Cognitive Complexity

Cognitive Complexity is a measure of how difficult a unit of code is to intuitively understand. Unlike Cyclomatic Complexity, which determines how difficult your code will be to test, Cognitive Complexity tells you how difficult your code will be to read and comprehend.

A method's cognitive complexity is based on a few simple rules:

• Code is not considered more complex when it uses shorthand that the language provides for collapsing multiple statements into one
• Code is considered more complex for each "break in the linear flow of the code"
• Code is considered more complex when "flow breaking structures are nested"

Further reading

• Cognitive Complexity docs
• Cognitive Complexity: A new way of measuring understandability

Checks for comma (,) not followed by some kind of space.

Example:

# bad
[1,2]
{ foo:bar,}

# good
[1, 2]
{ foo:bar, }

Checks if uses of quotes match the configured preference.

Example: EnforcedStyle: single_quotes (default)

# bad
"No special symbols"
"No string interpolation"
"Just text"

# good
'No special symbols'
'No string interpolation'
'Just text'
"Wait! What's #{this}!"

Example: EnforcedStyle: double_quotes

# bad
'Just some text'
'No special chars or interpolation'

# good
"Just some text"
"No special chars or interpolation"
"Every string in #{project} uses double_quotes"

This cop checks for extra/unnecessary whitespace.

Example:

# good if AllowForAlignment is true
name      = "RuboCop"
# Some comment and an empty line

website  += "/bbatsov/rubocop" unless cond
puts        "rubocop"          if     debug

# bad for any configuration
set_app("RuboCop")
website  = "https://github.com/bbatsov/rubocop"

Checks if uses of quotes match the configured preference.

Example: EnforcedStyle: single_quotes (default)

# bad
"No special symbols"
"No string interpolation"
"Just text"

# good
'No special symbols'
'No string interpolation'
'Just text'
"Wait! What's #{this}!"

Example: EnforcedStyle: double_quotes

# bad
'Just some text'
'No special chars or interpolation'

# good
"Just some text"
"No special chars or interpolation"
"Every string in #{project} uses double_quotes"

Checks if uses of quotes match the configured preference.

Example: EnforcedStyle: single_quotes (default)

# bad
"No special symbols"
"No string interpolation"
"Just text"

# good
'No special symbols'
'No string interpolation'
'Just text'
"Wait! What's #{this}!"

Example: EnforcedStyle: double_quotes

# bad
'Just some text'
'No special chars or interpolation'

# good
"Just some text"
"No special chars or interpolation"
"Every string in #{project} uses double_quotes"

This cop checks hash literal syntax.

It can enforce either the use of the class hash rocket syntax or the use of the newer Ruby 1.9 syntax (when applicable).

A separate offense is registered for each problematic pair.

The supported styles are:

• ruby19 - forces use of the 1.9 syntax (e.g. {a: 1}) when hashes have all symbols for keys
• hash_rockets - forces use of hash rockets for all hashes
• nomixedkeys - simply checks for hashes with mixed syntaxes
• ruby19nomixed_keys - forces use of ruby 1.9 syntax and forbids mixed syntax hashes

Example: EnforcedStyle: ruby19 (default)

# bad
{:a => 2}
{b: 1, :c => 2}

# good
{a: 2, b: 1}
{:c => 2, 'd' => 2} # acceptable since 'd' isn't a symbol
{d: 1, 'e' => 2} # technically not forbidden

Example: EnforcedStyle: hash_rockets

# bad
{a: 1, b: 2}
{c: 1, 'd' => 5}

# good
{:a => 1, :b => 2}

Example: EnforcedStyle: nomixedkeys

# bad
{:a => 1, b: 2}
{c: 1, 'd' => 2}

# good
{:a => 1, :b => 2}
{c: 1, d: 2}

Example: EnforcedStyle: ruby19nomixed_keys

# bad
{:a => 1, :b => 2}
{c: 2, 'd' => 3} # should just use hash rockets

# good
{a: 1, b: 2}
{:c => 3, 'd' => 4}

Checks if uses of quotes match the configured preference.

Example: EnforcedStyle: single_quotes (default)

# bad
"No special symbols"
"No string interpolation"
"Just text"

# good
'No special symbols'
'No string interpolation'
'Just text'
"Wait! What's #{this}!"

Example: EnforcedStyle: double_quotes

# bad
'Just some text'
'No special chars or interpolation'

# good
"Just some text"
"No special chars or interpolation"
"Every string in #{project} uses double_quotes"

This cop checks for assignments in the conditions of if/while/until.

Example:

# bad

if some_var = true
  do_something
end

Example:

# good

if some_var == true
  do_something
end

Checks if uses of quotes match the configured preference.

Example: EnforcedStyle: single_quotes (default)

# bad
"No special symbols"
"No string interpolation"
"Just text"

# good
'No special symbols'
'No string interpolation'
'Just text'
"Wait! What's #{this}!"

Example: EnforcedStyle: double_quotes

# bad
'Just some text'
'No special chars or interpolation'

# good
"Just some text"
"No special chars or interpolation"
"Every string in #{project} uses double_quotes"

This cop checks for missing top-level documentation of classes and modules. Classes with no body are exempt from the check and so are namespace modules - modules that have nothing in their bodies except classes, other modules, or constant definitions.

The documentation requirement is annulled if the class or module has a "#:nodoc:" comment next to it. Likewise, "#:nodoc: all" does the same for all its children.

Example:

# bad
class Person
  # ...
end

# good
# Description/Explanation of Person class
class Person
  # ...
end