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 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 and https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ABC_Software_Metric.

Interpreting ABC size:

• <= 17 satisfactory
• 18..30 unsatisfactory
• > 30 dangerous

You can have repeated "attributes" calls count as a single "branch". For this purpose, attributes are any method with no argument; no attempt is meant to distinguish actual attr_reader from other methods.

Example: CountRepeatedAttributes: false (default is true)

# `model` and `current_user`, refenced 3 times each,
 # are each counted as only 1 branch each if
 # `CountRepeatedAttributes` is set to 'false'

 def search
   @posts = model.active.visible_by(current_user)
             .search(params[:q])
   @posts = model.some_process(@posts, current_user)
   @posts = model.another_process(@posts, current_user)

   render 'pages/search/page'
 end

This cop also takes into account IgnoredMethods (defaults to [])

This cop 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
• BlockAlignment
• BlockDelimiters
• BlockEndNewline
• ClosingParenthesisIndentation
• FirstArgumentIndentation
• FirstArrayElementIndentation
• FirstHashElementIndentation
• FirstParameterIndentation
• HashAlignment
• IndentationWidth
• MultilineArrayLineBreaks
• MultilineBlockLayout
• MultilineHashBraceLayout
• MultilineHashKeyLineBreaks
• MultilineMethodArgumentLineBreaks
• 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",
}

This cop 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
• BlockAlignment
• BlockDelimiters
• BlockEndNewline
• ClosingParenthesisIndentation
• FirstArgumentIndentation
• FirstArrayElementIndentation
• FirstHashElementIndentation
• FirstParameterIndentation
• HashAlignment
• IndentationWidth
• MultilineArrayLineBreaks
• MultilineBlockLayout
• MultilineHashBraceLayout
• MultilineHashKeyLineBreaks
• MultilineMethodArgumentLineBreaks
• 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",
}

This cop 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
• BlockAlignment
• BlockDelimiters
• BlockEndNewline
• ClosingParenthesisIndentation
• FirstArgumentIndentation
• FirstArrayElementIndentation
• FirstHashElementIndentation
• FirstParameterIndentation
• HashAlignment
• IndentationWidth
• MultilineArrayLineBreaks
• MultilineBlockLayout
• MultilineHashBraceLayout
• MultilineHashKeyLineBreaks
• MultilineMethodArgumentLineBreaks
• 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",
}

This cop 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
• BlockAlignment
• BlockDelimiters
• BlockEndNewline
• ClosingParenthesisIndentation
• FirstArgumentIndentation
• FirstArrayElementIndentation
• FirstHashElementIndentation
• FirstParameterIndentation
• HashAlignment
• IndentationWidth
• MultilineArrayLineBreaks
• MultilineBlockLayout
• MultilineHashBraceLayout
• MultilineHashKeyLineBreaks
• MultilineMethodArgumentLineBreaks
• 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",
}

This cop 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
• BlockAlignment
• BlockDelimiters
• BlockEndNewline
• ClosingParenthesisIndentation
• FirstArgumentIndentation
• FirstArrayElementIndentation
• FirstHashElementIndentation
• FirstParameterIndentation
• HashAlignment
• IndentationWidth
• MultilineArrayLineBreaks
• MultilineBlockLayout
• MultilineHashBraceLayout
• MultilineHashKeyLineBreaks
• MultilineMethodArgumentLineBreaks
• 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",
}

This cop 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
• BlockAlignment
• BlockDelimiters
• BlockEndNewline
• ClosingParenthesisIndentation
• FirstArgumentIndentation
• FirstArrayElementIndentation
• FirstHashElementIndentation
• FirstParameterIndentation
• HashAlignment
• IndentationWidth
• MultilineArrayLineBreaks
• MultilineBlockLayout
• MultilineHashBraceLayout
• MultilineHashKeyLineBreaks
• MultilineMethodArgumentLineBreaks
• 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",
}

This cop 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
• BlockAlignment
• BlockDelimiters
• BlockEndNewline
• ClosingParenthesisIndentation
• FirstArgumentIndentation
• FirstArrayElementIndentation
• FirstHashElementIndentation
• FirstParameterIndentation
• HashAlignment
• IndentationWidth
• MultilineArrayLineBreaks
• MultilineBlockLayout
• MultilineHashBraceLayout
• MultilineHashKeyLineBreaks
• MultilineMethodArgumentLineBreaks
• 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",
}

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 enforces the use of either #alias or #alias_method depending on configuration. It also flags uses of alias :symbol rather than alias bareword.

Example: EnforcedStyle: prefer_alias (default)

# bad
alias_method :bar, :foo
alias :bar :foo

# good
alias bar foo

Example: EnforcedStyle: preferaliasmethod

# bad
alias :bar :foo
alias bar foo

# good
alias_method :bar, :foo

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"

Use symbols as procs when possible.

If you prefer a style that allows block for method with arguments, please set true to AllowMethodsWithArguments.

Safety:

This cop is unsafe because procs and blocks work differently when additional arguments are passed in. A block will silently ignore additional arguments, but a proc will raise an ArgumentError.

For example:

class Foo
  def bar
    :bar
  end
end

def call(options = {}, &block)
  block.call(Foo.new, options)
end

call { |x| x.bar }
#=> :bar
call(&:bar)
# ArgumentError: wrong number of arguments (given 1, expected 0)

Example:

# bad
something.map { |s| s.upcase }
something.map { _1.upcase }

# good
something.map(&:upcase)

Example: AllowMethodsWithArguments: false (default)

# bad
something.do_something(foo) { |o| o.bar }

# good
something.do_something(foo, &:bar)

Example: AllowMethodsWithArguments: true

# good
something.do_something(foo) { |o| o.bar }

This cop checks for parentheses around the arguments in method definitions. Both instance and class/singleton methods are checked.

This cop does not consider endless methods, since parentheses are always required for them.

Example: EnforcedStyle: require_parentheses (default)

# The `require_parentheses` style requires method definitions
# to always use parentheses

# bad
def bar num1, num2
  num1 + num2
end

def foo descriptive_var_name,
        another_descriptive_var_name,
        last_descriptive_var_name
  do_something
end

# good
def bar(num1, num2)
  num1 + num2
end

def foo(descriptive_var_name,
        another_descriptive_var_name,
        last_descriptive_var_name)
  do_something
end

Example: EnforcedStyle: requirenoparentheses

# The `require_no_parentheses` style requires method definitions
# to never use parentheses

# bad
def bar(num1, num2)
  num1 + num2
end

def foo(descriptive_var_name,
        another_descriptive_var_name,
        last_descriptive_var_name)
  do_something
end

# good
def bar num1, num2
  num1 + num2
end

def foo descriptive_var_name,
        another_descriptive_var_name,
        last_descriptive_var_name
  do_something
end

Example: EnforcedStyle: requirenoparenthesesexceptmultiline

# The `require_no_parentheses_except_multiline` style prefers no
# parentheses when method definition arguments fit on single line,
# but prefers parentheses when arguments span multiple lines.

# bad
def bar(num1, num2)
  num1 + num2
end

def foo descriptive_var_name,
        another_descriptive_var_name,
        last_descriptive_var_name
  do_something
end

# good
def bar num1, num2
  num1 + num2
end

def foo(descriptive_var_name,
        another_descriptive_var_name,
        last_descriptive_var_name)
  do_something
end

Use a guard clause instead of wrapping the code inside a conditional expression

Example:

# bad
def test
  if something
    work
  end
end

# good
def test
  return unless something

  work
end

# also good
def test
  work if something
end

# bad
if something
  raise 'exception'
else
  ok
end

# good
raise 'exception' if something
ok

# bad
if something
  foo || raise('exception')
else
  ok
end

# good
foo || raise('exception') if something
ok

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 enforces the use of either #alias or #alias_method depending on configuration. It also flags uses of alias :symbol rather than alias bareword.

Example: EnforcedStyle: prefer_alias (default)

# bad
alias_method :bar, :foo
alias :bar :foo

# good
alias bar foo

Example: EnforcedStyle: preferaliasmethod

# bad
alias :bar :foo
alias bar foo

# good
alias_method :bar, :foo

This cop checks for parentheses around the arguments in method definitions. Both instance and class/singleton methods are checked.

This cop does not consider endless methods, since parentheses are always required for them.

Example: EnforcedStyle: require_parentheses (default)

# The `require_parentheses` style requires method definitions
# to always use parentheses

# bad
def bar num1, num2
  num1 + num2
end

def foo descriptive_var_name,
        another_descriptive_var_name,
        last_descriptive_var_name
  do_something
end

# good
def bar(num1, num2)
  num1 + num2
end

def foo(descriptive_var_name,
        another_descriptive_var_name,
        last_descriptive_var_name)
  do_something
end

Example: EnforcedStyle: requirenoparentheses

# The `require_no_parentheses` style requires method definitions
# to never use parentheses

# bad
def bar(num1, num2)
  num1 + num2
end

def foo(descriptive_var_name,
        another_descriptive_var_name,
        last_descriptive_var_name)
  do_something
end

# good
def bar num1, num2
  num1 + num2
end

def foo descriptive_var_name,
        another_descriptive_var_name,
        last_descriptive_var_name
  do_something
end

Example: EnforcedStyle: requirenoparenthesesexceptmultiline

# The `require_no_parentheses_except_multiline` style prefers no
# parentheses when method definition arguments fit on single line,
# but prefers parentheses when arguments span multiple lines.

# bad
def bar(num1, num2)
  num1 + num2
end

def foo descriptive_var_name,
        another_descriptive_var_name,
        last_descriptive_var_name
  do_something
end

# good
def bar num1, num2
  num1 + num2
end

def foo(descriptive_var_name,
        another_descriptive_var_name,
        last_descriptive_var_name)
  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 the presence of constructors and lifecycle callbacks without calls to super.

This cop does not consider method_missing (and respond_to_missing?) because in some cases it makes sense to overtake what is considered a missing method. In other cases, the theoretical ideal handling could be challenging or verbose for no actual gain.

Example:

# bad
class Employee < Person
  def initialize(name, salary)
    @salary = salary
  end
end

# good
class Employee < Person
  def initialize(name, salary)
    super(name)
    @salary = salary
  end
end

# bad
class Parent
  def self.inherited(base)
    do_something
  end
end

# good
class Parent
  def self.inherited(base)
    super
    do_something
  end
end

This cop makes sure that predicates are named properly.

Example:

# bad
def is_even(value)
end

def is_even?(value)
end

# good
def even?(value)
end

# bad
def has_value
end

def has_value?
end

# good
def value?
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"