This cop checks that the ABC size of methods is not higher than the configured maximum. The ABC size is based on assignments, branches (method calls), and conditions. See http://c2.com/cgi/wiki?AbcMetric

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

This cop checks that the cyclomatic complexity of methods is not higher than the configured maximum. The cyclomatic complexity is the number of linearly independent paths through a method. The algorithm counts decision points and adds one.

An if statement (or unless or ?:) increases the complexity by one. An else branch does not, since it doesn't add a decision point. The && operator (or keyword and) can be converted to a nested if statement, and ||/or is shorthand for a sequence of ifs, so they also add one. Loops can be said to have an exit condition, so they add one.

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 checks for methods with too many parameters. The maximum number of parameters is configurable. Keyword arguments can optionally be excluded from the total count.

This cop checks the style of children definitions at classes and modules. Basically there are two different styles:

Example: EnforcedStyle: nested (default)

# good
# have each child on its own line
class Foo
  class Bar
  end
end

Example: EnforcedStyle: compact

# good
# combine definitions as much as possible
class Foo::Bar
end

The compact style is only forced for classes/modules with one child.

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 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

This cops checks if empty lines around the bodies of classes match the configuration.

Example: EnforcedStyle: empty_lines

# good

class Foo

  def bar
    # ...
  end

end

Example: EnforcedStyle: emptylinesexcept_namespace

# good

class Foo
  class Bar

    # ...

  end
end

Example: EnforcedStyle: emptylinesspecial

# good
class Foo

  def bar; end

end

Example: EnforcedStyle: noemptylines (default)

# good

class Foo
  def bar
    # ...
  end
end

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("-")