClass:
def foo(self, bar):
"""Perform foo action.
Args:
bar: the value to perform the foo action on.
Args:
bar: the value to perform the foo action on.
"""
These examples can be fixed by removing the additional arguments sections:
def foo(bar):
"""Perform foo action.
Args:
bar: the value to perform the foo action on.
"""
def foo(bar):
"""Perform foo action.
Arguments:
bar: the value to perform the foo action on.
"""
def foo(bar):
"""Perform foo action.
Parameters:
bar: the value to perform the foo action on.
"""
class FooClass:
def foo(self, bar):
"""Perform foo action.
Args:
bar: the value to perform the foo action on.
"""
This linting rule is triggered by a function/ method that has one or more arguments where one or more of those arguments is not described in the docstring. For example:
def foo(bar):
"""Perform foo action.
Args:
"""
def foo(bar, baz):
"""Perform foo action.
Args:
bar: the value to perform the foo action on.
"""
class FooClass:
def foo(self, bar):
"""Perform foo action.
Args:
"""
These examples can be fixed by adding the missing arguments to the arguments section:
def foo(bar):
"""Perform foo action.
Args:
bar: the value to perform the foo action on.
"""
def foo(bar, baz):
"""Perform foo action.
Args:
bar: the value to perform the foo action on.
baz: the modifier to the foo action.
"""
class FooClass:
def foo(self, bar):
"""Perform foo action.
Args:
bar: the value to perform the foo action on.
"""
This linting rule is triggered by a function/ method that has one or more arguments and a docstring that describes one or more arguments where on or more of the described arguments are not arguments of the function/ method. For example:
def foo(bar):
"""Perform foo action.
Args:
bar: the value to perform the foo action on.
baz: the modifier to the foo action.
"""
class FooClass:
def foo(self, bar):
"""Perform foo action.
Args:
bar: the value to perform the foo action on.
baz: the modifier to the foo action.
"""
These examples can be fixed by removing the arguments the function/ method doesn't have from the docstring:
def foo(bar):
"""Perform foo action.
Args:
bar: the value to perform the foo action on.
"""
class FooClass:
def foo(self, bar):
"""Perform foo action.
Args:
bar: the value to perform the foo action on.
"""
This linting rule is triggered by a function/ method that has one or more arguments and a docstring that describes one or more arguments where on or more of the described arguments are described multiple times. For example:
def foo(bar):
"""Perform foo action.
Args:
bar: the value to perform the foo action on.
bar: the value to perform the foo action on.
"""
class FooClass:
def foo(self, bar):
"""Perform foo action.
Args:
bar: the value to perform the foo action on.
bar: the value to perform the foo action on.
"""
These examples can be fixed by removing the duplicate arguments from the docstring:
def foo(bar):
"""Perform foo action.
Args:
bar: the value to perform the foo action on.
"""
class FooClass:
def foo(self, bar):
"""Perform foo action.
Args:
bar: the value to perform the foo action on.
"""
This linting rule is triggered by a function/ method that has at least one return statement with a value and does not have a returns section in the docstring. For example:
def foo():
"""Return bar."""
return "bar"
class FooClass:
def foo(self):
"""Return bar."""
return "bar"
These examples can be fixed by adding the returns section:
def foo():
"""Return bar.
Return:
bar.
"""
return "bar"
def foo():
"""Return bar.
Returns:
bar.
"""
return "bar"
class FooClass:
def foo(self):
"""Return bar.
Returns:
bar.
"""
return "bar"
This linting rule is triggered by a function/ method that has no return statement with a value and has a returns section in the docstring. For example:
def foo():
"""Return bar.
Returns:
bar.
"""
pass
class FooClass:
def foo(self):
"""Return bar.
Returns:
bar.
"""
pass
These examples can be fixed by removing the returns section:
def foo():
"""Take foo action."""
pass
class FooClass:
def foo(self):
"""Take foo action."""
pass
This linting rule is triggered by a function/ method that returns a value and has a docstring that has multiple returns sections. For example:
def foo():
"""Perform foo action.
Returns:
bar.
Returns:
bar.
"""
return "bar"
def foo():
"""Perform foo action.
Returns:
bar.
Return:
bar.
"""
return "bar"
class FooClass:
def foo(self):
"""Perform foo action.
Returns:
bar.
Returns:
bar.
"""
return "bar"
These examples can be fixed by removing the additional returns sections:
def foo():
"""Perform foo action.
Returns:
bar.
"""
return "bar"
def foo():
"""Perform foo action.
Returns:
bar.
"""
return "bar"
class FooClass:
def foo(self):
"""Perform foo action.
Returns:
bar.
"""
return "bar"
This linting rule is triggered by a function/ method that has at least one yield statement with a value or a yield from statement and does not have a yields section in the docstring. For example:
def foo():
"""Yield bar."""
yield "bar"
def foo():
"""Yield bar."""
yield from ("bar",)
class FooClass:
def foo(self):
"""Yield bar."""
yield "bar"
These examples can be fixed by adding the yields section:
def foo():
"""Yield bar.
Yield:
bar.
"""
yield "bar"
def foo():
"""Yield bar.
Yields:
bar.
"""
yield "bar"
def foo():
"""Yield bar.
Yields:
bar.
"""
yield from ("bar",)
class FooClass:
def foo(self):
"""Yield bar.
Yields:
bar.
"""
yield "bar"
This linting rule is triggered by a function/ method that has no yield statement with a value nor a yield from statement and has a yields section in the docstring. For example:
def foo():
"""Yield bar.
Yields:
bar.
"""
pass
class FooClass:
def foo(self):
"""Yield bar.
Yields:
bar.
"""
pass
These examples can be fixed by:
def foo():
"""Take foo action."""
pass
class FooClass:
def foo(self):
"""Take foo action."""
pass
This linting rule is triggered by a function/ method that yields a value and has a docstring that has multiple yields sections. For example:
def foo():
"""Perform foo action.
Yields:
bar.
Yields:
bar.
"""
yield "bar"
def foo():
"""Perform foo action.
Yields:
bar.
Yields:
bar.
"""
yield from ("bar",)
def foo():
"""Perform foo action.
Yields:
bar.
Yield:
bar.
"""
yield "bar"
class FooClass:
def foo(self):
"""Perform foo action.
Yields:
bar.
Yields:
bar.
"""
yield "bar"
These examples can be fixed by removing the additional yields sections:
def foo():
"""Perform foo action.
Yields:
bar.
"""
yield "bar"
def foo():
"""Perform foo action.
Yields:
bar.
"""
yield from ("bar",)
def foo():
"""Perform foo action.
Yields:
bar.
"""
yield "bar"
class FooClass:
def foo(self):
"""Perform foo action.
Yields:
bar.
"""
yield "bar"
This linting rule is triggered by a function/ method that raises one or more exceptions and a docstring that does not have a raises section. For example:
def foo():
"""Perform foo action."""
raise BarError
class FooClass:
def foo(self):
"""Perform foo action."""
raise BarError
These examples can be fixed by adding the raises section and describing all raised exceptions in it:
def foo():
"""Perform foo action.
Raises:
BarError: the value to perform the foo action on was wrong.
"""
raise BarError
def foo():
"""Perform foo action.
Raise:
BarError: the value to perform the foo action on was wrong.
"""
raise BarError
class FooClass:
def foo(self):
"""Perform foo action.
Raises:
BarError: the value to perform the foo action on was wrong.
"""
raise BarError
This linting rule is triggered by a function/ method that raises no exceptions with a docstring that has a raises section. For example:
def foo():
"""Perform foo action.
Raises:
BarError: the value to perform the foo action on was wrong.
"""
def foo():
"""Perform foo action.
Raise:
BarError: the value to perform the foo action on was wrong.
"""
class FooClass:
def foo(self):
"""Perform foo action.
Raises:
BarError: the value to perform the foo action on was wrong.
"""
These examples can be fixed by removing the raises section:
def foo():
"""Perform foo action."""
class FooClass:
def foo(self):
"""Perform foo action."""
This linting rule is triggered by a function/ method that raises one or more exceptions with a docstring that has multiple raises sections. For example:
def foo():
"""Perform foo action.
Raises:
BarError: the value to perform the foo action on was wrong.
Raises:
BarError: the value to perform the foo action on was wrong.
"""
raise BarError
def foo():
"""Perform foo action.
Raises:
BarError: the value to perform the foo action on was wrong.
Raise:
BarError: the value to perform the foo action on was wrong.
"""
raise BarError
class FooClass:
def foo(self):
"""Perform foo action.
Raises:
BarError: the value to perform the foo action on was wrong.
Raises:
BarError: the value to perform the foo action on was wrong.
"""
raise BarError
These examples can be fixed by removing the additional raises sections:
def foo():
"""Perform foo action.
Raises:
BarError: the value to perform the foo action on was wrong.
"""
raise BarError
def foo():
"""Perform foo action.
Raise:
BarError: the value to perform the foo action on was wrong.
"""
raise BarError
class FooClass:
def foo(self):
"""Perform foo action.
Raises:
BarError: the value to perform the foo action on was wrong.
"""
raise BarError
This linting rule is triggered by a function/ method that raises one or more exceptions where one or more of those exceptions is not described in the docstring. For example:
def foo():
"""Perform foo action."""
raise BarError
def foo(bar, baz):
"""Perform foo action.
Raises:
BarError: the value to perform the foo action on was wrong.
"""
raise BarError
raise BazError
class FooClass:
def foo(self):
"""Perform foo action."""
raise BarError
These examples can be fixed by describing the additional exceptions in the docstring:
def foo():
"""Perform foo action.
Raises:
BarError: the value to perform the foo action on was wrong.
"""
raise BarError
def foo(bar, baz):
"""Perform foo action.
Raises:
BarError: the value to perform the foo action on was wrong.
BazError: the alternate value to perform the foo action on was wrong.
"""
raise BarError
raise BazError
class FooClass:
def foo(self):
"""Perform foo action.
Raises:
BarError: the value to perform the foo action on was wrong.
"""
raise BarError
This linting rule is triggered by a function/ method that raises one or more exceptions and a docstring that describes one or more exceptions where on or more of the described exceptions are not raised by the function/ method. For example:
def foo():
"""Perform foo action.
Raises:
BarError: the value to perform the foo action on was wrong.
BazError: the alternate value to perform the foo action on was wrong.
"""
raise BarError
class FooClass:
def foo(self):
"""Perform foo action.
Raises:
BarError: the value to perform the foo action on was wrong.
BazError: the alternate value to perform the foo action on was wrong.
"""
raise BarError
These examples can be fixed by removing the exception that is not raised from the docstring:
def foo():
"""Perform foo action.
Raises:
BarError: the value to perform the foo action on was wrong.
"""
raise BarError
class FooClass:
def foo(self):
"""Perform foo action.
Raises:
BarError: the value to perform the foo action on was wrong.
"""
raise BarError
This linting rule is triggered by a function/ method that has a raise
statement without an exception (typically re-raising exceptions) and the raises
section is not included or is empty. For example:
def foo():
"""Perform foo action."""
try:
bar()
except BarError:
raise
def foo():
"""Perform foo action.
Raises:
"""
try:
bar()
except BarError:
raise
class FooClass:
def foo(self):
"""Perform foo action."""
try:
bar()
except BarError:
raise
These examples can be fixed by describing at least one exception in the raises section:
def foo():
"""Perform foo action.
Raises:
BarError: the value to perform the foo action on was wrong.
"""
try:
bar()
except BarError:
raise
def foo():
"""Perform foo action.
Raises:
BarError: the value to perform the foo action on was wrong.
"""
try:
bar()
except BarError:
raise
class FooClass:
def foo(self):
"""Perform foo action.
Raises:
BarError: the value to perform the foo action on was wrong.
"""
try:
bar()
except BarError:
raise
This linting rule is triggered by a function/ method that raises one or more exceptions and a docstring that describes one or more exceptions where on or more of the described exceptions are described multiple times. For example:
def foo():
"""Perform foo action.
Raises:
BarError: the value to perform the foo action on was wrong.
BarError: the value to perform the foo action on was wrong.
"""
raise BarError
class FooClass:
def foo(self):
"""Perform foo action.
Raises:
BarError: the value to perform the foo action on was wrong.
BarError: the value to perform the foo action on was wrong.
"""
raise BarError
These examples can be fixed by removing the duplicate descriptions from the docstring:
def foo():
"""Perform foo action.
Raises:
BarError: the value to perform the foo action on was wrong.
"""
raise BarError
class FooClass:
def foo(self):
"""Perform foo action.
Raises:
BarError: the value to perform the foo action on was wrong.
"""
raise BarError
This linting rule is triggered by a class that has one or more public attributes with a docstring that does not have an attributes section. For example:
class FooClass:
"""Perform foo action."""
bar = "bar"
class FooClass:
"""Perform foo action."""
def __init__(self):
self.bar = "bar"
class FooClass:
"""Perform foo action."""
def bar(self):
self.baz = "baz"
class FooClass:
"""Perform foo action.
Attrs:
bar: The value to perform the foo action on.
"""
bar = "bar"
baz = "baz"
These examples can be fixed by adding the attributes section and describing all attributes in the attributes section:
class FooClass:
"""Perform foo action.
Attrs:
bar: The value to perform the foo action on.
"""
bar = "bar"
class FooClass:
"""Perform foo action.
Attributes:
bar: The value to perform the foo action on.
"""
bar = "bar"
class FooClass:
"""Perform foo action.
Attributes:
bar: The value to perform the foo action on.
"""
def __init__(self):
self.bar = "bar"
class FooClass:
"""Perform foo action.
Attributes:
baz: The value to perform the foo action on.
"""
def bar(self):
self.baz = "baz"
class FooClass:
"""Perform foo action.
Attrs:
bar: The value to perform the foo action on.
baz: The alternate value to perform the foo action on.
"""
bar = "bar"
baz = "baz"
This linting rule is triggered by a class that has no attributes with a docstring that has an attributes section. For example:
class FooClass:
"""Perform foo action.
Attrs:
bar: The value to perform the foo action on.
"""
class FooClass:
"""Perform foo action.
Attributes:
bar: The value to perform the foo action on.
"""
class FooClass:
"""Perform foo action.
Attributes:
"""
def __init__(self):
self._bar = "bar"
These examples can be fixed by removing the attributes section:
class FooClass:
"""Perform foo action."""
class FooClass:
"""Perform foo action."""
def __init__(self):
self._bar = "bar"
This linting rule is triggered by a class that has one or more attributes and a docstring that has multiple attributes sections. For example:
class FooClass:
"""Perform foo action.
Attrs:
bar: The value to perform the foo action on.
Attrs:
bar: The value to perform the foo action on.
"""
bar = "bar"
class FooClass:
"""Perform foo action.
Attrs:
bar: The value to perform the foo action on.
Attributes:
bar: The value to perform the foo action on.
"""
bar = "bar"
These examples can be fixed by removing the additional attributes sections:
class FooClass:
"""Perform foo action.
Attrs:
bar: The value to perform the foo action on.
"""
bar = "bar"
class FooClass:
"""Perform foo action.
Attributes:
bar: The value to perform the foo action on.
"""
bar = "bar"
This linting rule is triggered by a class that has one or more public attributes where one or more of those public attributes is not described in the docstring. For example:
class FooClass:
"""Perform foo action."""
bar = "bar"
class FooClass:
"""Perform foo action.
Attrs:
"""
@property
def bar(self):
return "bar"
class FooClass:
"""Perform foo action.
Attrs:
"""
@functools.cached_property
def bar(self):
return "bar"
class FooClass:
"""Perform foo action.
Attrs:
bar: The value to perform the foo action on.
"""
bar = "bar"
baz = "baz"
These examples can be fixed by adding the missing attributes to the attributes section:
class FooClass:
"""Perform foo action.
Attrs:
bar: The value to perform the foo action on.
"""
bar = "bar"
class FooClass:
"""Perform foo action.
Attributes:
bar: The value to perform the foo action on.
"""
bar = "bar"
class FooClass:
"""Perform foo action.
Attrs:
bar: The value to perform the foo action on.
"""
@property
def bar(self):
return "bar"
class FooClass:
"""Perform foo action.
Attrs:
bar: The value to perform the foo action on.
"""
@functools.cached_property
def bar(self):
return "bar"
class FooClass:
"""Perform foo action.
Attrs:
bar: The value to perform the foo action on.
baz: The alternate value to perform the foo action on.
"""
bar = "bar"
baz = "baz"
This linting rule is triggered by a class that has one or more attributes and a docstring that describes one or more attributes where on or more of the described attributes are not attributes of the class. For example:
class FooClass:
"""Perform foo action.
Attrs:
bar: The value to perform the foo action on.
"""
class FooClass:
"""Perform foo action.
Attrs:
_bar: The value to perform the foo action on.
"""
class FooClass:
"""Perform foo action.
Attrs:
bar: The value to perform the foo action on.
baz: The alternate value to perform the foo action on.
"""
bar = "bar"
These examples can be fixed by removing the attributes the class doesn't have from the docstring:
class FooClass:
"""Perform foo action."""
class FooClass:
"""Perform foo action."""
class FooClass:
"""Perform foo action.
Attrs:
bar: The value to perform the foo action on.
"""
bar = "bar"
class FooClass:
"""Perform foo action.
Attrs:
bar: The value to perform the foo action on.
"""
def __init__(self):
"""Construct."""
self.bar = "bar"
This linting rule is triggered by a class that has one or more attributes and a docstring that describes one or more attributes where on or more of the described attributes are described multiple times. For example:
class FooClass:
"""Perform foo action.
Attrs:
bar: The value to perform the foo action on.
bar: The value to perform the foo action on.
"""
bar = "bar"
class FooClass:
"""Perform foo action.
Attrs:
bar: The value to perform the foo action on.
bar: The value to perform the foo action on.
"""
def __init__(self):
"""Construct."""
self.bar = "bar"
These examples can be fixed by removing the duplicate descriptions from the docstring:
class FooClass:
"""Perform foo action.
Attrs:
bar: The value to perform the foo action on.
"""
bar = "bar"
class FooClass:
"""Perform foo action.
Attrs:
bar: The value to perform the foo action on.
"""
def __init__(self):
"""Construct."""
self.bar = "bar"
Examples of function/ method and class docstrings are:
def foo(bar):
"""Perform the foo actions on bar.
Args:
bar: the value to perform the foo actions on.
Returns:
bar after applying to foo action to it.
Yields:
All the foo actions that have been performed.
Raises:
FooError: an error occurred whilst performing the foo action.
"""
class Foo:
"""Foo object.
Attrs:
bar: the value to perform the foo actions on.
"""
def __init__(self, bar):
"""Construct.
Args:
bar: the value to perform the foo actions on.
"""
self.bar = bar
There are several alternative names for each of the sections which are captured case-insensitive:
- arguments:
Args
,Arguments
,Parameters
- return value:
Return
,Returns
- yield value:
Yield
,Yields
- raise:
Raises
- attributes:
Attrs
,Attributes
Section information is extracted using the following algorithm:
- Look for a line that has zero or more whitespace characters, followed by a section name (non-case-sensistive) followed by a colon.
- Look for any sub-sections on a line which starts with zero or more whitespace characters followed by a word, optionally followed by whitespace and any characters within round brackets followed by a colon.
- The section ends if any line with zero or more whitespace characters is encountered or the end of the docstring is reached.
- Check that argument, exceptions and attributes have non-empty description.
- Check that arguments, exceptions and attributes have meaningful descriptions.
- Check other other PEP257 conventions
- The definition for private functions is a function starting with a single
_
. This could be extended to functions starting with__
and not ending in__
, that is functions with name mangling but not magic methods.