================ Running Pylint ================ Invoking Pylint --------------- Pylint is meant to be called from the command line. The usage is :: pylint [options] module_or_package You should give Pylint the name of a python package or module. Pylint ``will not import`` this package or module, though uses Python internals to locate them and as such is subject to the same rules and configuration. You should pay attention to your ``PYTHONPATH``, since it is a common error to analyze an installed version of a module instead of the development version. It is also possible to analyze python files, with a few restrictions. The thing to keep in mind is that Pylint will try to convert the file name to a module name, and only be able to process the file if it succeeds. :: pylint mymodule.py should always work since the current working directory is automatically added on top of the python path :: pylint directory/mymodule.py will work if ``directory`` is a python package (i.e. has an __init__.py file or it is an implicit namespace package) or if "directory" is in the python path. For more details on this see the :ref:`faq`. You can also start a thin gui around Pylint (require tkinter) by typing :: pylint-gui This should open a window where you can enter the name of the package or module to check, at Pylint messages will be displayed in the user interface. It is also possible to call Pylint from an other python program, thanks to ``py_run()`` function in ``epylint`` module, assuming Pylint options are stored in ``pylint_options`` string, as: .. sourcecode:: python from pylint import epylint as lint lint.py_run(pylint_options) To silently run Pylint on a ``module_name.py`` module, and get its standard output and error: .. sourcecode:: python from pylint import epylint as lint (pylint_stdout, pylint_stderr) = lint.py_run('module_name.py', return_std=True) Command line options -------------------- First of all, we have two basic (but useful) options. --version show program's version number and exit -h, --help show help about the command line options Pylint is architectured around several checkers. you can disable a specific checker or some of its messages or messages categories by specifying ``--disable=``. If you want to enable only some checkers or some message symbols, first use ``--disable=all`` then ``--enable=`` with being a comma separated list of checker names and message symbols. See the list of available features for a description of provided checkers with their functionalities. The ``--disable`` and ``--enable`` options can be used with comma separated lists mixing checkers, message ids and categories like ``-d C,W,no-error,design`` It is possible to disable all messages with ``--disable=all``. This is useful to enable only a few checkers or a few messages by first disabling everything, and then re-enabling only what you need. Each checker has some specific options, which can take either a yes/no value, an integer, a python regular expression, or a comma separated list of values (which are generally used to override a regular expression in special cases). For a full list of options, use ``--help`` Specifying all the options suitable for your setup and coding standards can be tedious, so it is possible to use a configuration file to specify the default values. You can specify a configuration file on the command line using the ``--rcfile`` option. Otherwise, Pylint searches for a configuration file in the following order and uses the first one it finds: #. ``pylintrc`` in the current working directory #. ``.pylintrc`` in the current working directory #. If the current working directory is in a Python module, Pylint searches \ up the hierarchy of Python modules until it finds a ``pylintrc`` file. \ This allows you to specify coding standards on a module-by-module \ basis. Of course, a directory is judged to be a Python module if it \ contains an ``__init__.py`` file. #. The file named by environment variable ``PYLINTRC`` #. if you have a home directory which isn't ``/root``: #. ``.pylintrc`` in your home directory #. ``.config/pylintrc`` in your home directory #. ``/etc/pylintrc`` The ``--generate-rcfile`` option will generate a commented configuration file on standard output according to the current configuration and exit. This includes: * Any configuration file found as explained above * Options appearing before ``--generate-rcfile`` on the Pylint command line Of course you can also start with the default values and hand tune the configuration. Other useful global options include: --ignore= Add files or directories to the blacklist. They should be base names, not paths. --output-format= Select output format (text, html, custom). --msg-template=