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 closing brace in an array literal is either on the same line as the last array element, or a new line.

When using the symmetrical (default) style:

If an array's opening brace is on the same line as the first element of the array, then the closing brace should be on the same line as the last element of the array.

If an array's opening brace is on the line above the first element of the array, then the closing brace should be on the line below the last element of the array.

When using the new_line style:

The closing brace of a multi-line array literal must be on the line after the last element of the array.

When using the same_line style:

The closing brace of a multi-line array literal must be on the same line as the last element of the array.

Example: EnforcedStyle: symmetrical (default)

# bad
  [ :a,
    :b
  ]

  # bad
  [
    :a,
    :b ]

  # good
  [ :a,
    :b ]

  # good
  [
    :a,
    :b
  ]

Example: EnforcedStyle: new_line

# bad
  [
    :a,
    :b ]

  # bad
  [ :a,
    :b ]

  # good
  [ :a,
    :b
  ]

  # good
  [
    :a,
    :b
  ]

Example: EnforcedStyle: same_line

# bad
  [ :a,
    :b
  ]

  # bad
  [
    :a,
    :b
  ]

  # good
  [
    :a,
    :b ]

  # good
  [ :a,
    :b ]

This cop is used to identify usages of file path joining process to use Rails.root.join clause.

Example:

# bad Rails.root.join('app/models/goober') File.join(Rails.root, 'app/models/goober') "#{Rails.root}/app/models/goober"

# good Rails.root.join('app', 'models', 'goober')

This cop can check for array literals made up of symbols that are not using the %i() syntax.

Alternatively, it checks for symbol arrays using the %i() syntax on projects which do not want to use that syntax.

Configuration option: MinSize If set, arrays with fewer elements than this value will not trigger the cop. For example, a MinSize of3` will not enforce a style on an array of 2 or fewer elements.

Example: EnforcedStyle: percent (default)

# good
%i[foo bar baz]

# bad
[:foo, :bar, :baz]

Example: EnforcedStyle: brackets

# good
[:foo, :bar, :baz]

# bad
%i[foo bar baz]

Checks for if and unless statements that would fit on one line if written as a modifier if/unless. The maximum line length is configured in the Metrics/LineLength cop.

Example:

# bad
if condition
  do_stuff(bar)
end

unless qux.empty?
  Foo.do_something
end

# good
do_stuff(bar) if condition
Foo.do_something unless qux.empty?

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 the indentation of the method name part in method calls that span more than one line.

Example: EnforcedStyle: aligned

# bad
while myvariable
.b
  # do something
end

# good
while myvariable
      .b
  # do something
end

# good
Thing.a
     .b
     .c

Example: EnforcedStyle: indented

# good
while myvariable
  .b

  # do something
end

Example: EnforcedStyle: indentedrelativeto_receiver

# good
while myvariable
        .a
        .b

  # do something
end

# good
myvariable = Thing
               .a
               .b
               .c

This cop checks the indentation of the method name part in method calls that span more than one line.

Example: EnforcedStyle: aligned

# bad
while myvariable
.b
  # do something
end

# good
while myvariable
      .b
  # do something
end

# good
Thing.a
     .b
     .c

Example: EnforcedStyle: indented

# good
while myvariable
  .b

  # do something
end

Example: EnforcedStyle: indentedrelativeto_receiver

# good
while myvariable
        .a
        .b

  # do something
end

# good
myvariable = Thing
               .a
               .b
               .c

This cop checks the indentation of the method name part in method calls that span more than one line.

Example: EnforcedStyle: aligned

# bad
while myvariable
.b
  # do something
end

# good
while myvariable
      .b
  # do something
end

# good
Thing.a
     .b
     .c

Example: EnforcedStyle: indented

# good
while myvariable
  .b

  # do something
end

Example: EnforcedStyle: indentedrelativeto_receiver

# good
while myvariable
        .a
        .b

  # do something
end

# good
myvariable = Thing
               .a
               .b
               .c

Checks for a newline after the final magic comment.

Example:

# good
# frozen_string_literal: true

# Some documentation for Person
class Person
  # Some code
end

# bad
# frozen_string_literal: true
# Some documentation for Person
class Person
  # Some code
end

Dependencies in the gemspec should be alphabetically sorted.

Example:

# bad
spec.add_dependency 'rubocop'
spec.add_dependency 'rspec'

# good
spec.add_dependency 'rspec'
spec.add_dependency 'rubocop'

# good
spec.add_dependency 'rubocop'

spec.add_dependency 'rspec'

# bad
spec.add_development_dependency 'rubocop'
spec.add_development_dependency 'rspec'

# good
spec.add_development_dependency 'rspec'
spec.add_development_dependency 'rubocop'

# good
spec.add_development_dependency 'rubocop'

spec.add_development_dependency 'rspec'

# bad
spec.add_runtime_dependency 'rubocop'
spec.add_runtime_dependency 'rspec'

# good
spec.add_runtime_dependency 'rspec'
spec.add_runtime_dependency 'rubocop'

# good
spec.add_runtime_dependency 'rubocop'

spec.add_runtime_dependency 'rspec'

# good only if TreatCommentsAsGroupSeparators is true
# For code quality
spec.add_dependency 'rubocop'
# For tests
spec.add_dependency 'rspec'

Checks for a newline after the final magic comment.

Example:

# good
# frozen_string_literal: true

# Some documentation for Person
class Person
  # Some code
end

# bad
# frozen_string_literal: true
# Some documentation for Person
class Person
  # Some code
end

Use a consistent style for named format string tokens.

Note: unannotated style cop only works for strings which are passed as arguments to those methods: sprintf, format, %. The reason is that unannotated format is very similar to encoded URLs or Date/Time formatting strings.

Example: EnforcedStyle: annotated (default)

# bad
format('%{greeting}', greeting: 'Hello')
format('%s', 'Hello')

# good
format('%<greeting>s', greeting: 'Hello')</greeting>

Example: EnforcedStyle: template

# bad
format('%<greeting>s', greeting: 'Hello')
format('%s', 'Hello')

# good
format('%{greeting}', greeting: 'Hello')</greeting>

Example: EnforcedStyle: unannotated

# bad
format('%<greeting>s', greeting: 'Hello')
format('%{greeting}', 'Hello')

# good
format('%s', 'Hello')</greeting>

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

This cop checks for usage of comparison operators (==, >, <) to test numbers as zero, positive, or negative. These can be replaced by their respective predicate methods. The cop can also be configured to do the reverse.

The cop disregards #nonzero? as it its value is truthy or falsey, but not true and false, and thus not always interchangeable with != 0.

The cop ignores comparisons to global variables, since they are often populated with objects which can be compared with integers, but are not themselves Interger polymorphic.

Example: EnforcedStyle: predicate (default)

# bad

foo == 0
0 > foo
bar.baz > 0

# good

foo.zero?
foo.negative?
bar.baz.positive?

Example: EnforcedStyle: comparison

# bad

foo.zero?
foo.negative?
bar.baz.positive?

# good

foo == 0
0 > foo
bar.baz > 0

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

Dependencies in the gemspec should be alphabetically sorted.

Example:

# bad
spec.add_dependency 'rubocop'
spec.add_dependency 'rspec'

# good
spec.add_dependency 'rspec'
spec.add_dependency 'rubocop'

# good
spec.add_dependency 'rubocop'

spec.add_dependency 'rspec'

# bad
spec.add_development_dependency 'rubocop'
spec.add_development_dependency 'rspec'

# good
spec.add_development_dependency 'rspec'
spec.add_development_dependency 'rubocop'

# good
spec.add_development_dependency 'rubocop'

spec.add_development_dependency 'rspec'

# bad
spec.add_runtime_dependency 'rubocop'
spec.add_runtime_dependency 'rspec'

# good
spec.add_runtime_dependency 'rspec'
spec.add_runtime_dependency 'rubocop'

# good
spec.add_runtime_dependency 'rubocop'

spec.add_runtime_dependency 'rspec'

# good only if TreatCommentsAsGroupSeparators is true
# For code quality
spec.add_dependency 'rubocop'
# For tests
spec.add_dependency 'rspec'

This cop checks for potential usage of the ||= operator.

Example:

# bad
name = name ? name : 'Bozhidar'

# bad
name = if name
         name
       else
         'Bozhidar'
       end

# bad
unless name
  name = 'Bozhidar'
end

# bad
name = 'Bozhidar' unless name

# good - set name to 'Bozhidar', only if it's nil or false
name ||= 'Bozhidar'

Checks for a newline after the final magic comment.

Example:

# good
# frozen_string_literal: true

# Some documentation for Person
class Person
  # Some code
end

# bad
# frozen_string_literal: true
# Some documentation for Person
class Person
  # Some code
end