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

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

This cop looks for uses of Perl-style regexp match backreferences like $1, $2, etc.

Example:

# bad
puts $1

# good
puts Regexp.last_match(1)

Check for uses of braces or do/end around single line or multi-line blocks.

Example: EnforcedStyle: linecountbased (default)

# bad - single line block
items.each do |item| item / 5 end

# good - single line block
items.each { |item| item / 5 }

# bad - multi-line block
things.map { |thing|
  something = thing.some_method
  process(something)
}

# good - multi-line block
things.map do |thing|
  something = thing.some_method
  process(something)
end

Example: EnforcedStyle: semantic

# Prefer `do...end` over `{...}` for procedural blocks.

# return value is used/assigned
# bad
foo = map do |x|
  x
end
puts (map do |x|
  x
end)

# return value is not used out of scope
# good
map do |x|
  x
end

# Prefer `{...}` over `do...end` for functional blocks.

# return value is not used out of scope
# bad
each { |x|
  x
}

# return value is used/assigned
# good
foo = map { |x|
  x
}
map { |x|
  x
}.inspect

Example: EnforcedStyle: bracesforchaining

# bad
words.each do |word|
  word.flip.flop
end.join("-")

# good
words.each { |word|
  word.flip.flop
}.join("-")

This cop looks for uses of Perl-style regexp match backreferences like $1, $2, etc.

Example:

# bad
puts $1

# good
puts Regexp.last_match(1)

This cop checks for case statements with an empty condition.

Example:

# bad:
case
when x == 0
  puts 'x is 0'
when y == 0
  puts 'y is 0'
else
  puts 'neither is 0'
end

# good:
if x == 0
  puts 'x is 0'
elsif y == 0
  puts 'y is 0'
else
  puts 'neither is 0'
end

# good: (the case condition node is not empty)
case n
when 0
  puts 'zero'
when 1
  puts 'one'
else
  puts 'more'
end

This cop check for uses of Object#freeze on immutable objects.

Example:

# bad
CONST = 1.freeze

# good
CONST = 1

This cop checks for trailing comma in array and hash literals.

Example: EnforcedStyleForMultiline: consistent_comma

# bad
a = [1, 2,]

# good
a = [
  1, 2,
  3,
]

# good
a = [
  1,
  2,
]

Example: EnforcedStyleForMultiline: comma

# bad
a = [1, 2,]

# good
a = [
  1,
  2,
]

Example: EnforcedStyleForMultiline: no_comma (default)

# bad
a = [1, 2,]

# good
a = [
  1,
  2
]

This cop checks whether the end keywords are aligned properly.

Three modes are supported through the EnforcedStyleAlignWith configuration parameter:

If it's set to keyword (which is the default), the end shall be aligned with the start of the keyword (if, class, etc.).

If it's set to variable the end shall be aligned with the left-hand-side of the variable assignment, if there is one.

If it's set to start_of_line, the end shall be aligned with the start of the line where the matching keyword appears.

Example: EnforcedStyleAlignWith: keyword (default)

# bad

variable = if true
    end

# good

variable = if true
           end

Example: EnforcedStyleAlignWith: variable

# bad

variable = if true
    end

# good

variable = if true
end

Example: EnforcedStyleAlignWith: startofline

# bad

variable = if true
    end

# good

puts(if true
end)

This cop looks for uses of Perl-style regexp match backreferences like $1, $2, etc.

Example:

# bad
puts $1

# good
puts Regexp.last_match(1)

This cop looks for uses of Perl-style regexp match backreferences like $1, $2, etc.

Example:

# bad
puts $1

# good
puts Regexp.last_match(1)

This cop check for uses of Object#freeze on immutable objects.

Example:

# bad
CONST = 1.freeze

# good
CONST = 1

This cop checks for rescuing StandardError. There are two supported styles implicit and explicit. This cop will not register an offense if any error other than StandardError is specified.

Example: EnforcedStyle: implicit

# `implicit` will enforce using `rescue` instead of
# `rescue StandardError`.

# bad
begin
  foo
rescue StandardError
  bar
end

# good
begin
  foo
rescue
  bar
end

# good
begin
  foo
rescue OtherError
  bar
end

# good
begin
  foo
rescue StandardError, SecurityError
  bar
end

Example: EnforcedStyle: explicit (default)

# `explicit` will enforce using `rescue StandardError`
# instead of `rescue`.

# bad
begin
  foo
rescue
  bar
end

# good
begin
  foo
rescue StandardError
  bar
end

# good
begin
  foo
rescue OtherError
  bar
end

# good
begin
  foo
rescue StandardError, SecurityError
  bar
end

This cops checks the alignment of else keywords. Normally they should be aligned with an if/unless/while/until/begin/def keyword, but there are special cases when they should follow the same rules as the alignment of end.

Example:

# bad
if something
  code
 else
  code
end

# bad
if something
  code
 elsif something
  code
end

# good
if something
  code
else
  code
end

This cop checks for rescuing StandardError. There are two supported styles implicit and explicit. This cop will not register an offense if any error other than StandardError is specified.

Example: EnforcedStyle: implicit

# `implicit` will enforce using `rescue` instead of
# `rescue StandardError`.

# bad
begin
  foo
rescue StandardError
  bar
end

# good
begin
  foo
rescue
  bar
end

# good
begin
  foo
rescue OtherError
  bar
end

# good
begin
  foo
rescue StandardError, SecurityError
  bar
end

Example: EnforcedStyle: explicit (default)

# `explicit` will enforce using `rescue StandardError`
# instead of `rescue`.

# bad
begin
  foo
rescue
  bar
end

# good
begin
  foo
rescue StandardError
  bar
end

# good
begin
  foo
rescue OtherError
  bar
end

# good
begin
  foo
rescue StandardError, SecurityError
  bar
end

This cops checks for indentation that doesn't use the specified number of spaces.

See also the IndentationConsistency cop which is the companion to this one.

Example:

# bad
class A
 def test
  puts 'hello'
 end
end

# good
class A
  def test
    puts 'hello'
  end
end

Example: IgnoredPatterns: ['^\s*module']

# bad
module A
class B
  def test
  puts 'hello'
  end
end
end

# good
module A
class B
  def test
    puts 'hello'
  end
end
end

This cop enforces the use of a single string formatting utility. Valid options include Kernel#format, Kernel#sprintf and String#%.

The detection of String#% cannot be implemented in a reliable manner for all cases, so only two scenarios are considered - if the first argument is a string literal and if the second argument is an array literal.

Example: EnforcedStyle: format(default)

# bad
puts sprintf('%10s', 'hoge')
puts '%10s' % 'hoge'

# good
puts format('%10s', 'hoge')

Example: EnforcedStyle: sprintf

# bad
puts format('%10s', 'hoge')
puts '%10s' % 'hoge'

# good
puts sprintf('%10s', 'hoge')

Example: EnforcedStyle: percent

# bad
puts format('%10s', 'hoge')
puts sprintf('%10s', 'hoge')

# good
puts '%10s' % 'hoge'

This cop enforces the consistent usage of %-literal delimiters.

Specify the 'default' key to set all preferred delimiters at once. You can continue to specify individual preferred delimiters to override the default.

Example:

# Style/PercentLiteralDelimiters:
#   PreferredDelimiters:
#     default: '[]'
#     '%i':    '()'

# good
%w[alpha beta] + %i(gamma delta)

# bad
%W(alpha #{beta})

# bad
%I(alpha beta)

This cop checks for trailing comma in array and hash literals.

Example: EnforcedStyleForMultiline: consistent_comma

# bad
a = [1, 2,]

# good
a = [
  1, 2,
  3,
]

# good
a = [
  1,
  2,
]

Example: EnforcedStyleForMultiline: comma

# bad
a = [1, 2,]

# good
a = [
  1,
  2,
]

Example: EnforcedStyleForMultiline: no_comma (default)

# bad
a = [1, 2,]

# good
a = [
  1,
  2
]

Check for uses of braces or do/end around single line or multi-line blocks.

Example: EnforcedStyle: linecountbased (default)

# bad - single line block
items.each do |item| item / 5 end

# good - single line block
items.each { |item| item / 5 }

# bad - multi-line block
things.map { |thing|
  something = thing.some_method
  process(something)
}

# good - multi-line block
things.map do |thing|
  something = thing.some_method
  process(something)
end

Example: EnforcedStyle: semantic

# Prefer `do...end` over `{...}` for procedural blocks.

# return value is used/assigned
# bad
foo = map do |x|
  x
end
puts (map do |x|
  x
end)

# return value is not used out of scope
# good
map do |x|
  x
end

# Prefer `{...}` over `do...end` for functional blocks.

# return value is not used out of scope
# bad
each { |x|
  x
}

# return value is used/assigned
# good
foo = map { |x|
  x
}
map { |x|
  x
}.inspect

Example: EnforcedStyle: bracesforchaining

# bad
words.each do |word|
  word.flip.flop
end.join("-")

# good
words.each { |word|
  word.flip.flop
}.join("-")

This cop enforces the use of a single string formatting utility. Valid options include Kernel#format, Kernel#sprintf and String#%.

The detection of String#% cannot be implemented in a reliable manner for all cases, so only two scenarios are considered - if the first argument is a string literal and if the second argument is an array literal.

Example: EnforcedStyle: format(default)

# bad
puts sprintf('%10s', 'hoge')
puts '%10s' % 'hoge'

# good
puts format('%10s', 'hoge')

Example: EnforcedStyle: sprintf

# bad
puts format('%10s', 'hoge')
puts '%10s' % 'hoge'

# good
puts sprintf('%10s', 'hoge')

Example: EnforcedStyle: percent

# bad
puts format('%10s', 'hoge')
puts sprintf('%10s', 'hoge')

# good
puts '%10s' % 'hoge'

This cop looks for uses of Perl-style regexp match backreferences like $1, $2, etc.

Example:

# bad
puts $1

# good
puts Regexp.last_match(1)

This cop looks for uses of Perl-style regexp match backreferences like $1, $2, etc.

Example:

# bad
puts $1

# good
puts Regexp.last_match(1)