Checks if the length of a method exceeds some maximum value. Comment lines can optionally be allowed. The maximum allowed length is configurable.

You can set constructs you want to fold with CountAsOne. Available are: 'array', 'hash', 'heredoc', and 'method_call'. Each construct will be counted as one line regardless of its actual size.

NOTE: The ExcludedMethods and IgnoredMethods configuration is deprecated and only kept for backwards compatibility. Please use AllowedMethods and AllowedPatterns instead. By default, there are no methods to allowed.

Example: CountAsOne: ['array', 'heredoc', 'method_call']

def m
  array = [       # +1
    1,
    2
  ]
 
  hash = {        # +3
    key: 'value'
  }
 
  <<~HEREDOC      # +1
    Heredoc
    content.
  HEREDOC
 
  foo(            # +1
    1,
    2
  )
end               # 6 points

Checks the length of lines in the source code. The maximum length is configurable. The tab size is configured in the IndentationWidth of the Layout/IndentationStyle cop. It also ignores a shebang line by default.

This cop has some autocorrection capabilities. It can programmatically shorten certain long lines by inserting line breaks into expressions that can be safely split across lines. These include arrays, hashes, and method calls with argument lists.

If autocorrection is enabled, the following Layout cops are recommended to further format the broken lines. (Many of these are enabled by default.)

• ArgumentAlignment
• ArrayAlignment
• BlockAlignment
• BlockDelimiters
• BlockEndNewline
• ClosingParenthesisIndentation
• FirstArgumentIndentation
• FirstArrayElementIndentation
• FirstHashElementIndentation
• FirstParameterIndentation
• HashAlignment
• IndentationWidth
• MultilineArrayLineBreaks
• MultilineBlockLayout
• MultilineHashBraceLayout
• MultilineHashKeyLineBreaks
• MultilineMethodArgumentLineBreaks
• MultilineMethodParameterLineBreaks
• ParameterAlignment

Together, these cops will pretty print hashes, arrays, method calls, etc. For example, let's say the max columns is 25:

Example:

# bad
{foo: "0000000000", bar: "0000000000", baz: "0000000000"}
 
# good
{foo: "0000000000",
bar: "0000000000", baz: "0000000000"}
 
# good (with recommended cops enabled)
{
  foo: "0000000000",
  bar: "0000000000",
  baz: "0000000000",
}

A method with Too Many Statements is any method that has a large number of lines.

Too Many Statements warns about any method that has more than 5 statements. Reek's smell detector for Too Many Statements counts +1 for every simple statement in a method and +1 for every statement within a control structure (if, else, case, when, for, while, until, begin, rescue) but it doesn't count the control structure itself.

So the following method would score +6 in Reek's statement-counting algorithm:

def parse(arg, argv, &error)
  if !(val = arg) and (argv.empty? or /\A-/ =~ (val = argv[0]))
    return nil, block, nil                                         # +1
  end
  opt = (val = parse_arg(val, &error))[1]                          # +2
  val = conv_arg(*val)                                             # +3
  if opt and !arg
    argv.shift                                                     # +4
  else
    val[0] = nil                                                   # +5
  end
  val                                                              # +6
end

(You might argue that the two assignments within the first @if@ should count as statements, and that perhaps the nested assignment should count as +2.)

A method with Too Many Statements is any method that has a large number of lines.

Too Many Statements warns about any method that has more than 5 statements. Reek's smell detector for Too Many Statements counts +1 for every simple statement in a method and +1 for every statement within a control structure (if, else, case, when, for, while, until, begin, rescue) but it doesn't count the control structure itself.

So the following method would score +6 in Reek's statement-counting algorithm:

def parse(arg, argv, &error)
  if !(val = arg) and (argv.empty? or /\A-/ =~ (val = argv[0]))
    return nil, block, nil                                         # +1
  end
  opt = (val = parse_arg(val, &error))[1]                          # +2
  val = conv_arg(*val)                                             # +3
  if opt and !arg
    argv.shift                                                     # +4
  else
    val[0] = nil                                                   # +5
  end
  val                                                              # +6
end

(You might argue that the two assignments within the first @if@ should count as statements, and that perhaps the nested assignment should count as +2.)

Repeated Conditional is a special case of Simulated Polymorphism. Basically it means you are checking the same value throughout a single class and take decisions based on this.

Example

Given

class RepeatedConditionals
  attr_accessor :switch
 
  def repeat_1
    puts "Repeat 1!" if switch
  end
 
  def repeat_2
    puts "Repeat 2!" if switch
  end
 
  def repeat_3
    puts "Repeat 3!" if switch
  end
end

Reek would emit the following warning:

test.rb -- 4 warnings:
  [5, 9, 13]:RepeatedConditionals tests switch at least 3 times (RepeatedConditional)

If you get this warning then you are probably not using the right abstraction or even more probable, missing an additional abstraction.

Classes should not assume that instance variables are set or present outside of the current class definition.

Good:

class Foo
  def initialize
    @bar = :foo
  end
 
  def foo?
    @bar == :foo
  end
end

Good as well:

class Foo
  def foo?
    bar == :foo
  end
 
  def bar
    @bar ||= :foo
  end
end

Bad:

class Foo
  def go_foo!
    @bar = :foo
  end
 
  def foo?
    @bar == :foo
  end
end

Example

Running Reek on:

class Dummy
  def test
    @ivar
  end
end

would report:

[1]:InstanceVariableAssumption: Dummy assumes too much for instance variable @ivar

Note that this example would trigger this smell warning as well:

class Parent
  def initialize(omg)
    @omg = omg
  end
end
 
class Child < Parent
  def foo
    @omg
  end
end

The way to address the smell warning is that you should create an attr_reader to use @omg in the subclass and not access @omg directly like this:

class Parent
  attr_reader :omg
 
  def initialize(omg)
    @omg = omg
  end
end
 
class Child < Parent
  def foo
    omg
  end
end

Directly accessing instance variables is considered a smell because it breaks encapsulation and makes it harder to reason about code.

If you don't want to expose those methods as public API just make them private like this:

class Parent
  def initialize(omg)
    @omg = omg
  end
 
  private
  attr_reader :omg
end
 
class Child < Parent
  def foo
    omg
  end
end

Current Support in Reek

An instance variable must:

• be set in the constructor
• or be accessed through a method with lazy initialization / memoization.

If not, Instance Variable Assumption will be reported.

Classes and modules are the units of reuse and release. It is therefore considered good practice to annotate every class and module with a brief comment outlining its responsibilities.

Example

Given

class Dummy
  # Do things...
end

Reek would emit the following warning:

test.rb -- 1 warning:
  [1]:Dummy has no descriptive comment (IrresponsibleModule)

Fixing this is simple - just an explaining comment:

# The Dummy class is responsible for ...
class Dummy
  # Do things...
end

Classes and modules are the units of reuse and release. It is therefore considered good practice to annotate every class and module with a brief comment outlining its responsibilities.

Example

Given

class Dummy
  # Do things...
end

Reek would emit the following warning:

test.rb -- 1 warning:
  [1]:Dummy has no descriptive comment (IrresponsibleModule)

Fixing this is simple - just an explaining comment:

# The Dummy class is responsible for ...
class Dummy
  # Do things...
end

Classes and modules are the units of reuse and release. It is therefore considered good practice to annotate every class and module with a brief comment outlining its responsibilities.

Example

Given

class Dummy
  # Do things...
end

Reek would emit the following warning:

test.rb -- 1 warning:
  [1]:Dummy has no descriptive comment (IrresponsibleModule)

Fixing this is simple - just an explaining comment:

# The Dummy class is responsible for ...
class Dummy
  # Do things...
end

Classes and modules are the units of reuse and release. It is therefore considered good practice to annotate every class and module with a brief comment outlining its responsibilities.

Example

Given

class Dummy
  # Do things...
end

Reek would emit the following warning:

test.rb -- 1 warning:
  [1]:Dummy has no descriptive comment (IrresponsibleModule)

Fixing this is simple - just an explaining comment:

# The Dummy class is responsible for ...
class Dummy
  # Do things...
end

Classes and modules are the units of reuse and release. It is therefore considered good practice to annotate every class and module with a brief comment outlining its responsibilities.

Example

Given

class Dummy
  # Do things...
end

Reek would emit the following warning:

test.rb -- 1 warning:
  [1]:Dummy has no descriptive comment (IrresponsibleModule)

Fixing this is simple - just an explaining comment:

# The Dummy class is responsible for ...
class Dummy
  # Do things...
end

Classes and modules are the units of reuse and release. It is therefore considered good practice to annotate every class and module with a brief comment outlining its responsibilities.

Example

Given

class Dummy
  # Do things...
end

Reek would emit the following warning:

test.rb -- 1 warning:
  [1]:Dummy has no descriptive comment (IrresponsibleModule)

Fixing this is simple - just an explaining comment:

# The Dummy class is responsible for ...
class Dummy
  # Do things...
end

Classes and modules are the units of reuse and release. It is therefore considered good practice to annotate every class and module with a brief comment outlining its responsibilities.

Example

Given

class Dummy
  # Do things...
end

Reek would emit the following warning:

test.rb -- 1 warning:
  [1]:Dummy has no descriptive comment (IrresponsibleModule)

Fixing this is simple - just an explaining comment:

# The Dummy class is responsible for ...
class Dummy
  # Do things...
end

Classes should not assume that instance variables are set or present outside of the current class definition.

Good:

class Foo
  def initialize
    @bar = :foo
  end
 
  def foo?
    @bar == :foo
  end
end

Good as well:

class Foo
  def foo?
    bar == :foo
  end
 
  def bar
    @bar ||= :foo
  end
end

Bad:

class Foo
  def go_foo!
    @bar = :foo
  end
 
  def foo?
    @bar == :foo
  end
end

Example

Running Reek on:

class Dummy
  def test
    @ivar
  end
end

would report:

[1]:InstanceVariableAssumption: Dummy assumes too much for instance variable @ivar

Note that this example would trigger this smell warning as well:

class Parent
  def initialize(omg)
    @omg = omg
  end
end
 
class Child < Parent
  def foo
    @omg
  end
end

The way to address the smell warning is that you should create an attr_reader to use @omg in the subclass and not access @omg directly like this:

class Parent
  attr_reader :omg
 
  def initialize(omg)
    @omg = omg
  end
end
 
class Child < Parent
  def foo
    omg
  end
end

Directly accessing instance variables is considered a smell because it breaks encapsulation and makes it harder to reason about code.

If you don't want to expose those methods as public API just make them private like this:

class Parent
  def initialize(omg)
    @omg = omg
  end
 
  private
  attr_reader :omg
end
 
class Child < Parent
  def foo
    omg
  end
end

Current Support in Reek

An instance variable must:

• be set in the constructor
• or be accessed through a method with lazy initialization / memoization.

If not, Instance Variable Assumption will be reported.

Classes and modules are the units of reuse and release. It is therefore considered good practice to annotate every class and module with a brief comment outlining its responsibilities.

Example

Given

class Dummy
  # Do things...
end

Reek would emit the following warning:

test.rb -- 1 warning:
  [1]:Dummy has no descriptive comment (IrresponsibleModule)

Fixing this is simple - just an explaining comment:

# The Dummy class is responsible for ...
class Dummy
  # Do things...
end

Classes should not assume that instance variables are set or present outside of the current class definition.

Good:

class Foo
  def initialize
    @bar = :foo
  end
 
  def foo?
    @bar == :foo
  end
end

Good as well:

class Foo
  def foo?
    bar == :foo
  end
 
  def bar
    @bar ||= :foo
  end
end

Bad:

class Foo
  def go_foo!
    @bar = :foo
  end
 
  def foo?
    @bar == :foo
  end
end

Example

Running Reek on:

class Dummy
  def test
    @ivar
  end
end

would report:

[1]:InstanceVariableAssumption: Dummy assumes too much for instance variable @ivar

Note that this example would trigger this smell warning as well:

class Parent
  def initialize(omg)
    @omg = omg
  end
end
 
class Child < Parent
  def foo
    @omg
  end
end

The way to address the smell warning is that you should create an attr_reader to use @omg in the subclass and not access @omg directly like this:

class Parent
  attr_reader :omg
 
  def initialize(omg)
    @omg = omg
  end
end
 
class Child < Parent
  def foo
    omg
  end
end

Directly accessing instance variables is considered a smell because it breaks encapsulation and makes it harder to reason about code.

If you don't want to expose those methods as public API just make them private like this:

class Parent
  def initialize(omg)
    @omg = omg
  end
 
  private
  attr_reader :omg
end
 
class Child < Parent
  def foo
    omg
  end
end

Current Support in Reek

An instance variable must:

• be set in the constructor
• or be accessed through a method with lazy initialization / memoization.

If not, Instance Variable Assumption will be reported.

Classes and modules are the units of reuse and release. It is therefore considered good practice to annotate every class and module with a brief comment outlining its responsibilities.

Example

Given

class Dummy
  # Do things...
end

Reek would emit the following warning:

test.rb -- 1 warning:
  [1]:Dummy has no descriptive comment (IrresponsibleModule)

Fixing this is simple - just an explaining comment:

# The Dummy class is responsible for ...
class Dummy
  # Do things...
end

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

Classes should not assume that instance variables are set or present outside of the current class definition.

Good:

class Foo
  def initialize
    @bar = :foo
  end
 
  def foo?
    @bar == :foo
  end
end

Good as well:

class Foo
  def foo?
    bar == :foo
  end
 
  def bar
    @bar ||= :foo
  end
end

Bad:

class Foo
  def go_foo!
    @bar = :foo
  end
 
  def foo?
    @bar == :foo
  end
end

Example

Running Reek on:

class Dummy
  def test
    @ivar
  end
end

would report:

[1]:InstanceVariableAssumption: Dummy assumes too much for instance variable @ivar

Note that this example would trigger this smell warning as well:

class Parent
  def initialize(omg)
    @omg = omg
  end
end
 
class Child < Parent
  def foo
    @omg
  end
end

The way to address the smell warning is that you should create an attr_reader to use @omg in the subclass and not access @omg directly like this:

class Parent
  attr_reader :omg
 
  def initialize(omg)
    @omg = omg
  end
end
 
class Child < Parent
  def foo
    omg
  end
end

Directly accessing instance variables is considered a smell because it breaks encapsulation and makes it harder to reason about code.

If you don't want to expose those methods as public API just make them private like this:

class Parent
  def initialize(omg)
    @omg = omg
  end
 
  private
  attr_reader :omg
end
 
class Child < Parent
  def foo
    omg
  end
end

Current Support in Reek

An instance variable must:

• be set in the constructor
• or be accessed through a method with lazy initialization / memoization.

If not, Instance Variable Assumption will be reported.