pycodestyle: Python Style Guide Checker

2.14.0 · active · verified Sat Mar 28

pycodestyle is a tool designed to check Python code against a subset of the style conventions outlined in PEP 8. It's a widely adopted package within the Python ecosystem, helping developers maintain consistent and readable code. The current version is 2.14.0, and the project is actively maintained with regular updates.

Warnings

breaking The package was renamed from `pep8` to `pycodestyle`. Projects still importing `pep8` will fail when upgrading or installing `pycodestyle`.
Fix: Update all `import pep8` statements to `import pycodestyle` or `from pycodestyle import ...`.
breaking `pycodestyle` dropped support for older Python versions. As of version 2.14.0, it requires Python 3.9 or newer.
Fix: Ensure your project is running on Python 3.9 or a newer compatible version. Consider using `pyenv` or virtual environments to manage Python versions.
gotcha Configuration files (`setup.cfg`, `tox.ini`, `pyproject.toml`) now expect a `[pycodestyle]` section for configuration, not `[pep8]`.
Fix: Rename `[pep8]` sections in your configuration files to `[pycodestyle]`.
gotcha `pycodestyle` only checks for a subset of PEP 8 style conventions (e.g., indentation, whitespace, line length). It deliberately does *not* cover other aspects like naming conventions or docstring conventions. For a more comprehensive linting solution, consider tools like `flake8` (which uses `pycodestyle` internally) with appropriate plugins (e.g., `pep8-naming`, `pydocstyle`).
Fix: Integrate `flake8` with relevant plugins for broader code quality checks if naming or docstring conventions are desired. `pip install flake8 pep8-naming pydocstyle`.

Install

pip install pycodestyle Install latest version

Imports

pycodestyle
```
import pycodestyle
```
The package was renamed from 'pep8' to 'pycodestyle' to avoid confusion and better reflect its purpose as a tool, not the style guide itself.
StyleGuide
```
from pycodestyle import StyleGuide
```
Used for programmatic checking of files or directories, often with custom configurations.
Checker
```
from pycodestyle import Checker
```
Used for programmatic checking of a single file.

Quickstart

This quickstart demonstrates how to programmatically use `pycodestyle`'s `StyleGuide` class to check a Python file for PEP 8 compliance. It creates a temporary file with some common style violations, runs the checker, and reports the total number of errors found. You can also run `pycodestyle` directly from the command line: `pycodestyle your_file.py`.

import pycodestyle
import os

def create_example_file(filename):
    with open(filename, 'w') as f:
        f.write("import os, sys  # E401 multiple imports on one line\n")
        f.write("\n")
        f.write("def my_function(  ): # E201 whitespace after '('")
        f.write("    pass\n")

example_file = 'example_code.py'
create_example_file(example_file)

# Programmatic checking using StyleGuide
style_checker = pycodestyle.StyleGuide(quiet=True)
report = style_checker.check_files([example_file])

if report.total_errors:
    print(f"Found {report.total_errors} code style errors.")
    # For detailed output, you might remove quiet=True or configure the report object
    # For simplicity, this example only prints the total.
else:
    print("No code style errors found.")

# Clean up the example file
os.remove(example_file)

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